AVIAN
Targeting Like a Pro
Lara Joseph introduces targeting to avian wildlife ambassadors and sees a cormorant
L
named Darcy learn the basics in under five minutes
et’s start by defining what exactly target training is. Target training involves training an animal to touch a pre-determined object like a ball at the end of a stick, or your finger, or even touching a pen to a pre-determined body part of the animal like a beak, paw, or nose. Examples might be training a bird to touch his beak to a ball at the end of a stick when you say “touch,” or getting a dog to touch his behind to the floor when you say “sit.” This kind of training comes in extremely handy for several reasons. For instance, targeting an animal to touch his nose or beak to a ball on the end of a stick can be helpful when you need him to move from one part of the room to another. If you train the animal to do this, you can then move him across the room by asking him to “touch” the stick when it is presented at the other end of the room. This is especially useful if you are trying to work with an animal that shows signs of aggression when people walk by a door or a particular walkway, for example. By asking him to target, you can get him to move to a location where he does not feel the need to engage in that undesired behavior. Another example might be when you want an animal to go into a crate. If he is already trained to target a stick, you can put the stick in the opposite end of the carrier and ask him to “touch.” He then has to go into the carrier to touch the ball. I have recently introduced target training to a team I am working with at Nature’s Nursery, a wildlife rehabilitation center in Whitehouse, Ohio. The team has accurately taught a cormorant named Darcy to touch a ball at the end of a stick with her beak. They have since been using the target stick to guide the same bird to different areas of her enclosure. From there, it was time to introduce the weighing scale so I laid a flat scale down on one of the benches in the enclosure, held the ball at the end of the stick over the scale, and said “touch.” Darcy immediately went to touch the ball with her beak and stepped on the scale to get to the ball. This is obviously a very useful behavior to train, particularly when guiding an animal around an enclosure or for conducting a variety of general husbandry procedures. All of this sounds great, but where does one begin? Start by making it very easy for the animal to touch the ball. I started with putting the ball close enough to Darcy that she had to look at it, but not too close as to scare her. When she looked at the ball I immediately said “good” and tossed her a piece of smelt. I use the word “good” as my bridge. A bridge is a sound or signal that is given to let the animal know he or she has given the exact behavior we are asking for and that the treat or positive reinforcer is coming. The bridge literally ‘bridges’ the gap between the time the animal has performed the desired behavior and the time it takes to deliver the positive reinforcer. This time should always be relatively short. The less amount of time that is taken between delivering the bridge and delivering the positive rein50
BARKS from the Guild/September 2016
If author Lara Joseph (pictured) cannot read turkey vulture Willy’s body language for any reason, she has Willy target her beak to her finger to avoid any possibility of aggressive behavior occurring
forcer, the clearer it will be to the animal as to exactly what behavior is being reinforced. The amount of time will vary depending on the individual and the situation, and my time is usually around five seconds. Immediacy is an important factor in reinforcer effectiveness. (Miller, 2006). As our training progressed I bridged and delivered the treat as soon as Darcy looked at the ball. I then placed the ball within about 6 feet of her and said “good” and reinforced as soon as she looked at it. I did this several times until I saw her consistently looking at the ball as soon as it was presented. Once I could see she had learned that just looking at the ball caused a reinforcer to be delivered, I moved to the next step. I showed her the ball and she looked at it of course, but this time I wanted to wait for something more, thereby using differential reinforcement. She ended up leaning into the ball just about an inch. I immediately said “good” and reinforced. I did it again and again until I could see she clearly understood she needed to move toward the ball to get the reward. I then presented the ball and waited for more behavior. She ended up turning away from it. That was fine, it is a part of the learning process that teaches contingency. I removed the ball and all opportunity for her to earn her reward. She quickly turned back around and looked my direction so I presented the ball and she took a step closer to it. I immediately said “good” and reinforced. Darcy took another step closer to the ball and almost touched it with her beak. Once again I reinforced. As soon as her beak was about 1 inch from the ball I made sure I kept the ball still and steady. Darcy did not touch it. I was not sure she understood what I was waiting for so I turned the ball by twirling the