My Clever Girl!!!

domane

Retired cob mum
Jul 31, 2005
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Just wanted to share something I have achieved with Cherry....

When I first got her the second she saw her feed bucket she would start banging her stable door. Initially I yelled at her but then I read a post on here about pawing and "negative attention". I wanted to try and get her out of the habit as it's so LOUD for one thing with her great big cob-sized feet!!

So I decided that every she banged her stable door I would just stop what I was doing, turn squarely to her and stare her in the eye. And it's working SOOOO well.... Tonight I was able to mix up Cherry's whole feed - garlic, Superflex, speedibeet, Happy Hoof PLUS sliced veg, all prepared (and sliced) in front of her - I suppose it takes a good 3mins+ and tonight she pawed two times, just one tentative knock each time. It's funny because when I do the stare (I never say a word BTW and I always keep a completely impassive face, not aggressive or anything) Cherry pricks her ears and "stares" back hopefully, but I always wait until she looks away first and she always does this little thing where she momentarily puts her ears back and turns away and gives a little shake of her head as if to say "Dammit, she's got me again!" but she has obviously learned that by pawing it delays her getting her grub! It reminds me of when you were kids and used to do that "first one to blink" staring game with your mates!!!

Clearly it's a dominance thing which I appear to have won on this occasion and if it makes me sound a bit scary, I would also like to add that I always give her a great big pat and a kiss for being "good" whilst I prepared her tea!

She's a clever gal and it's so peaceful! :D
 
awww i wish shearer was so well beaved at feeding time! do you have any other pictures of her, i thought she was gorgeous on the other thread???
 
Brilliant! Well done, you're the clever one too :p I like animal training where the animal feels it isn't being threatened by the situation and gets rewarded for behaving appropriately, like clicker training. :D
 
iloveshearer said:
awww i wish shearer was so well beaved at feeding time! do you have any other pictures of her, i thought she was gorgeous on the other thread???


Oh alright then.... JUST for you... because I really don't like showing her off too much (yeah, right :D )

This was her yesterday cooling down in her new fleece after she tried bolting... sorry it's a bit large!
Fleece1.jpg


This is our enigmatic "staring into middle distance" arty shot.... :D
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This is to prove that she loves to roll when it's warm enough for no rug!!!
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Action shot....
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Posing..... (before the winter coat REALLY took hold...)
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Awww Chez - I don't 'arf love yooooooo......
Cherry6.jpg
 
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