If you haven’t heard of PORTL yet where have you been? At Zoospensefull we discovered this awesome learning tool only about a year or so ago. Since we received our copy we have used their games in almost every workshop to get more engagement and learning from our participants. We Read more…
As animal trainers we have to think about many different things during our training sessions. It’s not just “good behaviour, reinforce” there is much more to it. As we train our animals we focus on the consequences to make sure the behaviour will happen again in the future. We know that Read more…
At Zoospensefull we constantly try to find ways of training that work best for both the trainer and animal. It often comes down to how strong you want the history of the behaviour to be. Do you want the behaviour occurring just once or every day, week or month? Knowing Read more…
At Zoospensefull we have worked with many zoos worldwide. One of our main objectives is to build a variety of successful training programmes. These programmes are both with free and protected contact animals. Even when we primarily train animals in a free contact scenario, we also recommend training animals to Read more…
Written by: Lisa Longo – Animal Académie My name is Lisa Longo and I am an animal behaviour consultant for pet owners. I share my life with a Czechoslovakian wolfdog, a Gottingen pig, a blue and gold macaw and a red-lored amazon. My job is to bridge the gap between Read more…
Behaviour is something we can’t extinguish it is always there. We have an effect on behaviour all the time. Through associations and consequences in different environments our behaviour keeps on changing accordingly. Science explains that reinforcement will increase behaviour while punishment decreases behaviour. At Zoospensefull we are pro reinforcement techniques Read more…
Written by Nicki Boyd – Associate Curator of Behavioral Husbandry In 2017, the San Diego Zoo embarked on a new safety protocol with emergency recall for our open fronted habitats that had dangerous animals inside. We knew the tragedy that befell another North American Zoo, when a child climbed a Read more…
One of the first behaviours we suggest to train are call overs. For us, a call over is a behaviour that when a cue or signal is given the animal comes to the trainer. This behaviour has so many great applications to it; call overs help when counting animals in Read more…
Written By Susan G. Friedman, PH.D. Susan G. Friedman, Ph.D. is a professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology at Utah State University. Susan has co-authored chapters on behavior change in five veterinary texts, and her popular articles have been translated into 14 languages. She teaches a well-attended course on Read more…
Cover Photo: Namsskogan Familie Park How many of us look around an enclosure, at all of the animals and the potential distractions before starting a training session? During my years of observing training sessions I have seen many sessions that begin with the animal not being set up correctly to Read more…
