If Raven were a dog I would say that she suffers from barrier frustration. She does not like to be contained, and she does not like being stuck in place A when she wants to be in place B. At her worst she will run fence lines with her head over the top and her chest brushing against the posts, and even at her best she is prone to bolting through gates.
When Raven first arrived I had a stick (or broom or whatever) in-hand whenever I let her through a gate. She soon learned that calm and collected behavior earned her the right pass through while drama queen antics earned her a lot of hard work on the wrong side of the fence (so to speak). But sometime over the course of the summer she perfected the art of bolting from a seemingly-calm-and-collected standstill and gate passages became uncomfortably unpredictable. Over the past week I have been (1) haltering her, (2) doing some ground work, (3) passing respectfully through the gate, (4) doing some more ground work, and (5) unhaltering her. It seems like a ridiculous step backwards, but it also seems to be working -- she is more relaxed each day. Next week I will start surprising her with unassisted passages and, hopefully, we'll get back to where we started.
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5 comments:
Hmm, maybe a "ridiculous step backwards" is an extinction burst before she FINALLY gives up her gatecrashing ways? It kinda fits the definition, and if so it means she'll quit soon!
I'll confess that I had to look up "extinction burst". Very astute -- you must have paid more attention in ecology than me.
Glad to see that you are working on her behaviour through the gates; it can be very dangerous. This is my first visit to your blog, love the picture of the goats in the VW van!
Thanks for your comment and your visit, Shirley. I try not to let her get away with too much, but she keeps me on my toes. And yes, the goats do love their van...
Oh, I learned about it from studying dog training.
I know a bunch of really random stuff, but I learned almost none of it in class. For instance, I spent my entire first year of law school learning about hoof physiology, trimming theories, turnout theories, etc. Way more interesting than another sloooow class on the nuances of acceptance of a contract.
Anyway, yeah, sure sounds to me like a bad habit finally going extinct!
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