Dog trainers in Bendigo are being challenged to hone their skills on chickens because, unlike domesticated canines, the birds have no natural urge to please people.
Righteous Pups usually produces assistance and therapy dogs but its trainers have been teaching chickens all kinds of agility skills, including weaving through sticks, going through tunnels and walking a plank.
The clever chooks can even peck a soccer ball through goals on a miniature pitch.
After completing their task, the chickens hear the sound of a click and are quickly given a food reward.
"Chickens are really super-fast with behaviours, so you have to click and treat [them] really quickly," trainer Kelly Stevens said.
"Otherwise, they've moved on and you're clicking and trading for something else."
The not-for-profit organisation's operations manager Jennifer Atkins said it was all about positive reinforcement.
"It's about working with an animal that doesn't naturally want to work for you," she said.
"Dogs often just want to please you, whereas the chicken, you've got to give the incentive that this is a good thing for them and they're going to enjoy it.
"It helps our trainers learn new skills that they can then transfer over to the dogs."
Working with US trainer
The trainers are undertaking what they have dubbed Chicken Camp via weekly online sessions with renowned United States-based expert Terry Ryan.
The Washington state trainer is a former American Kennel Club judge.
"The average chicken is faster than the average dog, so we can get our timing and our hand-eye coordination put together a little better," Ms Ryan said.
"There's not much call for trained chickens, but there's a lot of call for a person that can train dogs, and dogs that can fit certain roles in life."
Ms Ryan said she was already noticing a difference in the trainers, especially Ms Stevens, who she said had become a more stable dog trainer.
"Kelly was quite the dancer; she would go around the table in a very motivational way," she said.
"I enjoyed watching Kelly but she, like a lot of trainers — myself included in the past — are probably distracting the chickens too much."
Ms Ryan said chickens were so intelligent they could even pick out a special colour in a group of coloured dots on the ground.
"So if we can figure out, with each species that we train, their point of view, what they want to do, where they want to go and make [out] it's their idea, then we're both ahead," she said.
