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7

The Art of ‘Active’ Training
Steve Martin

7.1 Introduction operations. For instance, an establishing
operation may involve slightly increasing the
An artistic animal trainer goes beyond the distance between the trainer and a nervous
basics of positive reinforcement training to lion in an enclosure to increase motivation
fine tune antecedents and consequences to for the animal to participate in a training.
promote a level of learning that transcends Some zoo professionals have a myriad of
basic animal training practices. The ‘art’ of tools in their training toolbox to influence
animal training can be described as the intui- motivation. These tools are generally associ-
tive non‐scientific application of animal ated with careful attention to antecedent
training ‘rules’, which have developed arrangement and establishing operations,
through practical experience working with such as limiting distractions, careful atten-
animals, and the people who care for them. tion to an animal’s body language and
The focus of this chapter is to describe ani- responding appropriately, using a high rate of
mal training from this perspective, and pro- high‐value and a wide variety of reinforcers,
vide a background of how it can be achieved and much more. Unfortunately, some have
in zoos and aquaria. yet to learn the vast array of motivating oper-
ations available to them and often focus only
on food reinforcers in their positive rein-
7.2 Motivation forcement training programme.
Zoo professionals have recently begun to
At the heart of all animal training is motiva- understand and quantify an extensive list of
tion. Professionals in Applied Behaviour motivating operations that influence training
Analysis (a sub‐discipline of psychology) sessions with their animals. Of the countless
refer to a motivating operation as something motivating operations that affect the behav-
that changes the effectiveness of a conse- ioural choices of the animals in training pro-
quence. For instance, warming meat before a grammes, the following are amongst the
training session can sufficiently change a most influential.
lion’s perception of the meat (reinforcer), so
that it results in an increase in the lion’s moti- 7.2.1 Relationship
vation to perform a cued behaviour for that
particular reinforcer. Motivating operations A trusting relationship between animal and
that increase behaviour are called establish- trainer is an important influence on motiva-
ing operations and motivating operations tion. Trust levels are on a continuum specific
that decrease behaviour are called abolishing to each animal and the conditions in which it

Zoo Animal Learning and Training, First Edition. Edited by Vicky A. Melfi, Nicole R. Dorey, and Samantha J. Ward.
© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Published 2020 by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.