I applied to the Natural Encounters Inc. NEI professional animal training course in April. I spent the rest of the year eagerly anticipating the course. I had seen my colleagues take the course and they had nothing but praise for it. It will change your life! I was expecting five days of intense training. I was expecting top-notch lectures from Dr.
Susan Friedman and Steve Martin. I was expecting to have my mind blown, and work with macaws. That was all I knew. I would like to share how I spent my time there, as well as my resonating experiences with the application of learning science, in practice.
He drove us the hour from the airport to the hotel. Friedman, Steve Martin, and the rest of the group. Over wine and snacks, we went around introducing ourselves, talking to other attendees about animal training. We immediately dove into engrossing conversations. These are some interesting people! The group was eventually corralled and divided into teams for the coming week. We were assigned our training animals, a macaw each, a group corvid and a group goat. When I got back to my room, I collapsed on the floor in huge sobs.
At the ranch. With amazing animal trainers, like I had never dreamed in my wildest dreams! The morning started early. The NEI van left the hotel at am. Once at the NEI ranch, we had a quick tour of the facilities. The place is huge. There are over macaws, many corvids, birds of prey, cranes, toucans, goats, and dogs, all on 37 acres of Florida greenery: a welcome change from Canada in January. One of the many large flight aviaries, with smaller holding cages inside.
The bird were let out to the flight area while training. The class convened at 8am and we had two hours of inspiring lecture from Dr. And I learn something new and profound every time. They breed them there; there are over 65 in this aviary, which is amazing considering the wild population numbers less than Afterwards, we met up with our training teams. We went to our assigned macaws and practiced the protected contact feed and invisible string behaviours.
