Posts Tagged ‘painting
Ammo the Dachshund Artist
Ammo and his first in the "Dachshund Series"
Occasionally on the Trick Ponies Blog I will mention my dachshund, Ammo. Ammo is like my adopted son. He is with me ALL the time. He comes to work with me, comes to the farm, runs errands with me, and basically just never leaves my side. Ammo is one of those dogs that has so much personality that you mistakenly think of them as human. Since the day he came to live with me in November of 2008 I had a dream for him (just like any loving mom that has aspirations for their kid).
I dreamed of the day that Ammo would sit beside the Trick Ponies, paintbrush in mouth, and paint WITH them. Since April I have been steadily working towards this goal with him. Teaching him to hold the brush, teaching him to target the paper, even taking him to training classes to get him more in tune to my training methods. Ammo is getting closer and closer to the goal, but I have yet to add paint into his shenanigans – mostly because I know it will result in a HUGE mess.
"Blue Dachshund No1" by Ammo
So in the meantime I was dreaming up a way to involve Ammo in the creation of artwork that was a little bit “cleaner”. I was looking for something we could do together while at work, that didn’t involve me on my hands and knees scrubbing paint out of the carpet. Enter scratch art.
This month Ammo created his very first scratch art pieces after I painstakingly cut out dachshund shapes from carbon paper for him. Honestly I think they are so cool! I’m totally going to hang a few of these in my house. The best part about them is that each one is different.
Ammo’s Scratch Art is available for purchase on the Painting Pony Shop, and with each one we sell we will be donating $1 to the Main Line Animal Rescue.
May Paintings
On May 3rd the boys and I were able to paint again. Most of the new paintings created in April sold already, so it was due time to create some new works. I was even able to help Boomerang create two of his first paintings available on canvas. They turned out beautiful! Check out the new paintings below.
"Misty Dreams over Chincoteague by Chincoteague Minnow
"Spring Roundup" by Chesapeake Boomerang
"Waves of the Eastern Shore" by Chesapeake Lightning
"The Littlest Chincoteague" by Chesapeake Boomerang
So what do you think? Do you have a favorite? I think my favorite might have to be “Misty Dreams”, but I do love them all!
As always, don’t forget that we donate 10% of all canvas sales to the Chincoteague Pony Association to help care for the wild ponies on Assateague Island. Many don’t realize, but the volunteer fire department cares for the wild ponies all year round. Dropping hay on the island in the winter, giving inoculations and vet checks in the spring, and just generally making sure the Chincoteague Pony population survives on the island. Painting Pony is proud to support their efforts.
Keep Going Signal
One of the blogs I frequent, Book Ends Farm, recently did a post on the Keep Going Signal used with clicker training. Honestly, I had no idea what that was – never heard of it before. If you have been following my blog from the beginning than you probably know that I openly admit I don’t read a lot of training books. The shame I know. I prefer to rely more on my instincts, and just a process of trial and error.
Minnow putting on the brakes during competition 2007
Don’t get me wrong, I do watch training dvds, and have been known to “internet” browse for training ideas, but I just can’t get into reading books on the subject. Mostly I think its just because I’m a visual learner, so unless there are lots of pictures – you’ve totally lost me.
So anyway, back to the real reason for this post, the Keep Going Signal. Apparently I have been using this method for years and I had no idea. From what I gather, the Keep Going Signal is a cue (probably verbal works best) that you give your horse (or any animal) to let them know you want them to keep doing what they are doing and they will be rewarded shortly.
Here’ are some examples:
Minnow performs at the Pony Centre 2008
When teaching my ponies to paint, once they’ve got the concept of target brush to paper, I use a “good boy” to get them to keep targeting the paper and continue on with strokes until I ask for the brush back and click/reward them.
I also use it in my mounted games training. A “good boy” for a really nice spin around the end pole, but I want you to keep going until you finish the race and I can give you your treat.
The more I thought about it the more I realized I use it pretty much everyday. It must have just developed over time with my interactions with my boys, but I realized they all recognize the “good boy” means your effort was correct and your reward will be coming. When all the ponies hear those two words uttered out of my mouth they offer me a more enthusiastic attempt at what they have been doing, maybe a burst of speed, or a free-er flowing brushstroke.
