After the full day of learning, we awoke to a mystical sight!! We were heading into Tracy Arm Fjord! It was drizzling – and freezing – but that didn’t stop us taking in the amazing view!!! My camera was busy trying to catch memorable shots. I was so taken by the chunks of ice in the water!
We watched as the ship was expertly turned around – ready for the trip back out. We were looking at Sawyer glacier. How wonderful to see glaciers…. how long will they be around?
In the afternoon we docked at Juneau – ready for a visit to Mendenhall Glacier – before heading off on a whale watch cruise. Unfortunately it was wet – but it didn’t stop us enjoying the adventure. Here are a few more photos.
The learning also continued – it really is a great idea to break up the days with some sightseeing.
Ken talked about techniques of developing a shaping plan – what will it look like? – start at the end – and work backwards – what would the step be before the finished behaviour etc. – how will it be used? – why are you training it? – what foundation behaviours need to be trained first?
Then – of course after the plan is developed – practice without the animal using PORTL.
And Kay went deeper into PORTL. We played many games. We were looking at marking the behaviour accurately – clear cues to start the session and end the session and motor skills that are fluent.
Kay also talked about micro shaping – something I am fascinated with. Without going into detail here – I thought I would include this article from Kay on microshaping. The article is ten years old – but still relevant!
Ken talked about teaching others to become trainers. While this wasn’t something I would do, it was still great listening to it and of course many attending were doing that very thing. Above all – the animal comes first!!
He talked about shifting the thinking in the student trainer – myths, excuses get in the way of finding solutions – as a trainer – we must accept responsibility. We must focus on what the animal ‘can’ do – not what it can’t do. And he added – positive reinforcement for the student is very important!
This is a short post – because it includes so many photos. I will conclude our Alaska trip in the next post.
COMING UP – TRAINS, CAROUSELS AND GARDENS
IF YOU ARE NEW TO THIS STORY, PLEASE START AT THE BEGINNING HERE – Part 1 – An Introduction
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