Clicker Training

In searching for a humane way to work with camels, Jim discovered Clicker Training. Clicker training has been used to teach killer whales to jump, chickens to dance, and rhinos to stand still. Clicker training consists of a clicker (similar to the child's toy where a tap on a thin metal plate makes a click sound), animal treats, and a goal for what you want an animal to do. You then watch your "student," waiting for any movement that is part of the behavior you want. Let's say you want a dog to bark on command. A clicker trainer will set up a play session with their dog. Whenever the dog barks, she is rewarded with a click followed immediately by a treat. The click tags the specific behavior the animal did that earned it a treat. Eventually the trainer adds a cue word such as "speak." Pretty soon, the dog responds to the cue and barks.

During my research, I attended a clicker convention. Trainers came from all over the country with "clicker smart dogs." In competition, trainers were given a sealed envelope with a task for their dog. The trainer has a half hour to train the dog. One task involved two dogs. One dog was to lie down while another dog jumped over him three times, then the dog stood up while the second dog ran or crawled under his legs three times. Watching dogs learning complicated tasks in 30 minutes was impressive. It sold me on the technique–for dogs. But would it work with camels?

Gary Jackson, owner of the Nevada Camel Company, invited me to live with his camels. I parked my truck next to their corral. Living out of my truck put me within six feet of the camels 24 hours a day. I immersed myself in camels–sitting on the fence watching and taking notes on camel behavior, feeding and watering, raking their coats, scratching ears, riding, waking up late at night to check on a pregnant female, and clicker training.

Using Alexandra Kurland's book, The Click That Teaches (clicker training for horses), I chose three clicker goals:

1. Get a camel to nuzzle a target. The target was a tennis ball on a three-foot wooden dowel.
2. Head lowering on command (this is a calming response for big animals)
3. Backing up (this keeps a big animal from overpowering you when they know you have treats)

My first student was Chewy, an untrained three-year-old camel. He was skittish about human approach. Gary and I herded Chewy into a separate pen, the camel classroom. The first lesson was to "charge the clicker." This consists of clicking and then offering the animal food, which I did by passing hay on a rake through the fence rails. Clicking prior to offering food accustoms the animal to the sound and indicates something good is coming. With each click, I came closer to the fence and shortened up on the rake handle. That's when I presented the tennis ball target. Chewy sniffed at it. That earned him a click and a carrot. A number of clicks and carrots later, Chewy enthusiastically nuzzled the target when it was presented. Clicker trainers say they see a "light bulb" go on in an animal's head when the animal figures out what you want. I saw this many times.

That's when I moved into the pen. Chewy wasn't happy. He hugged the far rails. I stretched out my arm offering the target. He stretched his neck to tap the target, staying as far from me as possible. Fifteen minutes later, we were buddies. After all, I was a vending machine dispensing treats in payment for touching a target button. Next, I added the cue word, "target," prior to offering the tennis ball. When he responded to "target," I started lowering the target adding the cue word "lower." He liked the game so much, I thought I could get him to go under a limbo bar. Then I tried variations like walking to the far end of the pen and requiring that he come to me for the target. I also mounted the target stick on a post and cued with "target." Chewy walked to the fence, touched the ball, and then came to me for a treat. This is when I shortened up on the target stick, eventually replacing it with my hand. Now I had him close to my body targeting on my hand. The big test came when I released him back into the corral later in the day. I let him reacquaint with his buddies, and15 minutes later, I held up the target stick and said "target." He came back into the stall with me, something that wouldn't have happened a few hours earlier. Gary is fond of telling people that camels have the intelligence of a 4-5 year old child. I'm a believer.

After Chewy, I worked with a several other camels, but my biggest challenge was Saddam, a 1,400-pound (635 kg) male. Saddam is the bad boy of the herd. He wants to be leader. This makes him aggressive. At one point, he started a fight with Milagro. The photo sequence of a camel brawl is shown below. Saddam wrestled his opponent to the ground and went into a suffocating death grip. It looked like he might kill Milagro, who had part of his hump wedged under the fence and was at Saddam's mercy. Like his namesake, Saddam didn't look like he was going to show any mercy. As Saddam kneeled on the windpipe of Milagro, I futilely yelled and swatted with my hat, keeping my distance from thrashing legs and snapping jaws. I then ran and got a bucket of water and threw it in Saddam's face. He didn't like that and backed off. He paced back and forth trying to get back at his floored opponent as I waved a bucket in his face. I then yanked hay into another section of the corral and his desire to eat overcame his desire to fight. Whew!

My goal in working with Saddam was to get him to lower his head and let me hold his nose peg. Referring to nose pegs, Gary says that camels have been into body piercing for thousands of years, the original punkers. (They have a peg inserted in their nose instead of a bit like a horse. Reins are attached to this peg.) Saddam can be aggressive when you reach for this peg. He bares his fighting incisors, bellows, and grabs at a hand. Having seen him bite other camels and leave puncture wounds, this is not a display to be taken lightly. Like the other camels, I started clicker training outside the fence and worked my way through the stages. He responded beautifully. But then, how would I get him to let me calmly touch his nose peg? The solution came by chance. While using the target stick, Saddam accidentally touched the ball with his nose peg. Fortunately, I was fast enough to click. Then when offering the target stick, I waited. He bumped the stick but no click. At first you could see his confusion, "I insert my behavior-quarters into the vending machine which always pays with carrots. But not this time?" So he started experimenting; rubbing this way, then that, mouthing the target ball. Still no click. Not until he presented the right side of his muzzle, where the peg is located, did he get a click. The light went on. Soon I had him touching the target to his muzzle or directly on the peg. That's when I shortened up on the target stick. Then I got rid of the stick using my hand as a target. With my first reaches for the peg, I had to snap my hand away to avoid a bite. At this point, Gary suggested I stand on the peg side of Saddam, which gave him a better sight line on where my hands were. Previously, I'd been reaching across his muzzle, blindsiding him and making him nervous. Eventually I got Saddam to lower his muzzle and let me hold the peg without yanking away. The sequence using the target stick is shown below.

After this initial clicker training, the question was whether the camels would remember what they learned after a prolonged break,

Two months later, I returned to work with the camels. They were so enthusiastic when they saw me that everyone in the herd wanted to enter the classroom pen. When teaching, I had a peanut gallery leaning over the fence trying to do things like touch the target stick. They remembered everything. I was impressed when Saddam approached and I cued him with "nose peg." He lowered his head into my hand. Clicker training did more than teach the camels skills, it made me a member of the herd. We will be clicker training the camels we purchase in India.

To find out more about clicker training which you can use on one of your pets, such as a dog, cat, or bird, go to www.clickertraining.com or for bigger animals like horses try www.theclickercenter.com.