viedma: I will rule the world! Emperor Cupcake! (Default)
Bill Rebane, Moviemaker and Feminist ([personal profile] viedma) wrote2008-10-10 11:32 am

Your heartwarming link for the day

Shedd Aquarium rescues dogs and trains them like a dolphin or whale


Doing stuff for humans is neat!

"In their new lives as performers, the dogs do tricks, play with handlers and demonstrate new talents like ferreting out contraband.

To teach them, the Shedd used training methods it helped pioneer.

"A lot of animal training used to be based on coercion, force and punishment . . . with owners establishing themselves as the alpha members of the group, yanking on leashes and tightening collars to dispense discipline," Ramirez said. "You can't put collars and leashes on marine mammals like whales and dolphins, so trainers had to develop a new training regimen, positive reinforcement."

Trainers encourage desired behaviors by giving the animals little rewards—a tasty snack, a pat or caress, jolly "good boy!" or "good girl!" praises. Punishment is never used."

***

No word on whether "Pet Training the Shedd Way" will be subtitled, "Suck on this, Cesar Millan."


ETA: Special bonus heartwarming article just for you, Connecticut court overturns same-sex marriage ban.

[identity profile] la-smartie.livejournal.com 2008-10-10 05:11 pm (UTC)(link)
I thought this was from The Onion at first. It took me a couple reads to realize that training domestic dogs is not a joke . . . (Boo hiss to training dolphins, though. That gives me the creeps.)

[identity profile] viedma.livejournal.com 2008-10-10 05:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Agreed. I used to love the dolphin show at the Baltimore aquarium, but now it just makes me sad. They should go to training dogs full-time, write a best-selling dog training manual, etc.

[identity profile] la-smartie.livejournal.com 2008-10-10 05:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Dammit . . . I totally forgot what I intended to write: I watched the N.Y. "Life on Mars" last night and I sort of liked it. Michael Imperioli is great (he always is) and the captain looks like that guy from "Mean Streets," but old. Heh.

[identity profile] viedma.livejournal.com 2008-10-10 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
That's what Vali heard-- I was against it on general principle because why do we remake everything?-- but if it's good then I'll watch.