Will you compare training a horse to training a dog?
ByDo you find any similarities in how you train a horse to how you train a dog? What are the significant differences?
I actually spent a significant amount of time discussing this topic with a dog trainer, and we agreed that there are more similarities than differences in method.
Pretty much every trainable non-human animal learns through what is called operant conditioning. Either positive or negative reinforcement can be used to shape behavior – which means either addition of reward or removal of pressure.Both forms of reinforcement are used in horse and dog training. In addition, all animals who learn through operant conditioning benefit most from reinforcement that starts on a regular schedule and then migrates to an irregular schedule.
In addition, dogs and horses both can connect operant conditioned learning to classically conditioned verbal cues using similar methods.
At a detail level, the incentives and reinforcements are sometimes different. But both species can use avoidance of pressure (the pressures, of course, are different) and the reward of treats (though horse trainers typically make more use of contact rewards like wither stroking).
The major difference between horse and dog training is the intimacy of horse and trainer compared to dog and trainer. The horse trainer is largely in direct contact with the animal at all times and can easily deliver correction or reward within the 1-3 second causal horizon of the horse. But dog trainers are now able to use remote training collars to give them that immediacy even when at longer distances.
I would say in general that the differences are exaggerated and the similarities tend to be overlooked. But I think horse and dog trainers have a lot to share.
7 Comments
June 16th, 2010 at 7:18 am
Completely different. Dogs are predator animals, horses are prey animals. You cannot train them the same way.
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P.S…. I think I remember Parelli saying something about training dogs like horses…. LOL
June 16th, 2010 at 7:53 am
A dog is a predator, a horse is a prey animal, they think very, very differently.
If a horse panics and runs through your personal space, they can really, really hurt you. They won’t mean to, but it happens often. Many dogs when they panic, bite. Not good, but not usually life threatening.
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June 16th, 2010 at 8:04 am
I agree with the people above me. Totally different.
We teach horses to give to pressure (when we pull their head down, they pull it down further instead of pushing against the lead… when we push their side, they move away from our hand instead of pushing against it, etc). Dogs usually push against pressure, because they were never taught to give into it. We mostly train dogs by man-handling them… Like when we push their butt down to teach them to sit. You could never do that with a horse, so you have to teach them to move away from pressure.
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June 16th, 2010 at 8:45 am
I think that there are some things with similarities. With both, success comes from convincing, or teaching them that you’re in charge, and that they’re to respect you. There also a lot of body language that needs to be read. Nowhere near as much in dogs, as Horses, but in certain situations, understanding a dog’s body language is very useful.
But, there are so many things that sets them apart. With dogs, you have a lot of room to screw up. They’re so forgivable, and aren’t going to kill you if you’re a bit lax in training, but with a horse… You lose their trust once, you’re going to be hard pressed to get it back, and it can go so quickly. I accidentally knocked a formerly abused gelding of mine with my knuckles when I was brushing him one day, and he was hesitant about letting me touch him for a week. And with their training… If you don’t teach them some things when they’re young, they can not only hurt someone, they can kill. A horse is a large animal, with a lot of strength. It only takes one kick in the right place to kill you. There are so many things that can go wrong if you don’t train a horse correctly. From taking off with someone in the saddle, to flipping over ontop of you, to things on the ground that can be equally, or more dangerous.
I’ve had dogs all of my life, horses only most, and I think that growing up with dogs was a good precursor to working with horses, but there is so much more that goes into working with horses. What it takes to train a dog is nothing compared to what it takes to train a horse. I mentioned body language before. You can get away with not understanding a damn thing of what your dog says with his body. A horse speaks with it’s body, if you’re deaf to what he has to say, you can’t be expected to understand anything about him, or be successful with his training at all.
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Training dogs, showing dogs, competing my dogs in field trials off horse back (It’s kind of like a fox hunt, only with two dogs at a time, and they find and ‘point’ birds) and training horses.
June 16th, 2010 at 9:27 am
I actually spent a significant amount of time discussing this topic with a dog trainer, and we agreed that there are more similarities than differences in method.
Pretty much every trainable non-human animal learns through what is called operant conditioning. Either positive or negative reinforcement can be used to shape behavior – which means either addition of reward or removal of pressure.Both forms of reinforcement are used in horse and dog training. In addition, all animals who learn through operant conditioning benefit most from reinforcement that starts on a regular schedule and then migrates to an irregular schedule.
In addition, dogs and horses both can connect operant conditioned learning to classically conditioned verbal cues using similar methods.
At a detail level, the incentives and reinforcements are sometimes different. But both species can use avoidance of pressure (the pressures, of course, are different) and the reward of treats (though horse trainers typically make more use of contact rewards like wither stroking).
The major difference between horse and dog training is the intimacy of horse and trainer compared to dog and trainer. The horse trainer is largely in direct contact with the animal at all times and can easily deliver correction or reward within the 1-3 second causal horizon of the horse. But dog trainers are now able to use remote training collars to give them that immediacy even when at longer distances.
I would say in general that the differences are exaggerated and the similarities tend to be overlooked. But I think horse and dog trainers have a lot to share.
References :
June 16th, 2010 at 9:51 am
It’s basically the same. Both need repetition and reward/punishment to learn. But horses go more by body language than dogs do and are a lot larger than a dog so more caution and expertise is needed. You could never have owned a dog in your life, go out, buy one and train it in a few days. But with a horse, it takes years to learn to train and it takes years to fully train a horse.
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8 years of training horses and 16 years of owning and riding them.
June 16th, 2010 at 10:10 am
Like some others said, horses are prey animals and dogs are predators. Parelli did talk about this in one of his DVDs.
Dogs like human attention and rewards. Horses like it to some extent, but dogs really crave it and will go out of their way for it. It normal for you to call and dog and for them to run up to you wagging their tail, if I called my horse he would probably just keep eating…maybe pick his head up and look at it. Horses don’t care as much. Dogs will challenge a human for dominance. Everyone’s been to someone’s house where they have that lap dog that when you try to pick it up it growls and everyone’s sort of afraid of it. Dogs don’t mind being dominant. Horses will if you aren’t, but if you’re up to it they don’t mind you being the boss. Horses really need and crave a leader more than they do a best buddy like dogs.
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