The Panda Project: Guide Horses For The Blind. Report 1 Continued (Part 3 of 3)
Tufts Animal Expo Panda's next huge challenge came just a few days later. I was scheduled to be one of the presenters at the Tufts Animal Expo which was being held at a convention center in downtown Boston. I couldn't leave Panda at home because there was no one to horse sit her during the day. But if I took her with me, Panda would have to handle city traffic, elevators, slippery marble floors, the exhibit hall and conference rooms, and long hours indoors. The overnight accommodations were taken care of by Sarah Stuurman. She arranged a stall for Panda at the barn where Sarah keeps her stallion, Gregor. By Tuesday I had decided to wimp out and leave Panda there during the day. There were just too many unknowns and stresses for such a young horse. My first presentation was at nine o'clock. If she couldn't handle the elevator, or refused to walk over the marble floors of the convention center, I'd be stuck. That was Tuesday. Wednesday I decided that it was less stressful for Panda to go with me than it was to leave her by herself in a strange barn. Sarah was going to be with me. If Panda couldn't cope with the convention center, I could always leave her with Sarah. If she could handle her stallion, Gregor, she could certainly handle little Panda. I drove to Boston Wednesday afternoon. Panda dozed during most of the three hour trip, settled into her overnight accommodations, and didn't make too much of a fuss when I slipped away out of sight. She had learned at the Lyons' clinic that it was all right for me to disappear. It didn't cause the stress that it had just a few days before. In the morning we got held up by commuter traffic so she was in the car longer than I would have liked. Before we went into the conference center, she had her first major test. Would she relieve on-cue in a parking lot? I put a couple of handfuls of shavings down on the pavement and gave her her cue. Without any hesitation Panda responded. I have to say, my mouth dropped open. I was not expecting the house breaking to be this easy.Fig.: Panda relieving on cue in a downtown Boston parking lot. I continued to be astonished by this little horse. Elevators, city traffic, slippery floors, crowds of people, she handled everything like a seasoned pro. My first presentation was at nine and lasted two hours. Panda showed off her repertoire of clicker-trained behaviors. Then I played some videos. The videos were projected up on a giant screen. The first horse I showed was a clip of Fig, taken from my first video. Panda watched the screen along with everyone else! Ann is going to have to get cable so Panda can watch Animal Planet! When the tape stopped, Panda lay down for a nap. It didn't matter that she was surrounded by people. She stretched flat out on her side and had a long, and, I trust, wonderful dream. After my presentation Panda had another potty break outside. As we headed back to the parking garage, the streets were full of people. We couldn't go two steps without somebody coming up to us to ask questions. Most people had heard about minis being used for guides. The response to Panda was incredible. Everyone was so gracious, and so very accepting of her. That was especially true at the conference where people were thrilled to see her. And, of course, everyone wanted to touch her. That was the one area that caused some training concerns. Panda is not yet entirely comfortable being handled. She fidgets for grooming, and she doesn't like people rushing at her. One of the principles of training states that "you can't ask for something and expect to get it on a consistent basis unless you have gone through a teaching process to teach it to your horse." That's a fundamentally important principle. I had not fussed Panda about her lack of good grooming manners because I had not yet built the ground control that would let me ASK her to stand still. I could MAKE her stand still, but that would have undermined her training and the relationship we are building. With Panda, and indeed with all my horses, I want to be able to ask for specific behaviors, and have them respond because they understand clearly what is wanted and are more than willing to comply. My horses are in the habit of saying "yes" to me, because I don't put them into situations where the only option they see is "no". Panda was getting flooded with people, and she didn't yet have enough of a foundation to know how to accept all the attention. I discovered that most people greeted her by putting their hand under her muzzle. I hadn't yet taught her "leave it", so she was nuzzling them, expecting food, and then getting annoyed when there was nothing there. That was not a problem for me. I could regulate her behavior and keep both Panda and the people safe. But as a working guide this would present problems. Ann would not be able to see when Panda needed to be shifted back from someone's hand. So I made a mental note that I would need to pay particular attention to this aspect of her training. Morgan Spector, the author of "Clicker Training For Obedience", was also presenting at the Expo. On Friday morning he helped me with one important element of this. He played the "leave it" game with Panda. He placed his hand under her nose. She nuzzled his hand, and then eventually