News From The Mews

Take a one minute break with Aldo the American Kestrel as he takes a bath in the rain!

I was preparing for the first MuseumMobile school visit of the year and jotted a quick note for my coworkers on a post-it: "Please feed Aldo and Carson, but I'll train Otto this afternoon." Even though I was in a rush to leave on time, I paused, then added another word to my note so it read: "...I'll train with Otto..." How different are those phrases? Maybe not very different. But they have subtle meanings that can reflect how I approach animal training. "I'll train Otto."   This phrasing doesn't sit well with me because it feels more forceful. I feel like it means "I'll make him follow my commands." Traditional training methods come to mind. With dogs, that might mean yanking on their leash or using a prong collar. With owls, that might mean chasing them around the mew until they finally step on your glove. Not very fun for the animal. "I'll train with Otto." With . That one little word transforms this sentence

Sometimes we need to be the bad guy. When that happens, I don a fluorescent trucker hat (the "bad guy hat"), safety glasses, and heavy welding gloves. Routine medical care requires this safety equipment and a brief period of restraint while I clip talons, replace leather equipment, and trim their beak. It was Otto's turn earlier this week. The whole event went smoothly and he returned to his freshly cleaned mew looking a little disheveled, but in one piece.  I checked in on his camera periodically over the next few hours to see how he was recovering. He looked just fine, if a little jumpy at noises outside. As our normal afternoon training time approached, I was nervous to find out how he felt about me. Would he be afraid of me now after I grabbed him? I cut up large chunks of mouse and prepared to do an easy session with Otto. The pattern games we've been practicing were the perfect way to test how he was feeling. I entered the mew with a little extra hissing from Ot

I just can't get enough of pattern games. In addition to the 1, 2, 3 game , Otto the Great Horned Owl and I have been practicing Super Bowls. The original version of this game starts with a row of bowls on the floor. You start with your dog (or cat) at one end and wait for your pet to look up at you. When they do, you step forward and place a treat in the next bowl. That pattern is repeated while you work your way up and down the line of bowls.  Unlike 1, 2, 3 where it doesn't matter what the animal is doing, Super Bowls requires active engagement from your pet. They control when they move ahead by choosing when to look up at you.  I liked the idea of this game because I wanted to give Otto a way of choosing when he would go into and out of the crate. I also wanted a fun way to practice moving between perches because he had a tendency to get too comfortable in one spot and refuse to move. Bowls wouldn't work well in the mew, so I established an order of perches that we woul