Where is the limit?

Rats !!

I have to admit that I was not so happy to find these pests living in my stable.

They just are not the most commonly beloved creatures of nature and of course there is a historical reason for fearing them, as diseaces are know to sped through them. 

However - I was absolutely mesmerized when I read an article of a rat called Magawa, a landmine sniffing hero of it's species but of course it isn't  (or actually wasn't) the only one doing the lifesaving job in Cambodia. The gambian puoched rats (Cricetomys gambianus) [in Finnish; savannihamstraajarotta] are doing unbelivably valuable work in sniffing land mines ie. in Gambodia. These rats are far more accurate and quicker in finding land mines than any other mean of doing it; as it takes a fraction of time from these quided sniffers to cover an area of appr. football field than what it would take from us humans. Magawa was one of the most successful rat trained to alert human handlers of landmines to be safely removed there after. Trainer by Apopo organization these rats have been detecting (and destroyed) according to their web page now more that 25.000 land mines. Magawa alone during it's appr 5 year career sniffed more that 100 landmines.

A power of a small treat ..

Any small delicate treat will do it's effective work - all is based on positive reinforcement. The animals are trained to mark the place of mines or as far as I understand they are trainer to detect the smell of TNT. By marking the spot the handlers can then inform about it to professional people for destroying safely the landmine. These rats are great in this type of work: They have excellent capability for smelling the explosives plus they are very light in weight so it is safe for them to do the detection. 

I am, aften decades of working with animals and their training still just absolutely amazed of how much we can do with different animal species for the safety & well being for us humans.  

Android, windows, apple or some other ...

Wait a minute -what does these have to do with landmine detecting rats or any other animal species, like dogs? ...or with any animal heroes trained for the higher purpose of ie. protecting human lives? In reality any operating system really has nothing to do with animal training: Expect - What I've found so fascinating during the years of my career with different animal species; No matter which species I've worked with they are all 'programmed' in the very same way. All of them has similar or same "operating system". There's no windows, no android nor any other difference in that sense.

Come to think of  - it is quite astonishing that all species are behaving under the same principles of consequences; positive or negative ones.

Of course you need to know the capabilities of each species and each individual. Individual differences can be rather outstanding. When ever I'm tutoring animal trainers, animal care personnel or owners I'll always emphasizing the time spend with one's animal companion. We just got to learn their personal ways of behaving. At the same time we are also providing them valuable quality time to learn and observe our natural essence.

Where is the limit - within species.

A few years back a video in socialmedia / internet went viral of bublebees learning to pull a rope in order to collect valuable reward. We all know what is done with dogs; scent training to detect different diseases (including covid-19), drugs, lost people etc.

Often times animal training is related to mammals as it mostly has been within my career as well. However this should not limit our thinking. During the last few year I've gathered more experiences of training reptiles and aquatic animals. Aquatic environment is very familiar as I do have decades of experience with marine mammals therefore "diving" underneath the surface should not be a surprize. Recently I've done work ie. with buffer fish, shark and now the last experience is with copperband butterflyfish & peppermint shrimp.

I am just fascinated of the power of positive reinforcement. Taming peppermint shrimps to eat from my hand is just a fun thing to do and an experimental training with no further higher value. On the other hand it could be quite valuable in case there would be a need to transfer this tiny crustacean to another environment (aquarium) as it would be a hole lot less stressful for the individual. We are talking about voluntary participation in animal care which is getting more and more popular in animal care as part of daily animal keeping and welfare. This type of every day training is truly valuable in diminishing stress of handling of animals. it is also providing safety and less stress related feelings to any person dealing with the situation. It is also giving an advantage for management of animals and in long run savings in expenses.

You can find the result of  crustacean training from the following link to my tiktok-channel. 

(You may have to copy the link)

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNdWHSta/?k=1

Enjoy watching !

Every change is a possibility !

Remember not to make any defensive blocks in your mind of all possibilities we are having with our animal companions. 

Enjoy of being an enabler for any animal under your care and have fun.

Sincerely

- Kai -

ps. check out my renewed webpages

www.meritime.net

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kai-mattsson-36967819/

https://www.facebook.com/Meritime-345171735503394

 

Milk spilled on the floor - everything is not always smooth-going in animal training

Animal training is not always linearly successful !

Most of us have experiences the mornings when it just would have been better to stay in bed, pull the blanket over us and get buried in the warmth of the bed.

I just recently experiences one of those days; I got up and while I was doing my breakfast I happened to dropped an almost full carton of milk on the floor just to find out later, after cleaning the kitchen floor, that the other carton I had was out of date and soured in my coffee.