looked away. I immediately clicked and reinforced her. Panda caught on fast, and has since enthusiastically played the "leave it" game with others. In her training I use my hand as a positive target, as does Ann. Panda understands that she can orient to our hands, but with everyone else she is figuring out that the best way to get reinforced is to draw her nose away from their outstretched fingers. During the Expo, she showed me that she has another ability a guide must have: she knows how to take opportunistic naps. When I stopped to chat with people, she would stand next to me dozing. At one point I was in the Exhibit Hall next to the Sunshine Books' clicker training booth. The aisle was packed with people, and I was answering a barrage of questions about clicker training and mini guides. Panda decided it was time for a nap. She lay down on the floor, and, in the midst of all those people, sacked out on her side for a long, deep snooze. I was astounded that not only did she feel comfortable enough to lie down with all the noise and commotion around her, but that she also was relaxed enough to sleep. I was truly amazed. Panda joined me for lunch with Karen Pryor, and later participated in my afternoon presentation. We didn't leave the building until almost five. On our drive out of Boston we got stuck in commuter traffic. There were a couple of accidents that slowed everything down to a snail's pace, so we didn't get her settled into her stall until almost seven. Friday morning we left even earlier, but this time traffic was flowing smoothly, so we had a little extra time before the conference started. We took Panda out for a training walk.
Fig.:Panda at a street crossing in downtown Boston.
The day before I had shown Gale Pryor how the clicker can be used to train obstacle avoidance. I walked into a traffic barrel that was blocking a cross walk, then reinforced Panda for finding the way around. Friday morning we decided to video Panda experiencing Boston. I walked her towards the same barrel with the intent of crashing into it again. Panda walked me around it. I would have had to push her to the side to walk into it. I approached it a couple of times, and each time she maneuvered me around it. That was after just one exposure! I was again astounded at both Panda and the power of clicker training. We had a chance to work with an overhead obstacle, a chain strung between two posts to direct pedestrian traffic into a tour bus queue. I gave Panda the command forward. She could walk under the chain without any problem. I, however, crashed into it. I said "oops!", backed her up, and told her to go forward again. Panda reached up with her nose and sniffed the chain. I told her to go forward which she did, and I crashed into the chain a second time. I backed her up, and gave her the forward command again. Without hesitation she turned to the left and took me around the chain! Click and jackpot! What a smart horse! I have not begun her formal guide training, but she is clearly showing me that, just like Cuddles, the ability is there. Friday was a repeat of the first day. I had another two hour presentation beginning at nine. She had a quick bathroom break afterwards, then I joined Karen Pryor and Morgan Spector for the last hour of a training workshop they were giving. After that Panda was clearly getting tired of people, so I found a quiet corner off by ourselves where we could both have a break. Later I sat in on Irene Pepperberg's presentation on parrot language acquisition. Panda slept at my feet. The nap revived her enough for her to return to the exhibit hall for my final commitment of the day. That was the end of the conference, but not the end of the training. Friday evening Sarah needed to get Gregor out, and her husband, Martijn was teaching a dressage lesson in the arena. While I waited for them, I entertained with Panda in her stall. The big horses were practicing their shoulder-ins, so we practiced ours. I worked Panda at liberty, getting her to yield to the pressure of an imaginary rein. By the end of our session she was stepping over sideways in very pretty shoulder-in. I've been adding Robin's pose into her training, so she's already using herself like a performance horse. This isn't just for fun. Adding the high school work will give Ann greater control over leg speed, something that I've seen with the canine guides is much needed. Stairs Saturday morning I again drove in to Boston, to Karen Pryor's house for an editorial meeting on the next book, "Clicker Training With Your Horse, A Step-By-Step Guide in Pictures". We had chosen to meet at Karen's house rather than the Sunshine Books office, because Karen's front porch offered us the perfect training ground to teach Panda to go up and down stairs with control. Karen's steps were long, so I could turn Panda sideways and let her do only one or two steps at a time. If we had let her, the little mountain goat would have been only too happy to clamber up right to the top, but she probably would have crashed coming down. So Karen positioned herself on the step above Panda to discourage her from going up too far, and Morgan handled the clicker. The goal was to click her for placing her hind feet one at a time on the steps. We wanted her to become more aware of how she was using her hind end instead of just hopping up the steps.
