New Year's Resolutions for Animal Trainers 2018

It's that time of year again! The New Year reminds us to do better, be better. And this can certainly be applied to many things, including our lives as animal trainers. For the third year running, here are some New Year’s Resolutions for animal trainers………

      1. Get Out of your Routine – Are you in the habit of asking for the same behaviors, in the same order, offering the same reinforcers, and reinforcing every behavior? This can be a motivation squelcher for some animals. If your animal has a full repertoire of behaviors it knows well, it is time to gradually introduce some unpredictability.  If everything has been the same for some time, you will want to slowly introduce changes so as not to create frustration.  In the long run you can increase motivation by getting out of predictable patterns.

      2. Wrap Your Brain Around Your Bridge – What I mean is…does your bridging stimulus mean what you want it to mean to your animal?  This may take some scrutiny on your part or maybe the help of a trusted fellow trainer to analyze. I have seen some perplexing whistling, clicking etc. over the years. And if it isn’t clear to me what it is meant to communicate, it probably isn’t clear to the animal. Remember the bridge can mean whatever the trainer teaches it to mean. This could be many different things from “here comes food” to “duration has been met” to “that movement was correct” to “come back to the trainer” to “you are free to move”, etc.  Try to discern if the animal is responding to your identified bridge or other signals to get information.  I often observe the animal has learned to ignore the sounds and to focus on human body language instead.

3. Consider Animal Training a Necessity, Not a Luxury – I get it, training is fun! It is sometimes hard to imagine that “work” gets to be fun too. I sometimes consult at facilities where the attitude is that those who are training are shirking the real responsibilities of caring for animals. I disagree. Training allows day to day care of animals to be easier and stress free. It makes veterinary care easy to accomplish, both preventative care and urgent care. Bottom line, training is important to good animal health and welfare.  Help foster the culture that training is an important part of animal care.

4. Get to Know a Scientist – And I mean a real scientist. These are the ones who run labs, produce graduate students, publish studies, etc.  (Remember not all PhD’s are created equal.) I know catching up with a real scientist may not be easy for an animal trainer because these folks are not usually “internet famous” or out there on social media. They are usually busy focused on their research.  One of my favorite places to mingle with real scientists is the Art and Science of Animal Training Conference. This conference brings together top trainers and accomplished scientists from different disciplines. If you want your mind really stretched this is a good conference for the trainer who is beyond the basics.

5. Get Creative with Training and Back a Conservation Project – Whether you work with domestic animals or exotics, there is always a way to help their wild cousins. I am often impressed by how much the companion parrot community does for parrot conservation. My favorite parrot organizations to support have been The Kakapo Recovery Program and The Bird Endowment. We unfortunately lost The Bird Endowment Founder Laney Rickman this year. But the Nido Adoptivo project she started which has made a huge difference for wild blue throated macaws will continue.  I trained my blue throated macaw Blu Lu (a macaw rejected by her parents at The Bird Endowment) to paint portraits of parrots. Her paintings have raised thousands over the years to build macaw nest boxes in the wild.

6. End Your Sessions Well – Some may think this means to end on a “positive note.”  While it is certainly nice to have a good last rep if the session goes that way, that isn’t exactly what I mean. Instead I am thinking more about having a plan for how you will end your session.  For example, will you be using an end of session signal? If so, what happens after that signal?  To avoid creating frustration I suggest having something engaging to offer after the end of session signal. I prefer things that take time for the animal to eat or play with so that there is something desired paired with the time the trainer is collecting things and exiting. Or will you be training until the animal is no longer showing interest in what you have to offer and chooses to disengage so that perhaps a signal is not necessary. Either way, having a plan for how the session will end will be good to work out before the session begins.

7. Try Training Multiple Animals at a Time – This may be something to work up to for some trainers, but it is a good skill to practice. It takes good observation skills and good timing of delivery of reinforcers. Some basic behaviors to practice are teaching all animals to station for duration and not interfere with other animals. This sometimes requires a higher rate of reinforcement for some individuals. Some animals are less likely to stay put while others are getting attention/reinforcers. This means they need more reinforcers and at faster intervals and/or delivery of reinforcers timed for when others are receiving goodies. You can then work up to selecting one individual from the group to target, recall, move forward, step up, etc. depending on the species.

