The clicker and Maraschino

Maraschino was a little affected by the grass (they went into a new paddock two days ago) still today so I had a big play with him while the other two were out grazing. First I gave him a big brush and cleaned out his feet - they are in desperate need for a trim.

I got the clicker out - it was quite windy and I was interested to see how quickly he picked up that click means treat. He didn't take very long so quite quickly I added the behaviour that he should turn his head away rather than mug me for treats or nibble my hands, bag etc. He didn't take very long to figure out that as soon as he turned his head away he got a click, then a treat.

Off we went up towards the geese, ducks, chickens and yappy dogs that all belong to the neighbours.
I was really pleased he stayed focussed on me and the clicker which was great. I clicked when he stepped on the pedastal and at one stage while he had two front feet on the little yappy dogs appeared through the bushes, barking. Maraschino bless him kind of hunkered down with his back end - almost like when you accidentally get cold water on their tail, but he stayed on it which was cool. Once he was calm again I clicked and gave him a treat.

Then I made it a little harder, and asked him to step on to the pedastal from further away. He did, I clicked, then on about his 6th time he got all feet on it so he got the jackpot - all the rest of the grain in my bag and we called it a day.

In between all that - we went for a walk round the house - checked out the reflections in the windows (he's not very sure about seeing himself yet) and the flapping washing. It was also an exercise in taking Maraschino out of sight from Garbo too.

You can see here over the top of Maraschino back, Garbo and Coco. In sight here but on the pedastal and by the washing line Garbo couldn't see us. Surprisingly he was quite calm about it.

What did everyone else get up to this weekend? What was the weather like where you are?