Why Dog Trainers Should Train Chickens

[Aidan]

I've not worked with many horses, but those I have worked with have never been timid. I would say they were "pushy" if anything. I've always had to teach them good manners around food first.

I have a young child so I quite like it when we get to go to wildlife parks together. All those tame animals that you are allowed to feed, they pick up simple stuff really quickly even with massive reinforcement histories of mugging people for food.

[corvus]

I've never tried tame animals at wildlife parks. Normally I'm too busy asking the ubiquitous ratbag children whose parents are nowhere in sight if they think they would like it if someone chased them and threw things at them. There's always one smart alek who says "Yes" and then I get to test it. I think my wildlife park visits would be much happier if I was watching someone teach their kids the basics of animal training instead.

When I was a kid I used to halter train cows for the school farm so they could take them to shows. I still can't believe they had, like, 14 year old children whacking halters and nose clips on 300kg steers that had only just been snatched from their mother's side and had never been handled in their lives. Every year someone would get knocked over, dragged down the laneway, kicked, or stepped on. Usually everyone would get stepped on and jostled. The guy that ran the farm seemed to think if you had a cow that wouldn't walk you should just tie it to a tractor and force it to. And one steer discovered that all he had to do to avoid the halter training was throw a tantrum. Same fellow "fixed" him by belting the living daylights out of him with a cane. Meanwhile, me and my friends "gentled" our steer so he never got that scared of halter training in the first place.

I like cows. They are surprisingly smart and you could always tell how they'd been treated by how they treated you. They could be quite discerning. There's something pretty special about being singled out from a crowd of 25 kids by a cow that recognises you and has come to feel that maybe you're okay after all and are worthy of a greeting. Especially when the same cow pushed you into a fence and stepped on your foot a month ago. They are sneaky creatures, and while most of them are not openly aggressive they find ways to let you know they aren't happy. I was watching How to Train Your Dragon a few months ago and it was oddly reminiscent of me as a teenager teaching myself how to train a cow. I had no clue.

[J...]

They are sneaky creatures

They aren't sneaky - they are really quite intelligent and sensitive animals who, when treated calmly and quietly, will happily take the path of least resistance.

I grew up working with stud beef cattle as well as commercial cattle and then moved into dairy cattle. I also did some work with horses on and off for a few years, took up natural horsemanship with great enthusiasm and had the chance to use it on some stud cattle when I volunteered to assist at a junior show a few years ago. One of the young girls I was helping had quite a difficult heifer, she was a tiny little thing who had no hope at all if the heifer decided to play up at all. 3 days later she not only won her handlers class she also walked away with champion herdsman for her age group, over some far more experienced handlers. Awesome

[corvus]

Oh, I agree Jess. I was referring to all the sneaky nose-swipes down the school uniform, walking you into fences and squashing you there, and I swear some of them deliberately stepped on your feet. But those cows lived at a school farm. They saw all sorts and had learnt a few tricks. It took a while to gain their trust if they'd been introduced to people by basically having a halter put on them one day and being towed around by a bunch of kids. Even if someone with a bit of sense got to them first and trained them well, you never knew when someone would do something mean to them out of ignorance or just because. Their patience and tolerance was amazing, and I agree, they generally are quite happy to take the path of least resistance.

I still have a lot of affection for cows from my school days. I had my first shot at counter-conditioning with cows. It was a pretty dismal failure, but I was 16 and I was up against some intense aversion. Poor treatment of cows leaves lifelong scars. No one much tries to overcome them.

[J...]

I was referring to all the sneaky nose-swipes down the school uniform

That's just part and parcel of being in close contact with any animal. I won't mention what Zee wiped on my shirt the other night, suffice to say the cow sh*t was the most acceptable part :D

Problem with big animals is once they are seen as "tame" many don't respect their size as they expect them to become robots. Things which start off "cute" get real ugly real quick when the animal in question has the potential to reach the tonne mark. :D

Edited June 3, 2010 by Jess.

[lovemesideways]

Oh, I agree Jess. I was referring to all the sneaky nose-swipes down the school uniform, walking you into fences and squashing you there, and I swear some of them deliberately stepped on your feet. But those cows lived at a school farm. They saw all sorts and had learnt a few tricks. It took a while to gain their trust if they'd been introduced to people by basically having a halter put on them one day and being towed around by a bunch of kids. Even if someone with a bit of sense got to them first and trained them well, you never knew when someone would do something mean to them out of ignorance or just because. Their patience and tolerance was amazing, and I agree, they generally are quite happy to take the path of least resistance.

I still have a lot of affection for cows from my school days. I had my first shot at counter-conditioning with cows. It was a pretty dismal failure, but I was 16 and I was up against some intense aversion. Poor treatment of cows leaves lifelong scars. No one much tries to overcome them.

Regarding Cows. I have a friend who owns a farm, and all the farmers around him think hes a bit strange cause he's trained all his animals like dogs.

So he goes out to the cows in the morning, walks into the field, holds out his arms and Whistles for them to come. They all come galloping up for lots of pats and treats

[corvus]

So he goes out to the cows in the morning, walks into the field, holds out his arms and Whistles for them to come. They all come galloping up for lots of pats and treats

That's awesome! The fellow who came to look after our school farm part-time once the first guy was getting too old for full-time work trained the sheep to come when called. He'd whistle and they would all gallop down from wherever they had been and he'd feed them. Who needs a sheepdog? He quickly became the go-to person when you had a cow that was scaring the bejesus out of you or wouldn't get up off the ground purely because at least you knew he wouldn't belt the living daylights out of it. But he seemed more comfortable with the smaller animals. As if a sheep couldn't send you flying if it wanted to.

[newfsie]

I love horses and being around horses. Horses teach you honesty. They are a lot more sensitive to your moods and they are not as forgiving as dogs....they also teach you calmness. Because if you are calm, sensitive and quiet in your behaviour you get more from your horse. It has taught me to be better around dogs.

And I also love working with cattle....If you treat cattle well they are great to be around. Prey animals are quite different to work with compared to dogs, but in some ways you can use similar methods.

I just love animal psychology and learning about their behaviour in the wild