3-30-12 The Power of Positive Reinforcement Training

Through small steps in shaping, Moon is no longer afraid of the camera. It's such a common item in her everyday environment now.

So much has happened and I will save this post for a notable observation I had with Moon yesterday. I took the day and went to visit with my father. It’s a two-hour drive one way, so I planned on being gone all day. I trained her in the morning before I left but it wasn’t near enough food for her daily requirement. I didn’t feel comfortable leaving her with no food and in hopes she would work for all of it when I returned. I don’t train Moon at night so I couldn’t bank on it being a positive experience. So I left a 181 gram whole quail in her enclosure. I didn’t want to do it, but I didn’t want to leave her without food.

I tried my hardest to get home before dark but didn’t make it. I pulled in the driveway at 8:30. It was dark. I locked the garage door behind me and she heard the keys jingling. The keys are her cue that training is ready to happen. I put the keys back in my pocket and I walked to her enclosure. I laughed so hard at what I saw. She was at the front perch watching me and stretched to her fullest extent on her legs as if she were standing on her tippy talons. I love it when they do that because owls have such long legs and the bigger owls remind me of old women lifting up their dresses to walk through the tulips.

She was stretched so tall and doing the head bob and sway that owls do when they are focusing in on something. From the best that I can tell, this is an inquisitive, curious and extremely interested look. She was doing this with me and I belted out a laugh at her. I walked up to here cage and said “What are you doing?” I swear, if that enclosure door was open, she would have been on me. I unlocked the enclosure and pulled out my iPhone flashlight to look for the quail. There it sat on the stump right where I left it twelve hours earlier. I was so surprised she hadn’t eaten it yet, or at least the favored part.

I walked in the house to put everything down and slip on my jacket to train her. As I walked back out, I didn’t see her on her front perch and had a feeling she was on the quail. I wondered why she had waited until now. As she heard the keys jingle, up she flew to the front perch from her quail. “Bummer, I missed my opportunity”, I thought. I went in with the flashlight and the quail head was still attached. She hadn’t started yet. I grabbed the quail and walked out and I felt two eyes following me all the way. She was watching the quail. I went to the garage, warmed up some duck, grabbed a few hoppers, chopped off the quail head, weighed all the food and headed to her enclosure. I haven’t asked her to step on the glove in the dark since November. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. I walked in and she was focused on the leather glove on my left hand. The glove is a conditioned stimulus and obviously a strong one because she was watching it and couldn’t get to it fast enough. I offered it and she was walking to it before I placed it on her perch. On she went and a beak full of warm duck she received in return.

I was absolutely thrilled with all of this. I don’t think anything could have wiped the huge smile off my face. I’ve put a lot of hard work into training Moon. A lot. Several hours, several mistakes, several set backs, several days of frustration, several days of big steps, several days of great behaviors, and several experiences at being so amazed at what information she retains. I believe Moon is already making a great ambassador. I can’t wait to see what her future holds and to what extent she is used to educate the public on her species, her conservation, and their relation to the ecosystem.

I nuzzled my elbow into my hip to help transfer her weight from my glove because I could tell she wasn’t going anywhere for a while. When I say “Good” she leans forward to receive the food without even seeing it. I’m a big supporter of proper timing in bridging and anyone who comes to my workshops knows this. Seeing Moon lean forward when she hears the word “Good” lets me know there is very strong communication happening. She sat on my glove and ate the rest of the warm duck and the two hoppers. I cued her to step off my glove and back to the perch by opening my glove to the perch and tapping the perch with my right hand. Up she went and she knew what to do. She turned around to receive her final reward so I offered her the quail head.

I locked her in for the evening and glanced over my shoulder at her as I walked back to the house. There she stood on her favored perch looking down into the neighbor’s tall grass. She often perches there and stares at all the things we cannot see and cannot hear. Such an amazing creature. Such an amazing creature. The power of the use of positive reinforcement training never ceases to amaze me. I was so complimented with the whole experience that had just happened. I never take any of my interactions with any animal for granted. I am glad to be given the opportunity to show them this way of interaction for education. They are my best teachers and I hope I am paying that back.

Reinforcers of all kinds…

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Reinforcing the behavior of two barred owls staying perched as I move closer by moving my boots under the snow.

