Monday, May 25, 2009

Instead of working real hard on the height of her jump
I have been bridging the distance between me and the cat for the courbette
This was this afternoon




I think she has got this down pat
She isn't even trying to cheat around the hurdle
She is a fantastic cat

12 comments:

Steve said...

Every vid you post shows progress. Go Jai!

Anonymous said...

Casey
May I ask where you got your tigers from? What age did you start training the 3 older ones?
Dion

Casey McCoy Cainan said...

Kali, Jai, and Sumsara came from Horseshoe Creek in FL. They were around a year and a half then. Tora came from a sanctuary in TX. I got her last year she was two and three months. Shonti came from a roadside zoo in progress in OK. I also owned the remnants of the C&B cat act for awhile, I gave the two lioness' away as well as the white tiger "Liberty" and kept Sita who died last winter. Brian Franzen still has one lioness "Tisha". The younger lioness "Reyna" went to the Puerto Rico Zoo, and Liberty is at a park in SC.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all the info. I understand that big cat training should start at about one and a half years old, as were Kali, Jai and Sumsara. Did you know that Jai means heart in Thai?
Dion

Casey McCoy Cainan said...

Dion,
I disagree with the 1 and a half theory. I believe, if possible, a cat should be started as early as it can see. Just the basic conditioning I have put on Shonti will make the training of complex behaviors take a third of the time, and much less stress. By teaching them Here, Go, Whoa, Seat, and other non physical behaviors, they will be simple to train when they have the muscle and coordination to perform tougher tricks.

Steve said...

Casey - back to Jai.

What are your thoughts about the comment that she is getting too horizontal to achieve a good courbette?

Anonymous said...

No doubt you got some good temperment cats. I'm guessing they were hand raised before you got them. Right or wrong?
I inherited two sweethearts when I took the Carson & Barnes cat act way back in the 70's. I could almost will them to do the next behavior up in the act. Not due to any skill I had, but theirs.
Harriet and Mabel. Awful names but super cats. I asked D.R. if I could rename them to Fang and Claw. He said no and smiled.

More info on those tigers and all the show's animals can be found in my new book, 'Wild Animal Circus - True tales from Carson & Barnes Circus. The ad will be in WHITE TOPS, coming out first week in June. This has been an unpaid ad. by Dion.(With Casey's permission I hope)

Casey McCoy Cainan said...

Steve,
Ok...I am going to give away my secret on training this trick,,,and also how to finish it,,which has yet to be seen (I am completely confident it will be a perfect courbette) First I started by training the hind leg walk, by not letting the cats finish practice without walking all the way to the door upright they learn it is much easier to just stay on two legs and get done with practice then to come down and have to do it again. Next I put 2in. PVC pipe about 3ft away from the arena, sit them up and call them forward, this part takes awhile and you have to be forgiving until they understand what you are asking. Once they get it, even if by accident, and land on the hind legs, stop, and let them out. It may be a couple days before they get it rite again, I would usually try 5 or 6 times before just walking them without the PVC jump and letting them out. Eventually they jump it and land upright again, and you immediately let them out again. Both cats that I have doing this trick only got it rite twice accidentally before understanding and "trying" to land it correctly the first try. Once you "know" they understand, it is imperative to not let them out till they hit the trick (within reason) as the reward is "practice is over, you can do as you like". Then begins the tedious process of every few days raising the jump and almost starting over. I am at the point now of slowing down on the raising and working on the "form" of the trick. The cats naturally jump forward because they are jumping a low hurdle towards the door. By changing the direction of the jump and raising the hurdle, I plan to cause the cat to jump more vertical and less horizontal, the same can be done with a hind leg tiger that is running over the person walking it, or trying to blow past them, changing the direction (away from the door or reward)is a quick fix to slow them down. We should know in about four more weeks if my theory on adjusting the horizontal/vertical angle of the jump is going to work, but I feel pretty sure it will. I am not saying Wade is wrong, I am saying there are always other ways of doing the same thing.

Addendum:
When calling the cats the first time over something, they tend to jump straight out into sort of a capriolle, this is the dangerous part, one must use his or her body to prevent the forward thrust and promote the upward motion, which means two things. Never discipline the cat for lunging forward or crashing into to you (I know to be fact it can/will happen) because "you" called the cat forward, and it will only get confused and sour (If you aren't willing to take the hit a couple times, forget doing the trick, and maybe consider a new occupation) Secondly, don't stand so far back that the cat feels no pressure from you, it will just jump over and land on all fours and pop into the hind leg when it is inside the pressure distance needed for a hind leg walk. You really need a feel for distance and control on the cats to avoid getting hurt, and still get the trick. If you have control, the cat may grab you as it is flying toward you but when you say no, it should release you, not drag you to the ground and chew on you.


This is all just an explanation of how I did it, I am sure there are other/better ways.

Casey McCoy Cainan said...

Dion,
Of course I will let the "self promoting ad" go through. If you like, send me a photo of the cover, and I will run the info and a picture, with info on how it can be ordered.

Anonymous said...

Now thats being a good sport (you). I will need your email to send a photo of the cover. Dion

Ryan Easley said...

Sign me up for a copy! A signed edition of course, made out to Radar LOL.

Dennis said...

If anyone wishes, full information on the book can be found at
www.freewebs.com/circusdays2005
Thanks Casey. Dion

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