Hi everybody! A couple months ago I received a miniature donkey for my high school graduation gift. His name is Jimmy Fuzzbutt and he is about 8 months old. I'm working on training him and I thought I'd share my adventures. I would love to hear any tips/tricks/advice and of course stories any other current or previous donkey owners have! As a bit of background I've had and ridden horses for 8-9 years. The horse I ride most is a 17 hand Paint gelding with a rather stallionish attitude. I've had experience training and dealing with stubborn and difficult animals, but I've never dealt with a donkey before. I'll admit it is a bit of a learning curve. So far the hardest thing is that it seems he's naturally desensitized to everything. I'm used to earning a horse's respect through lungeing or similar pressure exercises while also earning their affection through positive reinforcement such as clicker training. Fuzzbutt is super super good when he wants to be, and responds well to positive reinforcement, but when he doesn't want to be good or when I'm trying to lunge it is very difficult to motivate him to do the correct thing. Anyone have any similar issues and ways to correct it?
This is Fuzz at 6 months.
This is Fuzz at 6 months.
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