Stepping onto a human’s hand, coming out of a crate, perching calmly while 50 sets of human eyes stare at him. These are not behaviors that come naturally to a raptor, but we ask our birds to do them on a regular basis. They choose to participate because of their ongoing training program rooted in the science of behavior.
There are four basic ways an animal (including humans) can learn a new behavior or change an existing one. I’ll focus on one of those methods this week: positive reinforcement.
Aldo sits comfortably on my glove after I apply leather conditioner to his equipment.
Behavior science can get bogged down with terminology, but breaking down the basic meanings are important. “Positive,” in a behavior dictionary, means that something was added after the behavior (it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a good thing). “Reinforcement” means that the consequence is something the learner wants, and they will be more likely to offer the behavior again.
Imagine Cota the dog sits in front of you (the behavior). You give her a treat (the consequence). If she really likes the treat, she will probably sit again to get the tasty reward. That’s positive reinforcement!
We rely on this method with the raptors. If Carson the hawk touches the target stick, she gets a mouse tidbit. If Aldo the kestrel steps on my glove, he gets to bask in the sun in the backyard. It works on humans, too. You find a $10 bill when you turn down a new street, a second-grader gets a sticker on his perfect spelling test, you compliment your friend’s outfit. The good consequences make it likely that you will walk down that street again, the second-grader will study for his next test, and your friend will keep wearing that outfit.
By it’s nature, positive reinforcement training is fun for learners. They will work harder to gain the rewards, and it creates a strong relationship between learner and trainer. It can be challenging (almost like playing a game of Hot and Cold, but you can only say “hot” to help the person find the hidden object), but it keeps everything positive.
Next week we’ll explore another way to modify behavior and fill in another quarter of our handy chart below!
To learn more about how animals learn, I highly recommend the classic book Don’t Shoot the Dog! by Karen Pryor.
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