Reinforcers are something that comes after a behavior that cause the future rate of that behavior to increase. There are different types of reinforcers or reinforcement but in this post, I’m going to focus on positive reinforcers. Positive reinforcers are also known as rewards and it is always the animal that decides what is the reinforcer, never us. This is a common mistake in animal training. Offer it once, if the animal doesn’t respond, you are probably not working with a highly valued positive reinforcer. If I were to offer it again and I see no physical reaction, I’ll look for another positive reinforcer.

Reinforcers aren’t always food. My training sessions with Moon are now about 15 minutes in length, five times a day. The reason they have increased in time so greatly is that I have started incorporating enrichment into our training sessions before feeding and after feeding. I see it making a huge impact on our training, and obviously for the better. Adding the enrichment before and after is causing me to stay in her enclosure for longer periods of time. This is having a positive effect on behavior I am requesting from her. In addition, the more enrichment I offer and experiment with, the more potential reinforcers I have for requested behaviors. One thing I always tell trainers I’m working with is “Look at what the animal is looking at. Whatever that is can be a potential reinforcer.” Here area  few examples.

Take advantage of the elements the environment has to offer. There is always a reinforcer in the environment. The key is finding it and then using it correctly. Here

The ultimate goal in reinforcing them both to stay perched was being able to deliver the reinforcer to Moon on the right.

is an example of me using the movement of my boot under the snow as a reinforcer for keeping Moon’s attention and keeping her on the perch in front of me. In this video I am using it as enrichment and using it to help read her different body language. I used to use this as a reinforcer for keeping owls on their perches as I walked closer to them. In the photos above, I am using the same technique of moving my feet under the snow as in the video below to keep both owls perched as I walked closer. The barred owl on the left was very hard to approach and her flights would scare Moon who is on the left. I needed to keep the barred owl, Sam on the left, calm in order to be able to approach and train Moon on the right. You can see the difference in body language. You can also see the difference in body language in Sam from the first photo and the second photo. Her chest isn’t as puffed in the second photo and it is the second photo where I am the closest. I didn’t take my eyes off of her while this close.

In the beginning of my training with Sam and Moon as in the photo to the left, I would get close enough to be able to deliver the reinforcer to Moon. At this point, I was using negative reinforcement with Sam. As soon as Moon would eat, my reinforcer to Sam was to leave. My goal was to be able to deliver a positive reinforcer to Sam for allowing me to get this close. I do not want to use negative reinforcement for too long and I want to be able to quickly pair it with a positive reinforcer. I would set a pinkie down at a distance next to Sam. It wasn’t long and I noticed that pinkie was gone when I would go in for my next training session. So I was able to pair a positive reinforcer (pinkie) with my negative reinforcer (me leaving). Soon Sam didn’t seem nervous on my approach which eliminated the intensity of the negative reinforcer and soon she was looking forward to my approach because a goodie was delivered each time and I was able to stay and continue working with Moon rather than having to leave. This is what really enjoy about training a bird that is in an enclosure with another bird. You have to train them both in order to be able to train the one you want to work with. It can take a bit more time and patience but the pay off is rewarding when you see how calm their environment becomes through the consistency in training.

Here is a video of me moving my boot under the snow with Moon. Look at how the slight movement of my foot making the snow move is keeping her attention. If I find myself in a situation where I need to keep her attention, this is an example how I will use environmental events as reinforcers.

Using movement under snow as a reinforcer for keeping attention

In this video you will see how the clack my boot makes on the bottom of my shoe is serving as a reinforcer for keeping Moon’s attention as I walk closer to her. I will still do this on my approaches with her. It not only serves as a reinforcer, but it is proving to be added visual and audible enrichment for her. By consistently pairing enrichment with each training session, it is making our working relationship stronger.

Using the clack of my boot on my foot as a reinforcer for her Moon staying perched on my approach.

It takes time to approach an owl and not reinforce a clack. I’ve noticed there are several different clacks and snaps given from an owl. Most of them serve as a form of communication that whatever is in their environment, they are not comfortable with it doing what it is doing or being that close. I don’t want this paired with my approach and I’ve noticed that when I take the time to make sure that particular clack or snap doesn’t happen, it pays off in the continuous comfort level shown by the owl when I am next to it and moving around it. That is my ultimate goal…to take as much stress out of captive animal environments.