Marley takes encouraging steps

Thirteen-year-old Marley has lived at Axnoller Farm in Dorset since 2016 after being relinquished into our care.

Following his arrival at The Donkey Sanctuary, Marley began demonstrating a new behaviour – standing still to capture the attention of the grooms.

Kerry Layton-Hill, our Equine Behaviourist who was tasked with helping Marley overcome his behaviour, says: “There are many different underlying causes with donkeys that are reluctant to lead – nervousness, pain and incorrect reinforcement.

“In Marley’s case, he was craving human interaction and had accidentally been rewarded for standing still in the form of attention.

“Over time, Marley learned that standing still would bring the grooms to him.

“Whenever it was time for the group to move to a different area so the team could put in extra bedding or feed, Marley would stand on the spot and not budge.

“This was also the case when Marley was being led via a head collar – he would simply stand in place until he was interacted with.

“This was an innocent behaviour that resulted in the team unintentionally stopping and giving him scratches or trying to move him with food; this reinforced his actions.”

Moving the donkeys to different areas is an important part of all our farms’ daily routines.

Marley’s behaviour was proving disruptive to the efficiency of these movements at Axnoller, as the grooms were forced to split their time between him and the other groups.

Kerry was asked to teach Marley an alternative behaviour that would still result in him receiving attention from the grooms while allowing daily operations to run uninterrupted.

Training with positive reinforcement

Working with Marley’s groom Danni Travers, Kerry devised a training technique centred around positive reinforcement.

Utilising a plastic lid from a kitchen food container, Marley was encouraged to touch it with the tip of his nose to receive the praise he craved.

Kerry says: “We introduced the lid as the item Marley needed to interact with as it was something he was unlikely to see in an everyday situation.

“For example, we sometimes use ‘hand targets’ (holding our bare hands out flat) when using positive reinforcement techniques. If we had tried this with Marley, he would have walked around us nudging our hands for attention when we weren’t trying to engage him in his training.”

The training started simple; Marley could touch the lid with his nose without moving his feet, and then received praise and attention.

Gradually, the difficulty ramped up – Danni moved the lid from side to side and at varying heights, encouraging Marley to think about how he would interact with it. Distance was also introduced to encourage Marley to take steps towards the lid.

Kerry says: “This training provided Marley with a new way to gain attention and use his problem-solving abilities. It also made the routines at Axnoller easier.

“Marley was shown the lid during group movements, inviting him to walk out with the group to touch it with his nose and receive attention.

“It was the same when he was being led with a head collar; he walked towards the lid, knowing praise would follow.”

Continued training

Marley’s behaviour training is continuing as he still reverts to standing still at times, but he is making encouraging progress every day.

Kerry adds: “I’m really pleased with Marley’s progress because both he and the grooms receive what they fundamentally need; attention and scratches for him and a smooth process for the Farms team.

“Marley’s case is a reminder of how clever donkeys really are and how we can accidently reinforce unwanted behaviours.

“In any behavioural case concerning equines, it is important to understand the underlying cause and if the situation demands it, think outside of the box for solutions.”