When we talk about giving animals "control" in training, we stumble into vague territory. Control is a hypothetical construct. It's abstract, unmeasurable, and it shifts the conversation away from behavior and back into feelings and intention. Let's ground ourselves in what we can observe and influence:...
Choice and control are buzzy words in animal training right now. But what do we really mean when we talk about choice? And are we actually offering it? Are we really performing a functional assessment to see what true choice means? And doesn’t B.F. Skinner’s...
If you've ever found yourself stuck in a training session thinking "why isn't this working?", the answer might not be your mechanics, your timing, or even your reinforcer. It might be that you never clearly defined what you're actually training for. Let's talk about why clarity...
At a recent Heroes 4 Wildlife conference, I shared insights about a training approach that's transformed how we work with our education ambassadors—particularly those "legacy birds" who came to us with compliance-based histories rather than choice-based foundations. Recognizing the Gaps We've all seen it. The bird who...
When we see a bird lunge, bite, or shut down, it’s tempting to label them: moody, stubborn, bossy. It’s a habit most of us have fallen into at some point. But those labels stop us from asking the right questions. Frustration isn’t a personality trait. It’s...
If you’ve been working with birds for a while, chances are you’ve picked up your fair share of training advice — some of it helpful, some of it… maybe not so much. “Don’t let the bird win.” “Hold on ‘til they give up.” “He just needs to know...
Choice and control are really buzzy words in animal training. Here’s the thing about how we use them in animal training: it sounds really nice in a conference slide or an Instagram caption. But when you’re out there in the aviary or standing in front...