Goats and Donkeys
What does training goats, donkeys, and alpacas have to do with training dogs? Let me tell you!
Nikki here! I am a lifelong learner, always eager to discover new ways to support our team at Airdrie Puppy Pals. While some people enjoy reading for leisure, I love diving into a good book on learning theory. The saying, "When you love what you do, you never work a day in your life," truly resonates with me! So when my friend Barb—a fantastic dog trainer and RVT from the eastern coast of Canada—suggested we join two of our Veterinary Behaviorist friends for a week-long adventure in cross-species training, my answer was an enthusiastic YES!
I honestly didn’t entirely know what to expect. Every day started with a 1.5-hour lecture on learning theory, followed by a session working with our assigned animals, then another 1.5-hour lecture, a group lunch, yet another 1.5-hour lecture, another working session, and finally a group dinner. The lectures were interesting—there was a good balance between topics I had learned previously, which served as great refreshers, and new perspectives on things I had not considered before
Each participant was assigned a human partner and a primary animal to work with. My assigned animal was a donkey named Sparkles. As someone who primarily works with dogs, Sparkles operated at a pace I wasn’t accustomed to. It was fascinating to see how quickly she picked up on the nuances of my body language and how, throughout the week, we built our bond. My human partner was Alice—a lovely person who lives and works with equines in the United Kingdom. Her assigned animal was a donkey named Rottie. We were also each asked to choose two main behaviors to teach our animals during the week. Alice decided to work on spins in both directions and an A-to-B target, where we would teach Rottie to walk from a starting point (A) to a place on the fence post (B) using only a hand gesture. Sparkles and I worked on an extended target, where she would touch her nose to a shape for more than a second, and an A-to-B target using us humans as the A and B. I asked our instructor for something Sparkles hadn’t done before because I wanted to experience shaping a behavior from scratch with an unfamiliar animal, relying solely on my experience and education.
Our instructor was Ken Ramirez, who has had a fascinating career, from working at the Shedd Aquarium to helping train scent dogs to find sea turtle nests and rerouting elephants in Zambia to avoid poaching hotspots in the Republic of Congo. Ken shared both technical theory and real-life stories, showing videos and examples ranging from someone teaching their goldfish to swim through hoops to elephants voluntarily presenting their ears for blood draws through protected contact. He also shared where he could have done something differently, and the reminder and humility that we are all human were refreshing and inspiring.
What Did I Learn?
Working with unfamiliar animals was initially intimidating. I know so much about canine body language, vocalizations, and communication, but when it came to a donkey, goat, and alpaca, I felt like a fish out of water. So, what did I do? I slowed down, focused on what I could control (myself!), adapted to their learning speeds, and reminded myself to breathe.
Hands-on practice is fun! I’ve attended many continuing education workshops, but this course taught me that there’s a delicate balance between studying, gaining experience, and honing practical skills. I even received a compliment, which, as someone self-taught, was incredibly rewarding.
Goals can be fluid. I often tell our group classes that training goals should be flexible—when you reach one, you move the goalpost. My training plan throughout the week reflected this fluidity. We worked in short sessions and made sure to quit while we were ahead. By the end of the week, we achieved success! My initial goal was modest—more than one second and more than one foot. By the end, we consistently achieved three seconds for the extended target and four donkey steps between targets. Sparkles and I had fun, and that’s what truly matters.
Overall, it was a great experience, one that I won’t forget. I have a few weeks until my next Continuing Education conference—from now until then, I’ll be taking what I learned to the classroom. Hope to see you in class!
