Continuing Your Education
I am always passionate about continuing your education. You guys are doing it right now by reading this blog! It is especially important for trainers and behaviorist because the science of behavior, and especially animal behavior science, is ever evolving. I know a lot of us can remember what parrot care was like 20 years ago, and you can acknowledge how far we have come in their care. The same goes with behavior and training! For me, I am always continuing my education in multiple ways.
First, I read at least one peer-reviewed scientific article a day. Not only do I personally enjoy learning and reading, but it helps me get new ideas, learn new things, and be able to aid in educating the public using science-backed materials. I prefer reading animal behavior science research, but reading any behavior research is helpful! Because behavior is behavior is behavior, the fundamentals of the behavior modification used can be modified to work with an animal. I have taken a lot of methods from dog training to use with parrots, ideas used for autistic children to use with giraffes, and enrichment I used with primates to use with parrots. If it cannot be modified, they usually still give me some type of inspiration to the next topic to investigate, different care ideas, or a new idea!
For example, I took an idea on functional communication used with an autistic male and used it for my parrots. This is the topic I am presenting at the AMBA Annual Conference this year in April. The original plan was the parents and the child would wear red or green bracelets. Red means they cannot give attention and green is they are able to. Both child and parent can communicate what they can and cannot do at the time to avoid physical altercations which happened in this specific example. I was able to modify that for parrots and still see similar benefits, just with less screaming behaviors with my parrots.
Following that idea, the second way I continue my education is my going to conferences. The great thing about the modern era is majority of educational conferences now have it online too! I know how expensive it can be to travel to these conferences. I just finalized my travel plans for the two conference trips I am taking in April, and it costed thousands. Both conferences offer online options, but because I am presenting at both, I need to be there. It will all be worth it, especially training at the Nashville Zoo.
Another way to continue your education that I also do is by networking. Chatting with other professionals is a fun way to continue to learn! Everyone is doing different things, has different background and experiences, and specialize in different behaviors or species. Not only is the conversation easy, fun, and engaging since both parties will be talking about topics they are passionate about, but also very educational. Most of my education and experience training animals came from mentors and working directly with the animals. There is a lot of value in having a formal education in behavior, but I find that I learn the most when working directly with the animal or other professionals. My education happened a bit backwards. I had a lot of experience hands on before I learned the terminology and science behind behavior. When I was in college, a term would be taught that I never heard. Once I learned the definition, I was like “ohhh, so that is what that is called!” I was doing the methods (and correctly) without knowing the science of why it was working and why to choose that method. Experience and education go hand-in-hand!
Which leads me to discuss the next great way to learn and keep up your education is through training and practicing your skills. Rescues always need handlers and trainers. Working with different species and behaviors helps continue your education and understanding of behavior. Teaching your own animals’ new tricks and behaviors is an easy way to start. Once you taught one, go for another! The number of behaviors you can teach your animal is limitless. The only caveat to this paragraph is to emphasize the difference between trainers and behavioralist. Being a trainer is easy; all my clients are trainers. If you have ever worked with your animal you are a trainer. They can rehearse and teach the training plan to the animal. What I do not advise anyone to do is be a behavioralist who diagnose behavior and come up with behavior-change plans after doing functional assessment on the animal. I cannot tell you how many great-hearted people I have worked with that have completely misdiagnosed behavior, or come up with the wrong plan for the behavior. The reason this can be problematic is it may not change the behavior or make it worse.
Another way to continue your education is by taking classes from industry professionals or at credited colleges. Just in the past month alone I have taken two classes, one on emerging parrot cognition research and another on stress and fear in canines. There were some interesting concepts in the presentations that got my mind hungry to learn more, as well as ideas of education to create for you guys! In the past month I have taught three classes locally on parrot aggression, science-based training, and cooperative care training for dogs! I have a library of online classes that I have taught that you can purchase on my website on a variety of topics! I have MANY more planned for this year, two are ready to be posted on the website after this flash sale, on a variety of topics! I also am planning for a weekend online parrot workshop on a variety of topics date TBD! I am aiming for some time in May!
Finally, and I am a bit nervous to put this here, is to read blogs or books. I am nervous because without knowing who the author is, it may include information that is untrue or outdated. Behavioral science and animal care practices are always evolving. In the parrot world, that means information talked about just 5 years ago is borderline ancient due to the amount of growth the community has had. I know some of my blog posts from just two years ago I feel are already dated and were updated. Blogs can be great as long as you are making sure the author knows that they are talking about. Remember, just because they say they are a professional does not mean that they are staying up-to-date on emerging information and practices. I have read blog posts from popular YouTube parrot trainers, dog trainers who have been training for over 30 years, and even some vet pages and went “WHAT?!?” I was astonished at how untrue the information was based off of current research, even posts made loess than a year ago. It was not even opinion-based topics, like wing clipping for example (even though there is a lot of science on the topic swaying more to one way than the other).
Anyway, as good animal caretakers, we should always keep an eye out for trusted emerging information on topics regarding our animal’s care and behaviors. I you ever have any questions regarding your animal’s care or behaviors, you can always feel free to email them over to me! I love to help in the ways that I can!