Baker - training session 5 - Walk and whoa

Baker was so good today!  Megan was here to help me again, so she held on to Fiona while I started working with Baker.  He came right up to me and showed no resistance when I took his halter to snap on the leadline.  He showed no resistance to me touching him all over, including all over his face either.  He also didn't try to lean on me today (we'll see how long that lasts).  So, since he was so fabulous, and since I had help today, I decided to give him his first leading lesson.  I kind of have to play this first lesson by ear, since I don't really know if the baby will be a leader or follower yet.  Baker was a little of both - he started out a leader, but then settled in to being a follower.  Basically, it works like this - I put Baker's leadline from the left side, over his back and around his rump and pass it back to my right hand.  So I am holding both the front part of the leadline (where it's snapped on to his halter), and the tail end of the leadline.  Also, I always use a soft, cotton lead line when working with a baby.  As long as he is doing what I ask, there is slack at both ends (no pressure on his face or his rump).

Megan starts out by leading Fiona around - I call out very audible cues to "walk on" or "whoa", both for Baker to learn the commands, and for Megan to know what I am doing so she can do the same with Fiona.  When I tell Baker to "walk on", at the same time I put pressure on the lead attached to his halter (he feels the pressure on his poll, which is up between his ears), and pressure on the rope around his rump (little ones need extra encouragement at this stage, and I don't like to use a whip with a baby this small if I can help it).  As soon as he moves forward, I release the pressure in both places.  Then, when we are ready to stop, I call out "whoa" and put pressure on just the leadline attached to his halter.  As soon as he stops, I release the pressure.  As long as he stands still, there is no pressure applied to the halter, but if he moves, then he feels pressure until he is still again.  While I am doing this with Baker, Megan does the same with Fiona.  Babies at this stage tend to learn by watching mom anyway, so we use that to our advantage.  I am also clear to make my tone of voice for each cue a little different.  When I say "walk on", it's in a loud, firm voice.  When I say "whoa", it's in a soft, soothing voice, like a lullaby.  Baker fussed a little at first, like they all do.  He wasn't sure what I was asking him to do, and he just wanted to stay next to mom and drink milk.  But he figured it out pretty quickly, and by the end was walking and stopping quite nicely on command.  Today's session only took about 11 minutes too!  This is the sort of lesson that I really can't do by myself for right now, so it might be next week before I get to try it again, but today was a great start!