Celebrate “culture” in agriculture & share skills like growing, cooking, canning

Clicker Training a Goat

I love clicker training. I use it to train all my dogs and puppies. It's an amazing tool, but I have to admit I've never considered using it to train my goats. At least not until I saw this. Amazing.

I've had such amazing success with dogs using a clicker that I don't have to be sold on it's value as a training tool. It's what they use at places like Sea World to train the marine animals and was introduced to dog trainers by a former Sea World trainer, Karen Pryor. She has a number of books out on the subject and I've seen her speak at an Association of Pet Dog Trainers conference. Most dog trainers are using clicker or some variation of positive reinforcement training methods these days and I've heard it said a good dog trainer should be able to train another species other than dogs using clicker if their worth their salt. But it just never entered my mind to try training the goats.

I can see this as being a great tool to teach proper milk stand behavior or to teach a young goat to walk on lead. With puppies, they get it so quickly. I would imagine it would be the same with a kid. Like little sponges. I've wanted to do some packing with my goats and this could be a wonderful tool for that as well.

I can't wait to try it. So what did you think?

http://atinyhomestead.blogspot.com

Comment

You need to be a member of HOMEGROWN to add comments!

Join HOMEGROWN

Comment by Elizabeth Wilson on November 18, 2010 at 8:26pm: I am so glad others have enjoyed this. I was just amazed when I saw this goat heeling, spinning and backing up. I hadn't thought about horses either. My dogs and puppies get so excited when I have the clicker. They know good things are coming. It makes training fun for all concerned.

Comment by Kali on November 18, 2010 at 8:17pm: Love the video. Aren't goats intelligent little guys by nature? I've wanted one for AGES but live in one of those anti-farm animal areas. Ugh.
I briefly played with clicker training with my horse a few years ago and loved it. We just did a few fun tricks like nod, shake, head down... he picked it up in a heartbeat and seemed to really enjoy it. It seems to be the reaction from most animals. They love something they can really GET with no so little pressure.
I'm glad you posted this though because I am planning to get a puppy soon and had managed to completely forget about my clicker. I will definitely be dusting it off.

Comment by Cornelia on November 18, 2010 at 5:22pm: I've been telling people about this video all day! I love that this can actually be helpful for milking, herding, etc! Also, I love how her little tail wags! :) Thanks so much for sharing.