Cali - Housebreaking

Sometimes it's good to write down the plan so as to not forget and be able
to make adjustments down the line. Thanks to Jan Norman for her input on this. More from Jan can be found at: tojustn.tripod.com with video on youtube at: clickonsuccess


Here's what we know. Cali will go in the trailer and she'll go with the bag on and she'll go while tied the trailer. So, we'll use these to add a cue.

What we should have at the end of this first phase is a little horse who will go in a bag, while tied in a trailer on cue.

Then, we'll start to eliminate the parts that helped her find the answer one by one. First, we'll eliminate the trailer. This phase may take awhile because what we want is a little horse who will go whenever tied, into a bag, on cue no matter where we are.

Next we'll eliminate the tied. We should have into the bag, on cue no matter where we are. Once this is strong, we'll eliminate the bag so that we only have on cue. We'll still have the bag because that's what Mona will need to pick up. But, she need not wear it. A bag will be much easier to carry than shavings or newspaper. I've spoken to those who get stuck in the horse's location specific cues. I'd like to mitigate that as much as possible because Mona will be travelling with Cali mostly alone. She'll not really have someone to hold her while she uses a rest room. Cali will have to go in with her.

Cali may go too when visiting a rest room and that's fine. But, we do want to be sure we have good control in case a particular Rest Room is not a good place to go.

This morning was a play day. We've had 4 days of active learning. Time to give the mind a rest. So, off we went in our non working halter to the arena to learn how to play. Cali is quiet. That's good in one way. But, to be able to jump up into cars, she may need a little energy. So, today we taught her to target and to go to the target when thrown.We evolved that to going to the thrown target, coming back for the treat and then taking me back to the target with just my hand on her rump. We haven't taught her to retrieve the target yet. Having her take me tot he target
again, will allow Mona to find the target so she can re-throw it. This is a game I expect Mona can play in her back yard.

We picked out her little feet at liberty. Cali didn't seem to want to run or roll while I was there. Although she did roll when we came back to her area. She has a little worker bee mindset. And, for a few minutes we started on the idea of standing by my chair at liberty. A good skill for the house.