Your dog can do tricks… but what about your cat, bird, guinea pig, sheep, cow or horse?

This workshop aims to give you the knowledge and inspiration to get started. We will cover a range of different species, but you will meet and practise on a very cute miniature horse and miniature donkey as demonstration animals.

Trick training is a great way to share fun times with any species. As tricks are just behaviours, trick training is a great way to ‘manage’ behaviours in all animals. From lifting a foot for the farrier to standing on the vet scales; training a behaviour helps animals stay relaxed and happy in potentially stressful situations. Every trick needs a verbal or physical cue. So trick training is the development of a special language you and your pet understand. You can even go on to attain Certificates, Titles, rosettes and World Records!

This course covers the skills and knowledge needed to train any species to do any appropriate trick. This is a participative, outdoor workshop involving some group work.

Please bring a phone/tablet or pen and paper for note-taking. Plus your questions and your knowledge. Everything else will be provided.

Learning outcomes:

●       Discuss limitations to learning

●       Decide on appropriate rewards for different stages of learning

●       Choose appropriate behaviours/tricks for different species. Be aware of behaviours that we may not wish to encourage.

●       Design a progression of training goals for a trick.

●       Design an appropriate progression of tricks for a species.

●       Apply trick training to the control of unwanted behaviours.

●       Construct a framework for achieving long and short-term trick training goals.