  

A bit too brownish and flat pancake came to picture a lot later that day in the evening. 

 - Sometimes it just feels that we're not meant for success. -

Spilling the milk vs animal training

Spilling milk on the floor does not have anything to do with animal care or training - except that my cat got pretty curious and came to see how I am doing with the mess. Fortunately it was not too keen on milk and passed my "service". This was actually the first delight on my day; On the contrary to an old belief that cat should be given milk - we should avoid it. Most of adult cats are lactose intolerant as they don't posses the lactose enzyme in their intestine to digest the sugar in the milk. Drinking milk can make them feel unwell - at least in greater volume, it can cause vomiting, diarrhea and stomach pain - like it does to some of us humans.

When things go wrong

Note I am not saying that if things will go wrong when we are spending time with our animals - but my wording is "when they do". It is inevitable that at some point of our journey with animals - things or training, the life together is not hitting  A+ (or to us Skandinavian 10+)

What do we learn, when making a mistake?

Making the mistake is not the end of the world. Being a parent I do know this sometimes too well; via my mistakes but also of the ones my children are doing. Fortunately this world was not made to be perfect - so making mistakes is very much ok. 

Doing thing wrong is actually something that is in the very core of learning. Getting negative feedback (reinforcement or punishment) does regulate and form our future behavior or thinking as it does with animals too. 

If we think for a moment how things are set in the wildlife; the strongest and smartest will survive. The answer to this lies in making mistakes and through learning process via those experiences; getting "smarter" by not always being perfect hunter or by not being the best in foraging generates each individuals innate talents to a completely different "higher" level.  For the wild animal populations & individuals life is not linearly successful. Success does of course plays a major factor in getting positive experiences and those will sharpen one's behavioral skills. Positive reinforcement is the one factor we want to uphold in the daily life and behavior management with the animals under our care.

The morning when my milk was spilled on the floor didn't really give the best vibes to start a day but at the same time it didn't mean I couldn't be successful in some other task. I guess my point is that getting stuck in training sequence or making sometimes major mistakes does not mean that we couldn't achieve the ultimate goal at some point, we just may have another unexpected twist on the way to reach our destination.

All the roads lead to Rome.

Being creative is one talent we as animal trainers do need quite frequently. I've faced this kind of situation so many times; But remember there is more than one way to achieve your behavior management goals. If one way of thinking is for any reason blogged - find another way. Take a look at your situation either a bit further apart or get in closer and try to find out triggers or reasons why the one (method) you used is not working. What are the reinforcements in the environment which are guiding the animal behavior to it's current path.

If there's will there's a way.

These are famous proverbs know by most of us. So finding a new way to our ultimate goal is nothing new. Sometimes when things just hit the wall - so to speak, we tend to give up. Seems like there wouldn't be any way further. In case this may happen several times there is a possibility that we - animal owners, trainers, keepers - may also learn a very unwanted behavioral form called learned helplessness. 

In such case we start to think that this is how it is and instead of trying to find some new innovative solution to the situation - we are gradually starting to accept the way of incorrect behavior. as normal. You may hear something like; "Well she/he is always like that." or "He/she has done it this way since I can remember." - At that point it could be wise to sharpen a bit of your memory! There must have been some triggers which have affected the behavior in some way, reinforcing the animal to perform them as they are now.

Learned helplessness is just a painted cattle guard in our way of getting further with our training.

Cattle guards, also know as cattle grids, are structures placed in the ground in order to prevent livestock from escaping a closed piece of land or border. 

Cattle guards have been know to be in use already from late 1800's and it is used world wide from Australia to Lapland, where I found them preventing reindeer's crossing the border. Cattle guards are effective in protecting livestock to escape from their pasture or field. 

Sometimes a fake cattle guard is used to do the job for livestock owner. Once animals have learned the effectiveness and meaning of the cattle grid this "knowledge" can be used to manipulate their behavior. Just by painting some distinct lines ie. on the road to create the "visual" effect of a real cattle grid would do. This is know to work .. at least for a while - until some daredevil will try it's luck and find out that it is just bluffing.

A link to further info on cattle guard:

http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.fol.005

Another trap we may fall into in this kind of situations is self fulfilling prophecy.

By saying kind of sentences described earlier in this text is not fair for the animals under our care. We should be enablers - not excluder for the success of it's behavioral progress. When we are expressing ourselves with negative expressions like - It's not gonna work, we are actually expressing a "prophecy" for our failure.

- Be optimistic and creative with your behavior management with animals under your care. -

Conclusion:

"If life gives you lemons - make lemonade."

Cheers

- Kai -

www.meritime.net

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