Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of liberty.
— Thomas Jefferson
Those of you who have read The Backyard Goat will see that some but not all of the following material is reworded from that book. Sheep are every bit as smart as goats and can easily learn to pull a cart or wagon or perform the clever tricks I talk about in The Backyard Goat. If you want to train your sheep beyond what is discussed in this chapter, that book is a good starting place.
It’s not wise to train rams beyond basics like leading, standing tied, and picking up their feet; rams are unpredictable and shouldn’t be encouraged to be overly friendly. Even if they seem to be easygoing, avoid squatting or sitting on the ground by them. You don’t want to be bashed by a ram’s powerful forehead.
Before you can train a sheep, she has to be tame. Sheep are more fearful than goats and they are not wired to automatically tolerate human touch, so first you have to gain your pupil’s trust. Take your trainee and a companion animal to a comfortable area where they can stay away from the main flock for a week or so.
It’s good to have a second way to reward your sheep before embarking on actual training. Most tame sheep adore having their chins, backs, and especially their chests scratched. Once your pupil confidently eats from your hand, quietly attempt to gently scratch her back or chest; it may take several tries, but once she discovers how nice this feels, she’ll be putty in your hands.
Any training system based on positive reinforcement works well with timid species such as sheep, but clicker training is the perfect way to go. Some people don’t try clicker training because they think that once they do, their pupil will mob them for food. Quite the reverse is true. Once a sheep realizes that food appears only after she’s heard a “well done!” click, she’ll stop expecting handouts all the time. Once you begin clicker training, however, never indiscriminately feed treats from your hands. You can still treat your sheep to random goodies, but place them in a feed pan or on the ground and step away. Otherwise ask her to work for her treats. “Work” can be as simple as targeting on your hand, but expect her to earn handheld yummies.
Two other misconceptions are that once you’ve clicker trained an animal you’ll always need a clicker to make her work, and that she’ll work only for food. Clicks and rewards are used to teach new behaviors; once a pupil learns them, the clicker and food rewards are phased out and simple praise or a nice back scratch can take their place.
You don’t have to buy a lot of gear to clicker train sheep. All you need is:
A clicker. Most pet stores sell them nowadays.
A target. A target can be anything from an empty soda pop bottle to your hand. I like the handheld marine float type used by clicker-training guru Shawna Karrasch. Buy one, make your own (see page 180), or improvise.
Rewards. In most cases this means food. Rewards should be something sheep love, broken into tidbits no bigger than a raisin. You’re rewarding, not feeding, your pupil.
A goodie bag. Stow rewards in a loose-fitting pocket or a separate receptacle, unless you’re using food as a lure. Carpenter’s aprons, the kind lumber yards hand out for free, make great goodie bags, as do fanny packs and horse- and dog-training reward bags that clip onto your pocket or belt.
A quiet, out-of-the-way spot for training sessions, preferably enclosed, but in any case, away from other sheep.
Though no one has written books or produced videos specifically about clicker training sheep, most of the material in dog- and horse-training books and DVDs applies to sheep as well. I recommend reading Peggy Tillman’s Clicking with Your Dog: Step-By-Step in Pictures for starters.
If you doubt that sheep can be clicker-trained, visit YouTube and watch Portuguese dog trainer Fernando Silva train his lamb, Clarinha, over an agility course in the Clicker Sheep video. If Clarinha can do it, your sheep can, too!
Before you start your clicker-training project, discover what type of goodies your pupil likes best. Collect a selection of items, spread them out, then bring your sheep to where they are and let her choose.
If there is one item she loves above everything else, save that treat for jackpots. Jackpots are super-special rewards awarded for super-outstanding behavior. Jackpots can be a special treat or more than the usual amount of her typical training snacks. Don’t hand them out indiscriminately — that’s why they’re jackpots.
Experiment with different treats, keeping in mind that most sheep have never been given “people food” and may be reluctant to try it. If that’s the case, gently open her mouth, insert a goodie, and let her taste. She may spew the same item out several times before deciding it’s really very good. Be patient. Here are a few things to try:
And many sheep work well for nonfood rewards. For these, lavish praise or a scratch behind the ears or under the chin may be enough.
I love the type of marine float targets that Shawna Karrasch sells on her On-Target Training website, but I make my own. Making them is the essence of simplicity:
Make two: a short one for close-up work (mine has a 10-inch [25.4 cm] handle, made using a 15-inch [38 cm] piece of dowel rod) and a longer one for leading (the one I use has an 18-inch [46 cm] handle and is made of a 22-inch [56 cm] dowel rod); the long one can be shortened later if it’s too unwieldy.
Sheep are just as smart as goats and can readily learn any number of tricks and behaviors.
By touching his nose to the target, your sheep learns to perform a task in order to earn a reward. Simple targeting leads to more complex maneuvers like leading quietly at your side, hopping up on a fitting stand when asked, or learning neat tricks. The most satisfying part of clicker training is seeing the lights go on the first time your pupil realizes what you want him to do. It’s magic and you make it happen!
First, teach your sheep that a click means food. Click, then quickly hand him a tidbit of food. Sheep are smart; they quickly connect the click with the treat, so don’t carry this to extremes. And don’t try to hide the goodie bag. Show it to your sheep, jiggle it, let him sniff it. He’ll probably nudge and nibble the bag — or you. As long as you’re safe, try to ignore unwanted behaviors (standing on his hind legs with his front feet up on you would be an exception).
