Page 185 - Zoo Animal Learning and Training

8.4 Staff Training 157

VetBooks.ir and great fun, as well. You can also train your or new goals, unrealistic time constraints,
fear of change, lack of creativity, and many
pets at home. Every attempt should be made
to practice these bridging skills before work­
matter the cause, it will take effort to keep
ing with animals. Creating games that are additional highly understandable reasons. No
non‐intimidating and light‐hearted can keep your animal training programme moving in a
the learning atmosphere welcoming and positive direction. Here are some ideas how
enjoyable and minimises the fear of appear­ you might do this:
ing incompetent or foolish. Providing ideas If time is limited, only make small pro­
for people to do activities at home on their ● gramme changes, such as changing one
own or to share their own skill‐building cue for a behaviour or practise using a new
games can give them more control over their bridging stimulus. Find brief opportunities
learning and give anyone particularly wor­ during the day to review a short training
ried about learning in front of others a risk‐ paper as a team or a chapter in a book.
free opportunity to practice ahead of time. Get the team engaged in a regular review
These games are useful no matter how expe­ ● of all training goals, assessing progress,
rienced someone is and can be good to and new goals or variations of behaviours
refresh skills as a team. that could be added or take the place of
In addition to practicing the timing of a
existing goals.
marker, getting experience with other tools Get the team engaged in self assessments,
used in training is helpful. If pouches are to ● where they are introspective and come up
be worn or props manipulated, such as a with ways they can improve on their per­
meat stick, targets, food buckets, a chute sonal performance. Individuals can bring
wall, crate doors and/or any other props, books or DVD’s back to the team that they
experience should be gained with them all have reviewed and found helpful.
out of the presence of the animal first. The Sharing progress or roadblocks with train­
time to figure out the locking mechanism on ● ing projects at team meetings is a way to
the door, the sound the wall makes when you get input and inspire each other. This will
slide it and how to hold on to the target is not get team members to use different tech­
with the animal at your side. niques that have been successful for others
Another example of building skills is to
extinguish an animal’s trained behaviour and on their team. Encouraging team problem‐
solving can also use the larger brain trust
then retrain it, or to change a cue for a behav­ of the team. Also, consider bringing in
iour. Spending time practising any of these people from outside the team who can pro­
skills, and especially nuances that you or vide a fresh perspective.
your team may not have had exposure to, or Bring in a guest speaker or training consult­
have simply never tried, is important. ● ant for a presentation or review of your ani­
It is possible to train animals for years and
never actually grow in terms of your skillset. mal training programme. This can create
stimulating conversation and discussions of
This reality is especially true if you do not currently held beliefs. It is important that
continually challenge yourself. Sometimes this is done in an animal training pro­
it seems like an animal reaches a plateau dur­ gramme that is stable, with a leader that is
ing a training programme where it no longer secure enough to handle this level of input
appears to learn. This lack of continual and can facilitate positive discussion.
growth may be due to the training programme
or to the person training having become The main goal of ‘sharpening skills’ is to
‘stale’, no longer interesting, or engaging. keep your team in a highly engaged, adaptable
Animal training programmes filled with such state that encourages growth and helps to
‘stale’ team members can arrive at this point maintain a desire to learn and take part in the
for many reasons: a lack of clear, compelling, training programme. Under these conditions,