Fig.: Karen Pryor, Morgan Spector, and myself helping Panda learn about stairs. As the handler I couldn't see what she was doing with her hind feet, so I was delighted to be able to turn the timing of the click over to Morgan. As a dog trainer, he knew more about teaching stairs than I did. This isn't a behavior that normally comes up in horse training! I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed working with Morgan and Karen. What a treat! There was not one bad click in the entire session, not one piece of misinformation. When Panda learned to go up and down the stairs with control, we let her go all the way up onto the porch. Success! And there was another question answered. It looked as though, with a little more practice, she would indeed be able to handle stairs. Inside Panda had to pose for more pictures. I had to rein in Karen who wanted to teach Panda to lie down on her sofa, and pull carrots out of her refrigerator! Ann would have had something to say about that! But I did let her shape her to open her kitchen cupboards: a useful service-animal skill. During our meeting on the book, Panda stood next to me, dozing, and eventually lay down on the carpet for a real nap. It made for a most unique and delightful editorial meeting! What's next for Panda Panda and I left for home mid-afternoon. She is now back in her more normal routine, at least for a couple of days. Next week, I'll be taking her with me to the clinic down in Virginia, at Darcy Donahue's. She'll be joining Crackers and Sindri as one of our clicker-demo horses. In the meantime she is going for her regular walks and continuing to learn new things. I have been monitoring these training sessions carefully, looking for signs of stress. If she came back from either the Lyons' clinic or the Tufts Expo and started spooking at things that had not worried her before, I would be concerned that I had pushed her too fast, too far. But on the contrary, she is becoming increasingly solid in her work. In fact I've just added an important new element to her training. I was able to let her off lead in my house for the first time. She followed me around just like a puppy. When I sat down on the couch, she lined herself up in heel position and stayed right beside me. All of her training has been done with the clicker. Nothing has been forced on her. I'm now at the stage where I am building, bit by bit, duration into all of her behaviors. She is showing me that she understands what I am asking of her, and she is also showing me an enthusiasm for her work. She doesn't realize that she is having a lesson. She is more like an energetic toddler with an indulgent grandparent, one who is willing to play with her all day long. Panda is clearly most content when she is with me, even if she is just being asked to stand quietly by my side. That's exactly what we want in a guide. Ann and I both regard Panda's training as a research project. We have, as I said at the beginning, many questions. I could not be more pleased or astounded at the progress Panda has made so far, but we are very much in the beginning stages of her training. She has clearly demonstrated that she makes a delightful companion. Whether she will also make a guide remains to be seen. I am going to be keeping a training journal, and posting regular updates about her to this web site, so you can follow along with her progress. And now that you've read this report, if you find yourself shaking your head in disbelief at all the things I've been asking Panda to do, I would have you remember another important training principle: "Go to people for opinions, and horses for answers." The Panda Project is important not just for service-animal users. Through Panda I am questioning many commonly held beliefs about horses and what they can and can not do. Panda is rewriting the script. Over time that may have important implications for all our horses. She is already being a guide, leading me to places in my training I would never have imagined I would be exploring. Alexandra Kurland theclickercenter.com Click here to read the next Panda Report covering Panda's Novemeber training and trip to the Equine Affaire.
