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"TRICKS"
TIME TO HAVE FUN
BY KATHY SPERDUTO March 2002 |
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In the past we have covered several types of training and problem solving. We've seen how smart our pigs can be as far as outsmarting us. Now it's time to steer those smarts into another direction. If any of you have dogs, I'm sure you've taught them one or two, maybe more tricks. And I'm sure you have found somewhere down the line that some dogs are smarter than others and it can take a while to accomplish a simple trick. Well stand back and make room for your pig. In the time it would take a dog to accomplish one trick, a pig can learn two or three. There are all different types of methods for training some better than others. If you read my other article on learning your pig's language and are now talking pig Latin quite fluently, your job will be made a little easier. But never the less even for an amateur your trick training can and should be fun for you and your pig. Clicker
or Not You can purchase a clicker from some local pet supply stores. Party supply stores sometimes have small toy trinkets that make the same sound as an animal clicker. And if none of those can be found a lid from a Snapple jar when pushed in the center works very well. After the clicker has been found your next job will be in showing the pig exactly what the clicker noise is all about. To start with grab yourself a handful of treats and with treats in one hand and clicker in the other get your pigs attention. Now what you need to do is click the clicker and give your pig a treat. Do this seven or eight times, wait awhile, twenty minutes or so and repeat, click, treat, click, treat. Do this a couple times a day for the first day or so. Your pig should then be in turn to the sound of the click meaning food is coming. Now this is where the hard part for you comes in, remember what I said before, timing is everything. If your pig already knows a trick, start with that. Ask him to do the trick, and at the exact point of him doing the trick correctly, click the clicker, wait 2 seconds and give him a treat. Do this a couple of times. When teaching him a new trick, the clicker will be used in stages, for example; to get your pig to go to a mark. Cut yourself a piece of plywood or cardboard to about a one foot square, depending on the size of your pig, the square may have to be larger than a foot. This will be your mark. What you are going to accomplish is, on command, the pig will walk over to the mark, stand and stay. How you would start this is to place the mark on the floor about two or three feet away from you and wait for your pig to make a move. If he walks up to the mark to check it out and touches it, click, walk up to him and give him a treat. If he only walks half way up to it, at that very second before he turns away, click and give him a treat. On this particular trick, you are going to want to walk up to him each time to give him the treat. It will get your pig to stay put for the future stand and stay. Repeat these steps a few times, each time picking up the mark and placing it in a different spot. |
Now starts the process of elimination. Don't click until he touches the mark and stays there for a second. Then click and treat. What he is probably going to do is touch it and immediately look at you to hear the clicker and get his treat. Don't say anything, just wait for him to touch it again then click and treat. The next step is to get him to put a foot on the mark, so hold back on the clicker and the treat until he attempts to do so. Making sure each time you click and treat the moment he accomplishes what you are looking for. This rule will go for each trick you are trying to teach your pig or any other animal for that matter, working one small step at a time. When he accomplishes the final step you can then give the trick a name; such as, say "go to mark", or "mark, your pig will then associate this word with the trick. When the pig does the act, click and treat. It is a good idea to keep treats in your pocket along with your clicker for those times when your pig decides to do something on his own that you can later turn into a trick. This again is where the clicker comes in handy. When your pig is at a distance away from you and is ding a wanted behavior, use your clicker to let him know this was a wanted behavior. If you did your homework right, he will know when he hears the sound; his last move was a good one. Hopefully he will then know to go back and do it again for another treat. This again is why timing is important. If you choose voice training you would follow the same basic steps but at the point where the clicker was used, you would respond with "good pig", "excellent pig", etc. Being sure to use the same word each time. Pigs tend to respond better to an excited higher pitched voice. A Few
Tricks Just a hint of peanut butter though because you don't want him to spend a lot of time licking off the delicious treat, (remember, this is not meant to be the treat). You just want enough to get his interest, put his mouth on it, and and that point you would click and treat. To get him to push an object, for instance, like rolling out a carpet. You would roll up the carpet placing a small treat (raisins work real well on this one), every six inches to a foot apart. Put the carpet on the floor and with the treat at the base of the roll, hopefully your pigs rooting instinct will kick in. He should roll the carpet out looking for more treats. As he is performing this task, repeat the word "push". Each time you roll up the carpet; put fewer treats further apart until you only have one at the end. Then eliminate that one for the one you give him when he rolls it out all the way on his own. Go ahead and use your imagination, your pig can be taught something as simple as a sit to learning his ABC's. But remember never ask your pig to do anything he is not physically capable of doing. |
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