Me: I think Otto gets nervous when he sees people walking around the restaurant across the street.
My Mentor: Can you block his view so he can't see the restaurant?
I nearly facepalmed right then during our Zoom meeting. Why hadn't I thought to use a visual barrier? Mentors are wonderful resources for discussing complex problems, but they are also great at pointing out the simple solutions.
I had been getting frustrated with the owl's midday training sessions. He ignored any food, preferring to look out the window. I tried again later in the day and he hopped down immediately and was eager to work for his rat tidbits. Eventually I stopped trying to train before 2:00. Coincidentally, that is also the time that the Brick House Café closes for the day.
If activity at the restaurant was Otto's main distraction, blocking his view should solve his inattentiveness during training sessions. It was at least worth a try. I hung a canvas sheet over the front of the mew one morning and decided to try a training session at noon that day. I set a piece of food on our training perch and his eyes remained focused on that tidbit. Within seconds he hopped down, ate the food, and eagerly took more as we worked on being comfortable with my glove.
It worked!
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