I went out to work with Louie and Marie today at about 2:00 pm. I figured they would be getting thoughts of evening feeding and be more motivated. I took the dogs out with me today. Marie and Louie came right up when they saw me come out. But, Lance was immediately making a pest of himself as he wanted to play. I had to use my stern, mean voice to convince Lance to stay out of the paddock. The loud voice made Marie nervous so she wandered off. Lance seemed to know I was not talking to him and in fact seemed to want to know why I won't allow him to chase the dog out of the paddock, yet I can do it. Once I had the dog convinced to stay out, Louie was ready to play.
Louie targeting toy in my hand
Louie targeting on ground
At first he did not do as well as we ended yesterday. He would target the toy in my hand but not on the ground the first few times. He attempted mugging me for the treats. I waited him out and he eventually started to figure out that was unproductive. So, he finally started focusing his attention on the toy. My horse has now realized that treats are being given out and was wandering back our way and eventually joined in. She started targeting the toy right away.
Marie and Louie targeting the toy
After a few minutes, they both seemed to really "get" that targeting the toy was what was earning them the treat and they got very consistent about it. I ran out of treats and had to go down to the run-in barn to get more. Marie and Louie followed me down so we continued our work down there. I started tossing the toy a little further away each time and Louie was now consistently targeting it. I was quite pleased. Marie would not walk for it yet. She would only target it on the ground if I threw it close to her.
Louie starting to follow the toss
Enjoyed your short videos! Louie is such a good boy.
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