The Menu

One of the earlier lessons I learned when training was that there can be a variety of things that can function as 'reinforcers' -and a good trainer will have taken the time to understand which of these reinforcers have a higher or lesser value to the receiver. 

I felt a renewal of energy today as I left the interns cottage and headed for the park.   I was armed with only my clicker, a target stick, and a complete menu-to-go ~ raw meatballs, a few small pieces of herring, a little tuna blended into a paste-like consistency, 8 apples and 6 pears cut into small, tempting pieces, and several sliced carrots.  Something for everyone! ~and all packed neatly away into a sorely used plastic bag, which yes, leaked.

Passing by the wolves' forest ...who smelled me coming!

With a strong wind at my back, my entrance into the park came as no surprise to the wolves...in fact, the odor from the fish  probably enticed them to crawl out from their dens the moment I stepped outside of my cottage!

Passing by the wolf enclosure every morning reminds me somewhat of those portraits inside Disney's haunted mansion -you know the ones where the heads never move, but the eyes follow you all the way through the ride!

As I approached the wildcat enclosure, I was happy to see a large group of people all straining to catch a glimpse of the elusive little forest creatures.  I felt this would be a good test for both the cats and myself.  Would they come down to me with all those people in front of their enclosure?   I gently rattled the lock on the enclosure's door, opened up the containers of food, and waited.  Nothing moved.  Taking advantage of the silence, I bent down to retrieve my clicker, and in just that small amount of time, at all three cats had magically appeared and were positioned not but 1 meter from my feet.  Their silence is surreal.

Their approach defines 'silence'

Nod was the first to make 'calm' eye contact, so I clicked and dropped a small piece of the meatball through the chain-link fence.  He pounced -good thing  the meat  was already deceased.  Behind Nod, I could hear Winkin growling, while Blinkin was creeping in for his share.  For a brief moment, I wondered how the parental visitors today would ever again explain the concept of table manners to their children.  The competition was fierce, and to the death!  I paused and reminded myself to wait, then click only for calm, silent behavior.  This being said however,  when there is only one trainer and 3 cats, allocating the food and maintaining this 'calm' is challenging.

I decided that a precise delivery of the food would be crucial to maintaining order, and there would be absolutely no bending of the 'silent rule.'  I saw Nod sitting quietly -click, drop.  Winkin was scowling, but at least he was quiet -click, drop.  Nod made a move for Winkin's fish, but Winkin was faster.  He raced off to the bushes with his prize. Blinkin was 3 meters back from where I stood, but at least he was quiet -click, throw!  Nod apparently thinks all fish are his, but Blinkin set him straight in no uncertain terms!  I'm hoping that they will eventually learn the routine -ask any parent ...teaching 'turn-taking' has never been easy.

"Turn-taking can take a bad turn!"

I kept the session short -under 10 minutes.  The cats had told me very clearly what the treat values were.  Herring ranked #1, followed by a close second, the Tuna fishball, and the raw meatball came in at the #3 position.

After the training session concluded, I didn't have the energy to walk the distance over to the farm animals so, I opted instead to stay at the cat enclosure for a bit to chat with some people -thankfully, they were more than happy to speak English.  I had one family tell me that they'd been to the park 7 times before this trip, and yet this was the first time they had been able to view the wildcats.  This type of reaction will make the administrators happy, and I'm glad for that, but my personal goal is to make both the administrators and the cats happy. 

So, I'm anxiously awaiting our first day of enrichment activities for the cats!  In the meantime, more training is required!

Lessons learned: 

Tomorrow, allocate my energy according to the species

 -start with the goats, then Tricky-Woo, and finish with the wildcats

 ...and for heaven's sake, find a decent plastic bag!!