WhatShamuTaughtMeAboutLife,Love,andMarri.epub

CONTENTS Title Page Dedication Introduction 1. People Are Animals Too 2. Any Interaction Is Training 3. The Zen of Animal Training 4. Know Your Species 5. Why I Stopped Nagging 6. The How-tos of Positive Reinforcement 7. Baby Steps 8. The Least Reinforcing Scenario 9. The Joy of Incompatible Behaviors 10. Working with Big Cats Epilogue: Life After Shamu Acknowledgments Glossary About the Author Also by Amy Sutherland Copyright For the animals, especially the human animal I married, Scott INTRODUCTION Sitting at my desk in Maine this summer morning, I hear my elderly neighbor clear his throat with undue enthusiasm as he trundles down his driveway. A foghorn moans. A car door slams. I hardly notice these ordinary, everyday sounds as my eyes are trained on the extraordinary, a delicate underwater dance a continent away. A black figure, a swimmer in a wet suit, I can’t tell if it’s a man or a woman, splashes in the middle of a deep pool. Behind the swimmer, a killer whale glides through the tank. His dorsal fin stands tall like a sail. His sharp black-and-white markings reflect in the water’s surface above. Thanks to a w......