Cooperative care, from Zoo to front room!
My animal training career began back in 2008 working with California sea lions. The marine mammal training industry was initially mainly about the shows; entertainment and education! But in order to have shows you need healthy happy animals.
Regardless of your stance of marine mammals in captivity, I hope to reassure you that these animals likely experience far less stress than our pets when it’s time to see a vet.
My First Sea lion show in 2008 with Morgan and Aero
Here’s why....
The trainers need an excellent relationship with these large aquatic mammals in order to safely have contact with them. The training methods used are force-free and based on shaping and rewarding behaviour to achieve beautifully fluent and impressive jumps and flips to wow the audience, inspiring a love of marine wildlife in audiences around the world. But the training doesn't stop at teaching fancy jumps…… these animals cannot be easily sedated like land mammals due to their adaptive respiratory systems. Dolphins, sea lions, and walruses are all trained to cooperate in their own veterinary checks and procedures! The same training methods used to teach on cue jumps and various other show behaviours are utilised to teach the dolphins, sea lions, killer whales etc to cooperate in their own care. The training is fun and engaging for the animals too and this further benefits welfare, keeping them mentally enriched.
The sea lions I worked with were trained to swallow tablets (useful for daily vitamins and occasionally medications), they were trained to present various body parts for close inspection, to open their mouths for dental exams, to lay still for X-rays and ultrasounds, they were trained to move into different areas of their exhibits, to go into travel crates, for injections, blood draws and much more.
Morgan the Sea Lion, voluntary oral examination
It would be a dangerous game to force or coerce such a large and powerful creature to accept veterinary procedures! These guys treat essential care training just like learning a new show behaviour. It’s fun and there are no bad consequences for getting it wrong or for choosing not to play. You can not withold their food (their water comes from their fish and you would not like to be around a hangry sea lion). You simply can’t force these guys to cooperate.
One thing I realized whilst working at the zoo was that not all the resident animals were trained for husbandry behaviours or cooperative care. Many of these animals were restrained by keepers for health checks and veterinary procedures. The large dangerous animals like our lions would be shot with a dart gun and sedated. Animals that needed to be moved from enclosures or taken to the vets or transported to a different zoo were caught in nets and put into crates.
Pretty stressful for those animals! Thankfully things started to change and many zoo keepers have begun to see the benefits of cooperartive care training.
African lion training for voluntary oral exam
During my decade in Zoos I saw many other species begin to benefit from animal training programs for cooeperative care. Animal welfare improved from the decreased stress and the mental enrichment that the training provided.
My colleagues and I worked across the zoo and taught:
· Birds to step onto scales
· Coatis to station on logs instead of climb all over us
· Primates to push their chest against the fence for the stethoscope
· Skunks to sit still for their vaccinations
· Porcupines to go into a crate
· Lions to open their mouths wide for a dental check and accept injections
· Meerkats to go into a crate
· And much more!
We taught all these behaviours to wild animals using the force-free training methods modern dog trainers now use with our beloved dogs.
The thing with non-domesticated animals is…. You can't use force or you will likely end up on the receiving end of a strong set of jaws or quills or claws!
Because dogs have been selected over generations for their tameness towards humans. We get away with, and have normalized, a lot of handling and restraint with our pets. How quickly they forgive us after we have dragged them to the vets, taken them to the groomers, clipped the nails, or given them a bath. Not all dogs are worried by these necessary care procedures but at some extremes, dogs will growl, bite or panic and escape. Here are some things I have taught my own dog to help him to feel in control and safe during essential canine care:
· Chin rest for ear cleaning and drops
· Chin rest for eye drops
· Paw presenting for voluntary nail trims
· Counterconditioning for bathing and brushing
· Target to move him onto the scales at the vets
· Restraint free injections
Here are some simple tips to make vet and groomer trips less stressful for your pet:
· Dont wait until you need a vet/groomer. Visit the car park for a quick training session, be generous with the treats.
· See if your vet or groomer allows you to visit the reception area, maybe weigh your pet. Or simply take some good high value treats to feed in the waiting area.
· Get your dog comfortable with being handled and groomed at home. You can do this by feeding your dog treats as you brush them or touch their claws.
· Muzzle train your pet. If a muzzle is required during a grooming or vet exam your pet will feel better about the muzzle being placed on their face if youv’e take some time to acclimate them to one.
Some dogs may benefit from counter conditioning to help them to feel OK about having harnesses put on or for brushing, bathing, nail trims, and tooth brushing. I am pleased to see vet surgeries and grooming salons now stocking tasty treats to help their canine clients feel better about those often scary places. Some basic utilization of classical conditioning (pairing tasty treats with the not-so-great brush) can make a huge difference to the stress levels your dog experiences and their overall well being.
If your dog cannot cope with nail trims or the groomers then it’s never too late to contact a force-free trainer to work on counter conditioning and equally, it's never too early to get your puppy comfortable with handling and grooming.
Zara Jackson KPA-CTP ABTC-ATI
Check out this video tutorial to teach a chin rest for cooperative care:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrTgp8OSTe