KD makes a litter dunk on Boomer. PHPC competition 2008
So how did it happen? I think it happened when I first started clicker training each of them. I would ask them to do something, offer up a “good boy” then click and reward them. I think over time, as I began riding them, I began to space them out. The “good boy” would come, then a little later the click/reward. Helps prevent the slamming on the breaks effect when clicker training while riding.
As Book Ends Farm mentions, I guess some people don’t like using a Keep Going Signal, as they feel it complicates things and can lead to frustration in some horses. I definitely could see how this could happen, but I think it also depends on the horse. Obviously if your horse just gets frustrated when you say “good boy” because they are expecting the reward, then you probably shouldn’t use it.
Scratch Art Masterpiece by the Dachshund
Around Painting Pony we’re known for our three talented painting Chincoteague Ponies. Minnow, Blitz, and Boomer all hold paintbrushes in their mouths and paint onto canvases while standing at their easel. Since November of 2008 they have had a special sidekick, Ammo the Dachshund. Ammo has lived in their shadow for the past two and a half years. He gets toted to horse shows, brought to performances, and lugged to the farm where they live. Don’t get me wrong, he loves all of it, especially the visiting the farm part. In fact, he’s formed unusual relationships with all of the ponies, as I frequently catch him playing with them in the pastures. But if you have been following this blog, you know that I have decided to let Ammo come out from behind their shadow by helping him develop his artistic talents and learn to paint. We have been working almost daily on honing Ammo’s talents as a painter.
first practice attempt
While Ammo is getting closer to creating his very first painting, we are still working on distinguishing between the handle and the bristles. I’m sure it won’t be as fun to jam the bristles in his mouth when the paint is applied! So, in the meantime I decided we would embark on some other artistic endeavors. In his case, scratch art.
For Ammo’s graduation from training class I taught him a new trick, to dig on command. It was quite funny actually, I used a matboard marker and taught him to target his feet to the mat. I then enticed him to dig at it (natural to the burrowing Dachshund), and then gave him a command for it. Ammo thought the whole thing was quite fun, and we routinely practiced every morning before opening the shop. Suddenly I had an idea – we should try making some scratch art with his new found skill.
First scratch art painting. Its so beautiful I can't even look at it!
So today I attached some transfer paper to piece of matboard and set out to see if Ammo would like to create a scratch art painting. As you can see he was very proud of his very first work of art. The Dachshund was more than disappointed when we had to stop for the day, so I’m sure this will be the first of many scratch art paintings for the little guy. I’ve been scheming up some more creative ways for Ammo to get his scratch on, so be sure and stay tuned to see what he will create next.
I will post a video of Ammo “scratching” soon!
So what do you think? Is his masterpiece fridge worthy? Would you hang it on your wall? Excited to see more of his scratch art talents?
The Painters and their Brushes
Today I decided to take some photos of the boys with their paintbrushes. I was attempting to get some nice photos of them for their new website, but it proved to be harder than I thought with handing them the brushes and trying to run backwards to get the shot before they decided to drop them. It would/will be much easier with two people. Minnow decided to be camera shy – he’s always had an issue with the sound of a camera shutter. I think he associates the sound with the flash going off, and he REALLY believes that the flash is lightning. And Minnow is afraid of lightning. Its one of his lingering fears from when I first met him that I haven’t quite been able to get him over. Although he no longer runs now, he just chooses to look away or calmly keep himself at a safe distance.
If you think about it, its quite amazing that he will still perform with me while onlookers flash cameras at him in all directions. Sometimes his fear gets the best of him and I have to refocus him, that or politely ask people to turn off their flashes until Minnow relaxes. This has/is one of his biggest challenges when we travel to Chincoteague each year, because he performs in an indoor facility, which tends to make the camera flashes go off. I’m not sure Minnow will truly ever overcome his fear, he must have had a traumatic experience with lightning before he came to me – perhaps something happened to him when he was a foal on the island…I will never know.
So for today, I only have photos of Blitz and Boomer, and thats ok. Perhaps Minnow will decide to let us capture him another day.
Blitz was quite the ham with the paintbrush – as always. He’s such a funny pony, I think he knows he’s cute – which in turn makes him think he can get away with anything. He kept trying to paint the fence with the brushes, which eventually led him to frustration when he realized that with each stroke he took, nothing came off of the brush.
Don’t worry Blitz, we will paint again soon.
