Fascinated, Not Frustrated

Sonny definitely woke up on the wrong side of the stall yesterday. He had his ears glued backwards and did not want to do anything! I started out the night with just some simple porcupine and things like that and he was grumpy, grumpy, grumpy. I was about to get frustrated that he was in such a bad mood when I realized I should be fascinated instead!

I took a step back and broke down the situation. He is LBI, so the more I try to get him to do anything the more he is going to 'rebel'. Obviously I was not being provocative enough to gain his interest. So I changed the plan in order to engage his brain and interest.

Trick training is perfect for LBIs. A lot of the stuff requires minimal energy, there is a ton of incentive, and it makes them use that smart brain of theirs and helps them feel smart. Sonny knows how to give kisses, but that is about it. Time to expand!

If you remember this post, Sonny LOVES the pedestal (along with probably the majority of the LBI population). He loves it so much he puts effort into standing on it because he knows either a rest or treat follows. In order to not only engage his brain but also to expand the things we can do with different objects, I decided it would be a fun idea to teach him to just put one foot on the pedestal when I say 'up'.

I wasn't really sure how this was going to work out considering the only trick I have ever taught a horse was to give kisses! I started out with him really close and would direct him the same way I would to get him to stand on the pedestal and said 'Up' at the same time. The first two or three times he put two feet on and I backed him off so only one foot was on, then rubbed and let him rest. About the 4th time he put only one foot on! Then, about the 6th or 7th time, all I had to do was say Up and he put his foot on! WOW! Not only did he catch on, he immediately was giving me two eyes and two ears, asking "Do you want me to put my foot on here?". I can't believe how fast his whole mood/attitude changed!

I know Sonny is incredibly smart, but it still blew me away at how fast he caught on! I was beyond fascinated. This kind of reminds me of when you watch animal planet and Caesar talks about giving dogs a job. Not only does it make them feel important and smart, but it gives them something to set their mind to. This is what I need to do with Sonny. I know I probably mention this in every post, but every day I constantly gain more knowledge of how important this is and how to put practice to purpose.

Lesson of the day: No longer can I go out there and expect to warm up in the most mundane way ever. I can't start out with a little bit of circling game, oh jump the jump now, lets yo-yo a little bit,  now we can push that ball and so on. That just isn't going to cut it anymore. Not only do I need to have interesting things in mind for the whole play session, but our warm up is just as important. Linda recently posted about this on her blog, but now I truly understand it. I always used the excuse 'well he is LBI, so we warm up slow'. Yes, our warm up is going to be different than with an LBE, but 'slow' does not mean boring! Putting a foot on the pedestal is slow, but it is obviously not boring! I need to engage his brain and get him with me from the very start to improve everything else for the day.

One of Sonny's first few times on the pedestal at the old barn!

Putting Playing to Purpose

If you have ever had an LBI (or perhaps you are one, yourself!), you already know how challenging it can be to bring up his (or your!) playdrive. We call them the 7 games, but my LBI doesn't always think of them like that. There are some days where he looks at anything that involves moving as the dreaded w word...work!

Yesterday started out like every other day. I let him loose in the arena to roll and investigate if any sources of food have shown up since the day before. He always has to fix the playground I set up for the day; yesterday he threw cones, rolled the barrels and moved the balls to where he thought they should go. Normally I move them back to be able to accomplish what I had in mind for the day, but since I have been focused on hearing out his opinion lately, I left them where he had put them and decided to work with that.

Our day started out slow with lots of incentive. Things like 'touch it' come into play when he lacks motivation and are a great way to get him going somewhere with a 'rest' at the end. After some playing with the cones and a pole he started to look a little more alive. We moved down to the other end of the arena where he had placed the barrel and balls. He had them set up like this:

As always, I was trying to be creative in order to engage that smart brain of his. He had actually choosen a very interesting way to set things up and made it out to be a perfect playground! He could figure 8 around the red ball and green ball, around the red ball and barrel, squeeze or yo-yo between the barrel and green ball, change direction around the red ball or between the barrel and green ball, touch it, and so on...the possibilities were endless!

As we started the first thing I noticed were the questions! No longer did he just go up to the red ball and push it, he asked "What should we do now with the ball?". Coming from an LBI who always wants to do things his way, this was astonishing! Not only was he asking questions, he was having a great time! We were playing. He started out at a walk with a grumpy face and before I knew it he was so focused, listening to me, and trotting!!! I couldn't help but to find myself laughing and having such a great time as we maneuvered through the obstacles.

Lesson of the Day: My LBI will never be like my dog; I can't just get out a toy and have him be excited about playing. In order to get him to want to play, I first have to get his mind playing. He absolutely has to be engaged mentally in order for him to be engaged physically.

Our relationship has been improving so much lately, but this is going to take it to a whole new level. I hope that this influences him to want to be (and play) with me not only because there is a potential for treats and rests, but because of the fun we have together! This is a big challenge for me to become creative as ever in order to influence his mind into playing. Considering he was so creative yesterday, who knows what we will come up with next!

Being a Better Partner

After the realization that I have a tendence to be a direct line thinker, I have been working really hard to be a better human for Sonny. If I except him to hold up his responsibilites as a parter, I should, too.

I have been trying to be more creative to give him things that are more fun for him to do. My creativity levels aren't very high, but so far things like sideways over the ball on top of the tarp are new and interesting enough for him to be more willing and excited about things. On the savvy forum I saw an audition where the weave cones were on a circle. I thought that was a great idea...so did Sonny!

Not only did I ask him to weave the cones, sometimes he would have to stay on the inside or the outside, skip a cone, sidepass over one, or do transitions in between them. This really got him thinking! Thinking enough for him to come into me with two ears forward! Woo hoo!!

 

The more fun something is, the more effort he is willing to put into it and the better our relationship is going to be. I really need to work on expanding my creativity and to always keep incentive in mind. Things can only get better from here!

Look at his inside ear focused on me :).