Jeremiah had a day off yesterday due to some personal business and the heavy rain from Tropical Storm Sally. So, in the meantime, I'll go over one aspect of his training I don't think I mentioned.
The first morning Jeremiah arrived, I lined up the corral panels to create a chute he could walk through form the trailer into his pen. He moved cautiously and picked the corner furthest from me, as any prey animal would. Throughout the day, I peeked out at him through the back door window or glanced at him as I walked to the barn to attend to the horses. He remained on full alert. He was tense and nervous. His eyes wide and apprehensive. His nose taking in the new smells and sounds, his head high, and his ears flicking back and forth. This was the moment when I could most likely frighten him. I thought the best thing for him would be to establish a routine right away. I also had cleaning to do in his pen, beginning after evening feeding.
I clean the stalls and paddocks twice per day. It helps me spot trouble early (less poop than normal, watery, dry, etc...) and interact with the horses to check on their well-being. I need to be able to enter their pen, or stall, without spooking them, and scoop using the manure fork, sometimes close to their hooves. In fact, our horses let us scoop under their bellies without batting an eye.
To decide how to establish this with a wild burro, I thought about all the things that are most likely to upset him when I step into his 20 foot by 30 foot training pen. The list includes directly looking into his eyes, waving arms, moving fast, moving towards him, getting behind him, the manure fork itself, and any loud noises. With that in mind, I entered with the manure fork close to my body, looked at the ground, moved in straight, predictable routes, and gave him as much room as possible to move away while I was going after one of his poop piles. Over the next few days, he understood that when I entered while looking towards him and talking to him, it was a training session, but if I entered looking at the ground (for poops) this was not a time he would be asked to do anything. Though watchful, he quickly relaxed in my presence twice per day for cleaning. This was ideal because these short cleaning sessions gave him the opportunity to study me without me looking at him or making him too nervous. He could get used to the way I moved and the way I spoke quietly to him. Over time, he no longer worried about the manure fork I carried and I always gave him plenty of time to move before I picked up a pile near him. I didn't think of it as training, but it was! It taught him more about me than I realized.
During his day off yesterday, when I cleaned his paddock, he approached me and reached his head out. He clearly wanted attention, so I stopped what I was doing and scratched him for a few minutes. When he was satisfied, I went back to work. This was the first time he felt brave enough to solicit attention. This is big for JJ. He is the shyest donkey I have ever worked with. It's no surprise he chose a cleaning moment to do it. This is his safe time.
This morning was another step. I always park the wheelbarrow in the same place in his paddock, just outside the stall, but not blocking the doorway, so he can exit the stall before I clean. This is what he has been doing ever since I moved him into the stall/paddock. But today, he chose to keep eating in his stall, so I quietly worked around him in the stall, always ensuring he could leave, if he wanted. I was closer to his hooves than I have ever been with the manure fork and I even walked behind him briefly.
Now, I really appreciate how important these little twice per day house-cleaning tasks are for training. It's helped him become more comfortable with me. Soon, he will be as relaxed as the horses. He might even become like our son's gelding where I have to practically wake him up to ask him to move his foot so I can get all of the pile he's standing on. In fact, the other donkeys we've had were notorious for garnering attention during cleaning time. They would move between us and the wheelbarrow to insist on scratches. Our first donkey even knocked the wheelbarrow over, if he could! He thought it was very amusing. Perhaps they wonder why it's so important to us to collect their droppings!
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