Your heartwarming link for the day

[viedma]

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.

Comments

[cyprinella]

"Suck on this, Cesar Millan."

I'd sign an internet petition in support of this.

[traveller.livejournal.com]

okay, but I want my dog to not pee on the rug, I don't care if he can balance a ball on his nose...

[la-smartie.livejournal.com]

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.)

[koshiroryuu.livejournal.com]

RE: your ETA, I am so so happy about the Connecticut decision. So happy. But I refuse to read anything else about the dissenting opinions, because from what I've read they're almost shockingly ignorant, and I don't think I need that kind of anger right now.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

They should train them the way Mom trained Dad -- by withholding sex.