Irish Clicker Centre

Some time ago I taught a friend of mine some of the basics of clicker training.  Maria has two horses, both of which have been rescued. They are now full-time pets and there are no plans for either to be ridden in the foreseeable future, however Maria wants to ensure that they have the best possible care and that includes having their feet pared regularily.  As with many rescue animals, this was a major issue and Maria wanted a kind way to work with her horses and build trust, hence the clicker training!

Maria was a great pupil and took to clicker training very well indeed!  Some time later, I got a phone call.  She has two dogs, also rescued,…. could she use clicker training with them too?…but, of course!

Charlie had come to Maria at approximately 10 years old – not exactly a pup.  He had been abandoned and lived on his own for a year before he decided to move in with Maria one day.  He also had a number of issues.  Maria set out to do a bit of training with Charlie – clicker in hand and in spite of repeatedly being assured that old dogs don’t learn new tricks she taught him to sit and lie down.  Charlie was also a worrier.  He got anxious with certain sounds or actions and his reaction was to growl.  He never followed up his threats with any action however.

Charlie’s worst fear was small children and Maria’s sister and family, including two small children, came to visit.  Charlie growled, a lot, whenever the children were around so Maria got her clicker and some cheese.  Waiting patiently for a hesitation in the growling, Maria clicked and a small child threw a treat to Charlie.  This was repeated and within a short space of time Charlie began to look forward happily (and quietly) to his two small visitors!

Now that Charlie was a friendly dog, the children naturally wanted to rub his back and groom him – both of these were firmly on Charlies hated list and so out came the clicker again.  Charlie now loves being groomed and petted.  He groans with enjoyment now when he is brushed which shows it is genuine enjoyment and not just tolerance.!

I was delighted to hear about Charlie.  Firstly I love Maria’s clever use of the clicker to solve what was a reasonably big problem and secondly I was thrilled to see the transformation of Charlie from an animal locked into his own fear to a friendly happy dog!

She now also has eight equine feet that lift beautifully, at a mere suggestion, for handling and trimming!

The wonder of clicker training!!

Showing class at the Kerry Bog Pony Co-Operative show

Marte and Mary were joined by Aoife and her pony prince at the Red Fox Inn Glenbeigh on Saturday 24th September for a clicker training demonstration.  We arrived early and admired loads of these wonderful ponies in a variety of showing classes.

Ventry King - Show Champion

The Kerry Bog Pony Co-operative Society has been set up to aid the survival of this breed of native Irish pony and they have gone from strength to strength.  Since 2005, they have an annual Show day with educational events and sales.  Yesterday they also launched their new website www.kerrybogpony.ie which contains lots of information and the database for this breed.

Prince perches on a wooden block

The weather was glorious (I was assured that they’ve never had a bad day yet for their show!) and when the showing was over, we were brought up to the Red Fox Inn for a delicous lunch and then returned to the field for our demonstration.  Prince, Aoife’s 14.2hh pony, looked like a giant among all the bog ponies.  He showed how he can move elegantly alongside Aoife back and forward as well as demonstrating a variety of tricks: playing football, fetching, standing on his pedestal, and showing off how he can discriminate between colours.

A new clicker trainee!

Mary then worked with a 9-yo brood mare who had no previous training.  The little mare demonstrated how quickly horses can pick up on clicker training by touching and tracking a target.  We then did a little basic leading and backing up, followe by asking her to stand on a wooden mat.  She didn’t want to put her feet on this strange object at first but quickly overcame her anxieties to stand bravely with her front feet firmly on it.  We were working on grass and so head lowering was happening without any training as she enjoyed a pick of grass – this is a behaviour we normally teach in a demonstration to show the calming effect it has.  So on this occasion we worked a bit on desensitising using a very large plastic ball.  She was clearly anxious at first when the ball (almost as large as herself) was brought into the pen but a few clicks and treats later, she was happy to stand calm and relaxed while the ball was rolling all over her back.

We enjoyed the day enormously and are really looking forward to doing some more work with these very clever little ponies.

Some of the participants watching at our clinic.  For a full report, please click here

This year we had a three-day-plus-an-evening clinic with Alex.  The evening happened on the Friday when we all got together at the Irish Clicker Centre for  dinner and introductions.  This is a great format.  It meant that horses arriving to the clinic were in pens, fed and watered and getting to know their neighbours and settle in by 6 pm.  This had the huge advantage that by Saturday morning, all the horses were much better settled and acclimated to each other than on previous occasions.  Read more….