To teach your sheep to target, stand at his head with the target and clicker in your left hand (this is easier with a marine float target than with something bulky) and your right hand free to quickly dish out rewards. Hold the target close to his nose. He’ll probably reach out to see what it is. The moment his nose brushes the target, click, reward with food, and pile on the praise. Then keep the target close to his nose; if he doesn’t immediately touch it again, position it where he’s apt to bump it when he moves his head. When he does, click, reward, and praise.
Keep it up until he pauses, considers, and then reaches out to touch the target on his own. Jackpot! Haul out the tastiest items in your goodie bag and celebrate. This may happen during your first session or it might take several, but once your pupil makes the connection, everything else is a breeze.
Once your sheep understands that touching the target elicits a reward, teach him to follow it with his nose. Start by moving it around within arm’s length so he can touch it without shifting his feet. Then hold it up high, so he has to stretch and then near the ground, so he lowers his head. Finally, take a step back, so he has to step forward to reach it. Keep moving around in a small area until he understands that you want him to follow the target.
After your sheep has learned basic targeting behavior, train him to target on your hand. Once he does, it’s easy to covertly lead him through intricate maneuvers and your target is always there when you need it!
Cues are words or gestures used to request specific behaviors. For example, you could say “hoof” or “pick it up” to ask your sheep to pick up his foot.
Introduce a cue only after you’ve already trained your sheep to do the thing you’re asking for and you’re absolutely certain the behavior is going to happen. Then the cue becomes a stimulus for the behavior itself: the cue is followed by the behavior and the behavior is reinforced with a click and reward.
From this point on, click and reward only when your sheep performs the behavior after the cue, not when he does it on his own. That way he’ll quickly learn that he only gets the click and treat if he responds to your cue.
When you’re positive he understands the concept of targeting and when you’re sure he’ll do it 100 percent of the time, add a spoken cue as you offer the target (touch and target are logical choices). Once he understands, reward only when you ask him, via the cue word, to perform, and ignore spontaneous touches; then you’re ready to shape behaviors.
When your sheep reliably follows a target and understands a verbal cue, teach her to walk on a loose lead at your side. Using your target and wearing your reward pouch on the right side of your body, stand on the left side of your haltered or collared sheep. Face forward with your shoulder even with the middle of your sheep’s neck. The float part of the target should face away from the sheep.
When you’re ready to begin, bring the float around in front of your pupil’s nose about 18 inches (46 cm) ahead of her muzzle and give your verbal cue (touch). When she steps forward and touches the target, click, reward, and praise. Repeat this again and again until she understands what you want her to do. Next, hold the target in front of her and click as she takes a step. Then click for every two steps, then three.
Before long, she’ll be following the target and you can increase the distance she travels before you click and reward. Introduce a new cue as she starts to walk forward (walk). When she understands, put the target away. Now you have a happy sheep walking calmly at your side.
Few things are more frustrating than wrestling with a sheep who doesn’t want his hooves trimmed. To teach him to stand quietly for the process, start with your pupil standing on the ground or on a fitting stand. If he kicks or struggles when you touch his hooves, run your hand down each leg, clicking and rewarding until you reach a spot where he starts to object, then proceed more slowly, always clicking and rewarding positive responses until he’s okay with you touching his hooves.
Next, lean into your sheep to shift his weight to his opposite leg; when he moves over, click and reward. Slick your hand down his leg, grasp his hoof and pick it up. Click while his foot is coming up, not as he shakes his leg or slams his hoof down again. If he starts to shake his leg or his hoof starts down before you have time to click, count to five without reinforcing the behavior and try again.
When he lets you pick up his foot and holds it up for even a second, click-reward (still holding his hoof off the ground) and set it back down again. Work toward three or more minutes of patient standing, slowly increasing the amount of time before he earns each reward.
You can teach your sheep to hop up on a fitting stand, pull a wagon, or perform tricks such as standing with his front feet on a pedestal. When you want to teach him something new, just bring out the target and begin.
Sheep are a natural for the 4-H program, which since 1907 has been part of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Originally created to provide farming education for rural youth, 4-H (which stands for Head, Heart, Hands, and Health) has grown into a national network of local clubs, featuring projects that range from computers to club lambs.
4-H projects are designed to teach young livestock keepers the best way to care for and enjoy their charges. These groups are run by volunteers, usually parents whose children have been involved with the program some time, under the direction of a County Extension agent. Leaders have had extensive experience with sheep and act as mentors for young sheep enthusiasts.
Programs are open to children age 9 to 19. Typical 4-H sheep projects teach children how to feed, care for, handle, and prepare their sheep or lambs for shows. Those interested in exhibiting their animals are encouraged to do so, usually at the county fair or county 4-H fair level, though winners go on to state and sometimes national competition. All 4-H members keep records on their projects and attend local meetings throughout the club year.
Sheep provide many years of fun and learning for children and adults who volunteer as leaders for sheep projects. All breeds of sheep can participate in breeding and showmanship classes. Although Hampshires and Suffolks dominate club lamb (meat breed) competition, other meat breeds can be shown as well. In some places, fleece projects are offered in which shorn fleeces are judged instead of sheep.
To find out how and when to join 4-H, talk to your County Extension agent. No matter what your interest is in sheep, if you’re 9 to 19, join 4-H. It’s fun!
