Well I'm back home from Chicken camp as of yesterday evening. I'm not much of a traveler and it was a long time to be away from the dogs. They all did fine but were of course very happy to see me yesterday and aren't letting me get out of sight now. I'm going to pick up Brenna at a friends in an hour and I'm looking forward to that.
I was pleasantly surprised at how I did at camp. I was afraid that I would have a lot of trouble with a new species but the girls (chickens) did really well. We both got through both object discrimination's and the shaping exercises and were able to teach the chickens to pull a rubber band on Friday (just a fun little extra credit thing)
I do recommend it if anyone is considering it. Teri Ryan is going to continue teaching them and I think she will do a fantastic job. I may go back in 2010 but I want to have a break in between since it isn't cheap.
Washington was beautiful. We did get to do more sight seeing then I thought we would be able to and saw lots of the State. The highlights were Olympic National Park and the ferry ride back into Seattle at night. The city at night is breathtaking.
Several well behaved dogs on the ferry which was fun too.
One of the people in class lives on Bainbridge Island and we went Friday evening to see her Icelandic Sheepdogs (I see a possible breed in my future) very Sheltie like, but with an easier coat. I loved Washington although everyone warned me we had unusually nice weather last week.

That sounds like so much fun! Glad you had a good time.

Awesome I'm jealous- except that I think chickens might scare me. I think it was Karen Pryor who mentioned if you let your rate of reinforcement slip with chickens they think nothing of pecking you!
Was this Bob Bailey or Teri Ryan doing your class?

Off to google icelantic sheep dogs

Bob taught the camp I went to. This was his last one, which is part of the reason I got off my rear and went.
I have had chickens for years so I was very comfortable handling them. I never got pecked once but Teah's pecked her right in the stomach the last day. She was wearing a shirt with bright red swirls and I think that is what did it.

Glad it was a success! Maybe when I'm a bit more hardcore I'll do chicken camp. Although I too am a little afraid of chickens.

Just googled Icelandic sheepdogs - way cute!

So cool! I'm looking forward to reading more once you recuperate and feel like sharing what you learned! And lucky you to have sunny Washington weather for sightseeing.

Glad you had such a good time. It was a pretty powerful course for me, too. I definitely got over my chicken fear by the end of the first day!

Glad you had fun and did well.

I LOVE those Icelandics. How fun!

Sounds like you had an exhausting but thrilling weekend.

I bet that was a great time. I got to clicker train chickens in my behavior lab at UCDavis. It was funny trying to get the cup of grain to them without spilling it all over the place. My professor learned from Bob Bailey, so I would assume the methods were the same, but did you use a cup with a clicker attached to the handle?

I think Hillary's dog (in Texas with Bruno the chi) was an Icelandic. Her stories about that dog were always impressive. She was the one that passed away from eating a dryer sheet a few years ago, but was a neat dog.

I think I know who your professor is and I'm sure it was the same set up as Bob's. Clicker attached to a measuring cup. One of my chickens had almost no top beak. These chickens are rescued from the egg factory where they often remove their top beak to keep them from pecking themselves.
A funny side note. One day we came in and one of the chickens had a Kong in her cage. Teri said she had been picking herself and she didn't know what to do to make her stop so she gave her a Kong. It worked very well and like Teri said hey I'm a dog person. Bob was worried that my chicken with almost no top beak would have trouble eating from the cup, but she did just fine.
Hillary had an Icelandic Shepherd, as I recall she got it when they lived over there.