Zoomility: Keeper Tales of Training with Positive Reinforcement

What do elephants, killer whales and your family dog all have in common? Training with Zoomility! It has been working for animals in zoos and aquariums for years. And now, you can use it for your own training, with help from Dr. Grey Stafford. As the book's foreword written by Jungle Jack Hanna explains, training should be about helping animals succeed, not boosting our egos. That idea is at the core of Zoomility, a combination of humility and Dr. Stafford's years of experience training animals at zoos and other facilities. Using only positive reinforcement, never punishment, Zoomility outlines steps you can follow to teach your animal calm, cooperative, and complex behaviors that will hold up in any situation.

Using Zoomility's 3R's (Request, Response, Reinforce) you'll be able to train any animal, regardless of age or past behavior issues. Dr. Stafford includes dozens of "recipes" to guide you through helpful behaviors like sit, stay, and so much more. And using the techniques you'll learn in Zoomility, you'll be able to create your own recipes to successfully shape any behavior.

What is Zoomility? In accredited zoos and aquariums everywhere, keepers are using the behavior tools that marine mammal trainers have honed for decades to positively reinforce all sorts of useful, complex, and cooperative behaviors with birds, mammals, reptiles, and even fish! The great news is, the tools described here are easy to learn and will work with your animals too, regardless of species or breed.

When you train using only positive reinforcement, the richer life you and your animal will experience together far outweighs any initial investment in time, patience, and energy used to modify your own behavior. Plus, using positive reinforcement is fun! As you begin to see your animal succeed, you too will get plenty of reinforcement of your own. Working in a zoo has revealed a simple truth: good training decisions usually start with leaving one's ego at the door. Each chapter of Zoomility begins with some personal tales of zookeeper humility or zoomility. Done properly, training is as much about having fun as it is about helping animals succeed in the world in which we ve placed them, whether it be a zoo, a kennel, a wildlife preserve, a stable, or our own home. So this book was written to provide readers useful training tips as well as a glimpse at the humorous side of working around animals with positive reinforcement.

Growing up in Cleveland, Dr. Grey Stafford started his zoological career as a marine mammal trainer at a place called SeaWorld of Ohio. For nearly 20 years, he has cared for and trained a variety of birds, mammals, and reptiles. Stafford completed his doctoral degree at Kent State University, studying New World primates. As the Director of Conservation for the Wildlife World Zoo in Phoenix, he actively promotes wildlife conservation and positive reinforcement training through weekly televised segments in Arizona and past contributions to programs such as The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Larry King Live, Martha Stewart, Good Morning America, and Extra. He also posts a regular pet training column on Belo Corporation's website mysweetconnection.com. Stafford has been an invited speaker for national conferences including the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) and has co-authored award winning presentations and publications on animal behavior training techniques. Stafford currently serves on the editorial advisory board for the International Marine Animal Trainers Association (IMATA). He is also a professional member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and the Animal Behavior Management Alliance (ABMA).