#giraffetraining

Happy world giraffe day! Of all my giraffe training videos I chose this one. It’s not a fancy behavior, but it features what I love most about training animals…connections between people and that one individual in front of them. You can see the sensitivity of the keeper, the trust, the understanding, etc. We are working on introducing the target (which can be a big deal for some animals.) And this was just a fun moment in the process. It is a great privilege to have had the opportunity to work with giraffes. They are far more intelligent than people think. I do think training has led to a greater appreciation of these amazing creatures however our awareness of their plight may be happening late. Learn more about their struggles in the wild in the film http://www.natgeotv.com/int/walking-with-giraffes #worldgiraffeday #giraffetraining #karlsruhezoo #giraffetargettraining #giraffekiss https://www.instagram.com/p/CBtOPizF7Yv/?igshid=ycixjw6hh4fb

Oh, I remember this session so well! I was concerned about this girl because she was chewing so carefully, and I wondered could we get her to give us an open mouth behavior so we could check her teeth? Watch closely. The placement of the browse is strategic to get her to curl her upper lip. I time the delivery of browse for exactly when she gives me that curl. She caught on quickly. This is another approach I have used with a number of species to get an open mouth started. Learn more about this and other techniques to get action started in my latest podcast. Also covered is the pesky problem of getting duration. And how the heck should you use a bridging stimulus for this behavior? To top it off, inserting a cue is also not straight forward, depending on how you built the behavior. It can get pretty confusing at times. I wrap it up with some great tips you can try right away to help you start adding this behavior to your animal Training Toolbox. Look for Animal Training Fundamentals with Barbara Heidenreich. Listen/Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, Soundcloud or Google Play. You can also listen at https://animaltrainingfundamentals.com/podcasts/open-mouth-behavior-success-strategies/ I hope you will join me for practical animal training advice to help you solve behavior problems and reach your training goals. #animaltrainingpodcast #animaltraining #openmouthbehavior #giraffetraining https://www.instagram.com/p/B1GEJe4FL3J/?igshid=3zctnsdj97xc

Cloudy skies, rolling green hills and giraffes in the Irish countryside. My surreal office for a few days. @fotawildlife #giraffes #giraffetraining #fotawildlifepark #fotawildlife #myoffice https://www.instagram.com/p/B09OuZuFOhN/?igshid=7zflwlifczjw

From different places I have consulted, I have videos of training jugular blood draws, numerous voluntarily injections (and venipuncture), awesome duration, great open mouth behaviors and tooth brushing, ultrasounds where the animal holds for what seems like forever, spectacular free flight, difficult problem solving and much more. The species can be anything from rhinos, gorillas, big cats, small carnivores, domestic animals, fish, reptiles, birds…just about anything you can think of! Despite all that, you know what impresses me? Really good technique. It’s not just about getting a cool behavior. It’s about how we get behavior. I’ve seen (and trained) some cool stuff. But I get way more satisfaction from a beautiful session on the most basic of behaviors. The kind where the trainer is so intimately aware of how his or her movements influence animal behavior. How each action they take will communicate something to their animal. They are not robot trainers following the recipe. They adjust and fine tune every nuance... they are that aware of themselves, how they are influencing behavior, observing and reading animal body language at all times. That’s some magical training to watch. That’s when transformation happens quickly in one session. Are you into technique? Fine tuning your mechanics? Like details about practical application that raise the bar? See the full video of training this giraffe in Russia who has a fear response to targets and get all the intricate details of how we helped him overcome his fears in the membership program at www.AnimalTrainingFundamentals.com 15% discount until midnight July 27th. #giraffetraining #giraffe #giraffes

Argh! Don’t you hate it when that happens? We’d done a pretty good job of teaching mom to stay at her own block, but every once in a while she’d take a little wander. And of course her timing was impeccable.....because her son was ready to put his foot on the block for the very first time! Thankfully I got to reinforce the behavior. Despite this slight setback, he did get back on track and we were able to work towards putting the behavior on cue. This little dude was a dream to train. #giraffetraining #giraffes #giraffe #hoofcare #trainingforhoofcare (at Kaliningrad Zoo)

Got to revisit an old friend today. Buttercup aka Butters is coming along in his training. He can be a sensitive boy so we tried a nice combo of systematic desensitization, pairing desired food items, careful observation of body language and letting him push himself into a hand to help him get comfy with touch. Great progress in just a few short minutes with this approach. Nice job, young man. #giraffetraining #giraffe #maasaigiraffe

And another giraffe begins the journey into voluntary hoof care. Giraffes are one of my favorite animals to train. It’s only been in recent years that training these majestic animals has really gained momentum. Over and over they’ve shown me they can easily learn behaviors (such as placing a hoof on a block or curling it for access to the underside) in one session. This makes hoof care easy to accomplish, which can be critical to good health. Sometimes safe access to hooves first requires training the animal to voluntarily enter a chute. A key to making this successful is allowing the animal to leave and never trapping them in the chute. This builds trust and leads to cooperation in the long run. Great work for our first session with this girl in this behavior! #giraffes #giraffetraining #zooanimals #zooanimaltraining #animalwelfare #veterinarycare #hoofcare #chutetraining (at Zoológico De Chapultepec)

Oh what fun getting an open mouth behavior started on a giraffe! We wanted to check something in this girl’s mouth so we decided to give it a go and rather quickly she started catching on to the concept. You can see the upper lip curl and ever so slight hold open. It will take much more work, but she was definitely catching on. Good god! Training is a blast and knowing it will help with healthcare is the icing on the cake. #giraffe #giraffetraining #openmouth #zooanimals #animalwelfare (at Mexico City, Mexico)