Steve Layman/CHC meet
dirthawker
talk by Steve Layman. He has been getting some remarkable results
experimenting with operant conditioning and has some interesting
theories.
Instead of hunting daily (which many of us can't do with midsize to
large birds) he has been using "controlled bates" in his kitchen to
condition the birds. He demonstrated with videos with a female
Coopers and a tiercel gos.
First, he's trained the bird to bate off the glove and return for a
tidbit. The bate distance is short, about half to 3/4 the length of
the leash. Usually he has the bird bate straight out, but sometimes
he raises the glove so she has to fly up. He does this in sessions
with a bit of rest inbetween and gets several hundred "controlled
bates" in a day. It's quite a workout for the bird. (Layman is the
person who invented vertical jumps.)
The other thing he does is the hunt metaphor. He throws out a dead
duck or pheasant and hangs onto the leash while the bird flaps after
it. He holds onto it the same amount of time the bird would typically
fly if this was happening in real life, then lets go and lets the bird
hit the quarry. His theory is that it teaches success just as well
(and possibly better) than doing the same thing (bagging) outdoors,
and he can do this dozens of times in a day. (The gos was of course
also trained to step off.)
Interestingly, he was also tidbitting these hard imprints with his
bare free hand at the bird's head level. Both these birds had had
typical imprint problems (screaming, going for the face) but had been
"cured". Layman seemed to have associated a specific whistle with the
reward, and gradually the sound becomes the reward, so there can be a
delay between the reward sound and the reward itself.
He seemed to whistle/tidbit frequently, on every positive action the
bird did, whether it was turning her head to look at him, or holding
her head still long enough to look at the hood, or wear the hood.
One of the things he also talked about was changing natural behavior
to behavior on a signal. He had a pile of screaming eyas falcons,
gyrs I believe. He didn't go into specific details on the how, but he
was able to associate a signal (raising his hand) with the screaming.
And thereafter, he never raised his hand! When he did, the birds
would start up a chorus!
It was as I say darned interesting stuff and should I get a new bird I
will certainly be writing to him for more details. I can't say I have
any clue what operant conditioning is all about but if what Layman is
doing is it, it seems very effective.
-andrea-
Roy Priest
They have been doing that in the far east for eons. We did it in the late
60's. <G>
"dirthawker" <vacc...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:31f8d421.02010...@posting.google.com...
It's quite a workout for the bird. (Layman is the
> person who invented vertical jumps.)
-
DGArgue
>person who invented vertical jumps.)
Nonsense!
I saw that in a privately made film of Indian falconry 40 years ago that was
shot in 1946!!
There is not much new in the training of birds and animals, just rediscovery of
a few things which have been forgotten.
Derry