A donkey is on the way to breaking his habit of standing still to gain attention from humans after help from an animal behaviourist. Marley, 13, began displaying the unusual behaviour after arriving at The Donkey Sanctuary’s Axnoller Farm site in Dorset in 2016, and grooms found it hindered their daily routines, which require donkeys to move to different areas within the location. It became apparent that Marley’s habit of standing still was his way to capture his human helpers’ attention, and had previously developed by accident due to him being rewarded for standing still. Kerry Layton-Hill, the sanctuary’s equine behaviourist, was tasked with helping Marley overcome his behaviour. She said: “There are many different underlying causes with donkeys that are reluctant to lead – nervousness, pain and incorrect reinforcement. “In Marley’s case, he was craving human interaction and had accidentally been rewarded for standing still in the form of attention. “Over time, Marley learned that standing still would bring the grooms to him. “Whenever it was time for the group to move to a different area so the team could put in extra bedding or feed, Marley would stand on the spot and not budge. “This was also the case when Marley was being led via a head collar – he would simply stand in place until he was interacted with. “This was an innocent behaviour that resulted in the team unintentionally stopping and giving him scratches or trying to move him with food; this reinforced his actions.” Kerry was asked to teach Marley an alternative behaviour that would still result in him receiving attention from the grooms while allowing daily routines to take place uninterrupted. Working with Marley’s groom Danni Travers, Kerry devised a training technique centred around positive reinforcement. Marley was encouraged to touch a plastic lid from a kitchen container with the tip of his nose to receive the praise he craved. Kerry said: “We introduced the lid as the item Marley needed to interact with as it was something he was unlikely to see in an everyday situation. “For example, we sometimes use ‘hand targets’ (holding our bare hands out flat) when using positive reinforcement techniques. “If we had tried this with Marley, he would have walked around us nudging our hands for attention when we weren’t trying to engage him in his training.” The training started simple; Marley could touch the lid with his nose without moving his feet, and then received praise and attention.