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How to Clicker Train a Sheep
By Nancy Chase
You will need:
· A friendly sheep
· A dog-training clicker (available at most pet supply stores)
· A small bucket of grain
· A pointer (a long, slender dowel works well)
· Obstacles and props
1. Remember to keep your training sessions short! No more than 10-15 minutes at a time. You want to leave the sheep feeling curious and eager to play with you again next time, not bored and frustrated from too many demands in a row.
2. Choose a sheep that truly wants to interact with you. If the sheep is nervous or uninterested, you're not going to succeed. Bottle babies are good candidates, but any tame, people-oriented sheep will do.
3. Choose a setting where the sheep feels calm and comfortable, but where you won't be swarmed with other sheep once they discover you're handing out treats. A small pen or paddock that is enclosed but within sight of the rest of the flock is a good choice.
4. Hang your grain bucket somewhere convenient for you, but out of the sheep's reach. Take a handful of grain in one hand and your training clicker in the other. Click the clicker, then instantly feed the sheep some grain. The sheep may jump at the unaccustomed noise at first, but keep repeating it until she associates the noise with the treats, and looks around eagerly whenever you click.
5. At this point, the sheep will probably be fixated on your hands, because that's where the noise and the treats are coming from. Now it's time to introduce the pointer. Do it slowly and calmly so the sheep is not frightened by this new object. Once she is calm, hold the pointer so the tip is near her nose. If she doesn't instinctively reach to sniff the pointer, gently move it so that it touches her nose. Immediately click the clicker, and feed the reward. Repeat this until the sheep learns that touching the pointer earns a treat. Once the sheep has that mastered, end the lesson with lots of praise. That's enough for the first session.
5. The next day, repeat the previous steps. They should go more quickly this time, as the sheep remembers what she's learned. Then concentrate on getting the sheep to touch the pointer when it's a little further away. Once she will confidently walk a few steps to touch the pointer, you can start moving it away slightly as she approaches. It may take a couple of sessions, but before long, the sheep will have learned to follow the pointer anywhere. You can move it this way and that, turn the sheep in circles, or walk all around the paddock, with the sheep following wherever you point the pointer.
6. After this, the tricks you can teach are limited only by your imagination. Point the pointer toward the platform you want the sheep to stand on or the beach ball you want her to butt, or the hoop you want her to jump through, and when the sheep does some approximation of what you want, click and treat. As the sheep begins to understand what it is you're asking, you can hold off a little longer with your clicks until the sheep's attempts are a little closer to perfection.
This method of training takes repetition and persistence. You must be patient and break each trick down into tiny, individual steps that the sheep can learn one at a time. But once you master the technique there are almost no limits to what you can teach!
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Ultra The Trick Sheep
By Nancy Chase
Her loud, “BAAAA!” trumpets across the barnyard, and I hear the clickety-clatter of hooves behind me. I don't need to turn around to know who it is. A moment later, I feel her muzzle press against me as she tugs at my pant leg with her teeth to get my attention. Of course, it's Ultra. Who else would it be?
From the day she was born, Ultra loved humans more than sheep. Although she was never a bottle baby, she bonded to me so strongly that for the entire first year of her life, she would spend most of her time apart from the other sheep, lingering near the house, yelling for me at the top of her lungs.
I'm not the sole object of her obsession, though. It could be anyone. She is perfectly happy to approach total strangers: men, women, even packs of running, yelling children. It doesn't matter, she'll go right up to them and let them hug her. Delivery men sometimes find her trying to climb into their vehicles.
It sounds adorable, until you're the one who has to live, never being able to step foot outside your house without that enthusiastic, earsplitting blat trumpeting your arrival, and that wooly black sidekick glued to your side, following you everywhere, “helping” with every task. She had too much energy, too much enthusiasm, and no useful outlet for it. Many's the time I wished that Ultra would be a bit more like a normal sheep!
The idea to teach her to do tricks came one afternoon when Ultra was in the backyard playing with a visitor. With just a few minutes of encouragement, my friend had her coming when he called and following at his heels like a dog, even if he took off around the house at a full run.
Around the same time, I happened to see a fabulous YouTube video of a man who had used clicker training to teach his lamb to do obedience and agility tasks, just like a dog. As soon as I saw that video, I knew I could do the same thing with Ultra. Perhaps that would give her an outlet for all that energy!
I've trick trained horses and dogs before, and I already had a training clicker, so next time I had a few spare minutes, I gave Ultra her first lesson. She quickly learned to associate the clicks with getting a treat, and after that, there was no stopping her.
Within a few 15-minute sessions, she was jumping jumps and hopping up onto platforms on command. Later, I also taught her to jump through hoops, and to kick or butt a beach ball. Any trick that involved the types of actions a sheep might normally do---anything involving walking, jumping, climbing, negotiating obstacles, nudging, or butting something---she picked up within just a few tries. Non-sheeplike activities---such as picking something up in her mouth and carrying it---she learned with more reluctance, since she didn't seem to understand why anyone would want to do something like that.
I really haven't spent all that much time training her, but she loves it whenever I do. She's even happy to entertain farm visitors by wearing costumes while she performs. You can see a couple of video clips of her doing her thing here and here.
I didn't set out to be a sheep trainer. I'm just as practical as anyone when it comes to wanting my flock to produce high quality meat and fleece, not circus tricks. But as an ambassador for the Icelandic breed, Ultra is turning out to be invaluable. When customers come to visit the farm, and Ultra runs to greet them even before I have a chance to step out of the house, those customers are invariably charmed and delighted. They all end up wanting one just like her.
Over the past summer, Ultra has mellowed a lot, and is now content to live with the rest of the flock. But she still does bleat at the top of her voice to announce my arrival, whenever she sees me. And she still does follow me around if I'm out in the yard. She is expecting her first lambs in May. It will be interesting to see if her babies turn out with the same amazing personality! |
