As a young person I loved animals, especially horses, and thought it would be my career. As I delved into the industry as a teenager, I was not happy with a lot of aspects. The trainers I was learning from were very much of the dominance type mindset, where the horse must comply by the use of escalating pressure. It was very well justified, this is how to be safe around horses or they will run right over you. It was true too, horses that are being trained well outside their comfort zone can be panicky and unpredictable. Yes, you have to force them to do things that they have no desire and see no benefit in doing.
I ended up taking up a career in a completely unrelated profession. Almost 20 years later I got a pony again and started applying what I learned from training my pet parrots to ponies.
Parrots are a small prey animal, although they are kept as pets, most species are not considered domesticated. They can be easily frightened, although they do have a good defence mechanism in the form of a beak, flight is usually the favoured method of avoidance. So, they are jumpy, can fly out of reach and do some not inconsiderable damage to your fingers when cornered. When you keep small, flighted parrots that have not been hand raised in a house with cathedral ceilings and very perchable light fittings it is very wise to consider whether dominance is really relevant, what dominance really is, or perhaps that there is simply no compelling reason for them to come down while you are attempting to domineer.
Many zoos and wildlife parks around the world have thrown away dominance and coercion based training methods in favour of added reinforcement training. This is how everything from free flying bird shows to training exotic animals to stand unrestrained for medical procedures like injections, x-rays and hoof work. Added reinforcement is used as it is the most effective and safest way to train these behaviours.
It turns out that animals tend to be extremely compliant about doing a lot of things when there is something in it for them to gain and it is taught in a manner which avoids eliciting fear. Not only can they be compliant, but can even willingly participate.
How does it work? Also known as positive reinforcement and R+, added reinforcement is adding something that the animal wants to the environment after a behaviour occurs to increase the likelihood of the behaviour reoccurring. Complex behaviours are built through a process called “shaping using successive approximations” which is kind of like a game of “hot and cold”, with only warm and hot being used. The surroundings can be modified to help shape the behaviour. For example; to get my parrot to fly down from the 3m high light fitting, I started by getting her to jump to my hand from a low perch to get to a treat. After a couple tries the treat was no longer held out, just the hand I wanted her to jump to. She still received a treat when she landed, but it was not part of the signal to come, the outstretched hand became that. Next I stood further away and held out the hand. My bird soon learned to fly down to my hand from anywhere, perches, curtain rails, light fittings, where ever she was.
The same principals can be applied to any species, from reptiles to rodents, alligators that station for medical checks to giant rats that find landmines. Certain species differences need to be taken into account. For example, with horses and other large quadrupeds, the first lessons involve learning to get treats for standing nicely and giving people personal space, other individuals it can be just learning to trust people.
What ever your pet, they all have the desire to seek out things they like and the ability to problem solve to get things they want and build an amazing relationship with you in the process!