8. Practice Giving Training Feedback in Helpful Ways – You don’t have to be a consultant to find yourself in the position of sharing information on training. You may be helping a colleague, friend or posting in a chat group. As animal trainers you would think the goal is to also reinforce the good things people do as well, but often humans focus on what people do wrong.  In the world of animal training I don’t recommend completely ignoring errors in training for a variety of reasons, including safety. However how we convey information about errors can be done in way that is helpful and not hurtful. Take the judgement and emotion out and think more about providing information to help someone be successful. Just like training an animal, take responsibility for your human student not succeeding and change your approach to be of more help. And yes! Do positively reinforce when humans are on the right track too.  But insincere accolades are easy to see through. Be genuine with your praise for good work and non-judgemental and informative when offering feedback on what needs adjusting.

9. Conduct a Shaping Plan Contest – Come up with as many different ways as possible to train a specific behavior. For example I can think of 4 different ways right now to train an open mouth behavior.  Some plans may work better for different species. The fun part will be picking and choosing which plans to apply with which animals and then training the behavior!

Here is one strategy for getting an open mouth behavior started with a giraffe 

Here is another strategy for an open mouth behavior we tried with a pig

10. Expand your List of Reinforcers – Most trainers use food to reinforce behavior, which is totally fine. But what fun it is when we start adding other reinforcers into the mix. We can extend training sessions, we can still have motivation when animals are satiated for food, we have more variety in reinforcers for maintaining behaviors, and some non-food reinforcers are super powerful (just think about the ball obsessed dog!) Two of my favorite non-food reinforcer stories involve target training a male guinea pig for the opportunity to sniff a handful of litter soiled by a female. He LOVED it! And getting a lovely stationing behavior from my macaw just by looking at her and giving her social reinforcers with some “time with my face” at unpredictable intervals. Its really just about identifying what your animal seeks to acquire or engage with and trying to deliver that experience for desired behavior. Definitely a resolution that will broaden your training immensely.

There you go! Ten more things for animal trainers to try in the new year. 

Follow my Instagram page for more tips and animal training clips 

All the best!

 

Barbara Heidenreich

Barbara's Force Free Animal Training

Websites

All Animals: BarbarasFFAT.com

Parrots: GoodBirdInc.com

Rabbits: BunnyTraining.com

 Copyright 2017 Barbara Heidenreich

Raising Criteria Correctly

This summer I was very actively training a lot of birds every single day in preparation for a new free flight bird show. While this may sound like a dream job for some….and yes it can be, at times it can also be rather repetitive. That is because progressing through some behaviors can sometimes be monotonous. Some behaviors require repetition or very slight increases in criteria. And some behaviors may require relaxing of criteria. And some individuals may be working on the same behavior but be at a different place in the process. This means practicing the same things over and over for the trainer. This can be a good thing IF the trainer is paying attention. But one thing that can very easily happen is a trainer can become complacent and fall into a routine of automatically making changes in criteria without actually looking at the animal’s behavioral response.

For example, we were working on training a flock of Quaker parrots to carry a stick back to a nest. This behavior in its simplest form is really a retrieve . However, there are many components to consider. The components for various birds included holding onto the stick, taking the first stick offered, flying distances, flying without latency , flying with more than one bird, entering a crate for reinforcers, entering the crate with more than one bird at a time, flying to different people with sticks, flying though an opening, placing the stick in the right place, and so on.

As with any behavior it is helpful to have a picture in one’s mind as to what the final behavior goal is and what elements that includes so that each criterion can be added one by one as they are mastered. With multiple animals, that also means knowing where each animal is in that process.

An easy trap to fall into is going into autopilot and raising criteria without paying attention to how the bird did on the previous repetition. For example, I would sometimes see trainers ask for a rep, get a poor response and then automatically ask a bird to fly a farther distance. Uh oh! There’s that pesky autopilot turning on. My rule of thumb for raising criteria is if I get one or two perfect reps, then I will try increasing criteria. If the bird fails one or two times at the criteria I have set, then I relax my criteria to something at which the animal can be successful. This helps keep my animal wanting to participate in the session.

Another trap to watch out for is raising more than one criterion at a time. We had two birds learn to drop the first stick offered. This eventually turned into dropping many sticks before finally taking one to fly back to the nest. This behavior needed to be fixed before adding the criterion of flying distance to the nest could be added again. Working on more than one criterion at a time is tempting, but confusing to the animal. Get one aspect mastered before adding on another. 

I had to head back home before the Quakers finished their training for their new behavior. Here is just a peak at some of the work.  I hear they are doing well! Can’t wait to see the final routine once it is finished. In the meantime, practice raising one criterion at a time with your animals as well as making sure you are ready to raise criteria by paying close attention to your animal’s progress during a session.

