Milking Camels

The Wall Street Journal published an article about a woman who wants to start a camel dairy. Camel milk is a delicacy in some parts of the world and is reputed to have great health benefits. One of the problems is getting the camels to stand so they can be milked. If they’re not used to it, they don't like it. (Same with cows or any other animal. They have to learn. Usually they get their dinners while they’re being milked. Done deal.) One camel dairy uses mechanical milking machines. The owner’s wife taught the camels to accept that. Her husband says "I cannot explain exactly how this was done" ..."a woman has a sixth sense." I don't know what that woman did, but I know what I would do, or any clicker trainer. Shape the behavior of touching a stationary target for the 'stand still' part--and use whatever camels like best, for the primary reinforcer. Dried dates should work, right? The rest is just a successive approximation problem: Will you stand still while I…yes? Click. And then gradually raise the criteria. Ten minutes twice a day for three days should be PLENTY of time to get that behavior trained, IMO. KP