I just returned from several days at a convention in Oakland of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers where hundreds of professional dog trainers, shelter workers and humane society folk gathered to learn the latest and greatest in the world of pet dog training.
One of the more interesting demonstrations was a woman who managed to get seasoned professional trainers look like they just stepped out of school by training chickens. Terry Ryan is a trainer who lives in Washington state. For years, she has been holding chicken camps for trainers. The reasoning for the use of chickens is if the signal isn’t calm and clear for a behavior, well then your chicken takes flight. “It’s impossible to force a chicken to do anything,” says Ryan.
Ryan uses clickers, which emit a metallic sound, which when paired with a reward, provide meaning to a cue. It’s sort of a Marco Polo game..”Yeah, closer, warmer…oh, it’s getting hot. Bingo!”
Click and give the chicken something yummy. Do several repetitions of this so the chicken appears to understand that the click means a treat. Lure the chicken to do something, when it gets closer to the behavior (jumping on a stool) then click and treat with the yummy. (Lettuce works!)
I must admit, I was too shy to participate in the workshop at the conference so my nine girls at home are now my teachers.
If it takes working with chickens to get people to understand humane training, I think chickens are happy to contribute.