~ Barbara

PS If you want to learn more about the basics of training parrots, try these resources

How to Train Your Parrot https://vimeo.com/ondemand/trainyourparrot

Train Your Parrot to Step Up https://vimeo.com/ondemand/parrotstepup

Flight Training for Companion Parrots https://vimeo.com/ondemand/parrotflight

Stress Free Veterinary Care for Companion Parrots https://vimeo.com/ondemand/parrotvetcare

Becoming a Better Parrot Trainer. Practical Application Skills That Make a Difference https://vimeo.com/ondemand/parrothandlingskills 

Barbara Heidenreich 

www.BarbarasFFAT.com 

www.AnimalTrainingFundamentals.com
Copyright 2017

Barbara Heidenreich has been a professional animal trainer since 1990. Her company Barbara’s Force Free Animal Training (www.BarbarasFFAT.com) provides animal training DVDs, books, webinars and workshops. She has been a featured speaker in over twenty countries and has been published in nine languages. Barbara works with the companion animal community and also consults on animal training in zoos.

5 Animal Training Skills that Make a Big Difference

I spent that last two weeks in the company of some amazing minds and practitioners when it comes to animal training and the science that guides it. It is a humbling experience. One that I appreciate. It is a good reminder that no matter how many years of experience one may have, there is always more to learn. I found myself rethinking the things I thought I knew and looking for ways to more accurately teach my subject matter. I also thought I need several more lifetimes to learn everything I want to know about the different species I work with as well as the science the influences behavior. I enjoy knowing, there is much more to know.

However, one thing that kept jumping out at me is that this world of animal training is one that requires the development of certain practical application skills. I watched incredibly skilled elephant trainers, dog trainers, and horse trainers practicing their craft. Almost all of them share some things in common.

1. They are excellent at reading and interpreting animal body language. Really skilled animal trainers seem to be able to predict what an animal is about to do. This comes from the ability to observe tiny movements of body parts, whether it is muscles, eye movements or other subtle actions that are pre-cursers to bigger actions. Time and experience around a species helps trainers understand what those signals mean such as fear responses, aggressive behavior, comfort, I’m ready, etc.

2. They are sensitive to animal body language. Skilled trainers show a connectivity to their animal. They are aware that their actions influence animal behavior and are careful to avoid creating fear responses and aggressive behavior. Their goal is to create an animal that is calm and relaxed in their presence, one that looks forward to their company.

3. They are incredibly aware of their own body and how they move. This ties in with number two but is worth a mention. This self-awareness is really impactful. Knowing that just walking past an animal or moving an object too quickly can influence behavior in an adverse way is something skilled trainers know and work to avoid. Why damage your relationship or disrupt a session if you can avoid it? Skilled animal trainers also know this is something to be aware of even if you are very far away from the animal.

4. They have amazing focus and observation skills. Recently I was engrossed in watching a rhino open his mouth on cue for his trainer. At the same time another trainer more experienced with large pachyderms took notice of his hind quarters and a little shift in his weight while he did the behavior. That slight shift turned out to be an indication of a bigger problem going on with his joints. These are the kinds of details people skilled with their species notice. 

Later I am sure the pachyderm trainers experienced the same thing during a parrot training session as I explained all the subtle things going on in the session that were contributing to heightened levels of arousal and aggressive behavior for an Amazon parrot

5. They know the natural history (ethology) of their species and how it will influence their choices when it comes to training decisions.  This usually translates into setting up the environment so the animal will be successful. This may mean thinking about antecedent arrangement (making it easy for the animal to do the action), contextual elements that might help increase comfort and motivation (like having a buddy around) and reinforcer choices.

Of course there are other things to talk about such as the timing of delivery of reinforcers, the use of the bridging stimulus, etc. But these kinds of mechanics are ones that are frequently mentioned and easily practiced with repetition. I like to think of the skills mentioned above as ones professionals earn with time and experience working hands on with animals, an experience that is something book learning or practice with a clicker can never replace.

While the principles of behavior analysis do apply across species, there is an art to applying it well throughout the animal kingdom. Most of us can apply the basics to many species, but it is breathtaking when you see someone who is clearly an expert with their species applying the technology. There is a fluid two-way communication without words. I think for many of us we find it quite emotional when we see that connection, no doubt because training is so much more than a click and a treat :) a fact not lost on both the trainer and the animal.

Barbara Heidenreich 

www.BarbarasFFAT.com 

www.GoodBirdInc.com 
www.AnimalTrainingFundamentals.com
Copyright 2016

Barbara Heidenreich has been a professional animal trainer since 1990. Her company Barbara’s Force Free Animal Training (www.BarbarasFFAT.com) provides animal training DVDs, books, webinars and workshops. She has been a featured speaker in over twenty countries and has been published in nine languages. Barbara works with the companion animal community and also consults on animal training in zoos.