13/01/2026
"One-Mannish" Donkeys and Mules-
Generalization in donkeys:
One of the aspects of training donkeys that often gets owners and trainers confused is the lack of ability to generalize in donkeys and often in mules as well.
By generalization I mean the ability to take something that is trained and known and apply it to new locations, situations, and with new people giving similar but slightly different cues.
Oftentimes, when working with a donkey or mule, the first step after the animal learns a task is I see if they are capable of repeating that task in a different spot. Even a different spot in the pen can result in the animal resetting into a previous behavior pattern that looks like lack of knowledge. That is how specific donkeys are. Just because you can catch them in a spot in one section of a pen, doesn't mean that you're going to be able to catch them in the other corner of the pen. It's a different spot and therefore may require relearning the skill, even a few feet away.
One of the times where you see this lack of generalization cause the most problems is when an owner or a trainer can handle the donkey and their hooves, but the farrier is unable to. This is why a lot of donkey owners are now starting to learn how to trim themselves, in order to provide adequate hoof care for animals that don't generalize well to new people handling them.
Once a donkey has learned a set of skills, and as a trainer I feel like they are solid in their knowledge with me, I will then employ other people who are skilled enough to copy my cues and body language. Even people who are highly skilled in reading donkey and mule body language will have slightly different behaviors and motions than I do, resulting in the donkey potentially being confused by them asking for something that they already know.
It's one of the reasons why I don't often take in donkeys as training projects for other people. The donkey will get trained to my specifications, but if the owner isn't involved in that training, the donkey is not trained to that owner. They are trained to me. Transferring that information involves the owner being present at many training sessions in order to help the donkey generalize and transfer that knowledge to a new person. It also involves that person having the timing and knowledge to imitate what I have taught the donkey to respond to.
It's complicated. It can be done, but it does involve quite a bit of commitment that many owners are unwilling to do.
Unlike some other domestic animals that are willing to sort through the mess of our body language and communication to try to find out what we are looking for, donkeys and mules have enough self-preservation to take that dissimilar communication from a different owner/trainer/human and simply ignore it. It's not the same to them. At all.
We are all different, and it doesn't matter if we're trying to communicate the same to the animal, it will come out differently, and elicit a different response.
I have found that over time, the more people who handle a well-trained long-ear kindly and similarly, the more often that animal will start to respond to new people, at least partially. They may not respond to them to the level that they would the person who works with them most often. And it depends on their personality.
This is why a lot of donkeys and mules are considered "one mannish", meaning that they will only be responsive and trusting to one person.
So the next time that you go out to communicate and interact with your long ears, it's worth considering if you are communicating kindly, consistently, correctly, and using skills that your animals will respond to best. Watching other trainers that are proficient in communicating with long ears can help you emulate their behavior patterns, movements, and energy in order to be the best communicator and trainer you can be. Knowing how you get the best responses out of your animals can assist in you helping others emulate your cues in order to.not confuse or frustrate your animals.
What a joy it is to learn from our animals and their behaviors in order to be better trainers ourselves. Happy training!
