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Wait, That’s Not a Dog: Training Other Species
In the past, I’ve had the good fortune of living with a number of different species: dogs, cats, rats, guinea pigs, a rabbit, two agoutis, and ducks. (I’ve also done a smattering of training with horses, llamas, lemurs, goats, and a spider monkey.)
I’ve always enjoyed training other species and seeing how our positive reinforcement training techniques work so effectively on any creature we’re working with. But it’s also interesting to notice the differences from one species to the next, and how those differences impact the way we go about our training.
This month, I’ve begun advising a university professor whose team is now working with and training captive agoutis in Panama. It’s so exciting to see the progress they’re making with these wild animals.
In the clip below, one of my agoutis is learning how to recycle!
What other creatures, besides dogs, have you worked with? What were some noticeable differences between species that impacted your training plans and the goals you set?
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10 Replies
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Well, this is a super cool opportunity for you!
I went to a weekend trainer seminar a couple of years ago. It consisted of both learning and hands on. We had choices of mini horses, guinea pigs, sheep, goats, and cats as our ” clients”.
Oh boy was it fun and challenging in some ways to work with each individual species!!
I worked with all except the cats and mini horses ( ran out of time!).
My chosen task was to get the goat to place one foot on a step up type box. I managed to get as far as shaping a few quick individual taps of the hoof on the box.
Goats and sheep have their own agenda! I think they have been hanging out and taking advice from Great Pyrenees!!!
Great experience overall. It makes you think outside the canine box for sure.
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What an awesome experience you had, @jenz — thank you for sharing! I agree, it really does help us to think outside the box when we work with other species, and ultimately I think it can make us better trainers with our dogs.
I was an instructor at a workshop in Spain years ago, held at a private zoo. My students got to work with goats and lemurs. I was actually really impressed by how trainable the goats were, and regular hogs for the treats! We did head targeting with the lovely lemurs and I fell ridiculously in love with them.
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Ah, I love this topic. I’ve often said that training other species makes me a better dog trainer. The dogs are primed to figure us out because of our long canine-human relationship. Thousands of years working together has its advantages for scaffolding communications. When we blip, they still get us. Similarly, other domestic animals have a “leg up” so to speak, on getting what we want, and importantly, not being completely freaked out when we misstep.
Wild animals, not so much.
So, this is a great topic and I hope everyone reading seeks an opportunity to work with a different species. At a minimum, check out clicker training/shaping videos on youtube where trainers are teaching goldfish, guineas and goats to do crazy stuff. Even iguanas and other reptiles are learning cooperative care stationing … and birds, well, they are so smart and can do so much.
I’ve gotten to work with clicker training horses, mini-donkeys, llamas, goats (agree they are remarkably brilliant!), cockatoos, a vulture(!), and I used to teach clicker-kitten camps for kids at the humane society long ago. What a blast.
Each animal brings so much to the table, and sharpens not only our observation skills, but our creative thinking (what motivates this one?) and timing. (Can we talk about getting default behaviors, to JUST STAND THERE WITHOUT THROWING YOUR FEET AROUND, when working with a 1500lb animal!?)
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Kitten clicker training camps for kids at a humane society — hard to imagine anything better than that! ????
And training a vulture!!! That is too cool, @catherine ! What behaviors did you teach the vulture?
I am a big fan of vultures. Many years ago, during/after a huge winter storm, a black vulture that was unable to fly was hanging around under one of my decks, with daytime sunning on the south side of the house. I provided raw meat and hoped he’d have a bit of time to heal and then go on his way. Then I read that black vultures eat both live animals and carrion. With 3 toy-sized dogs, I got worried. So when animal control was finally able to drive safely in all the residual snow, he was captured and brought to a wildlife rehab place. My BC helped to herd the vulture close enough for the AC officer to capture him.
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That’s a fun (and a little scary) encounter with a black vulture, Virginia. They are gorgeous creatures. I recently had the experience of seeing hundreds of them roosting and soaring in the wild. They are so quiet! It’s true, they eat literally anything and will absolutely kill a weakened live creature. I think if the creature can run, they’re safe, but I wouldn’t bet on it with wee dogs. Smart move to have the rehab come get it.
I was consulting at a zoo with their educational/teaching animals and the vulture had decided she no longer wanted to get into a crate for transportation. We fixed it in one session, with food lures and shaping. ???? It’s all about timing and reinforcement, no matter what the species!
And kids + kittens + clickers…. what a wonderful time that was! Chaotic and ridiculous, and so much fun.
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We also took the kids to see a friend of mine who trains cockatoos, and they got to experience working with them as well.
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Love this!
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Such an important and practical skill for the vulture to learn, getting into a crate.
Going into a crate was one of the early skills the professor wanted his grad students to work on with the wild-caught agoutis. They have a very large enclosure for freedom of movement, but they needed to know they could get the agoutis back into their crates when needed. They got the skill started using a target stick.
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Target training is such a great foundation for so many behaviors! Fun times.
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