What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love, and Marriage: Lessons for People from Animals and Their Trainers
Amy Sutherland
Language: English
Pages: 192
ISBN: 0812978080
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
While observing trainers of exotic animals, journalist Amy Sutherland had an epiphany: What if she used their techniques with the human animals in her own life–specifically her dear husband, Scott? As Sutherland put training principles into action, she noticed that not only did her twelve-year-old marriage improve, but she herself became more optimistic and less judgmental. What started as a goofy experiment had such good results that Sutherland began using the training techniques with all the people in her life, including her mother, her friends, her students, even the clerk at the post office. Full of fun facts, fascinating insights, hilarious anecdotes, and practical tips, What Shamu Taught Me About Life, Love, and Marriage reveals the biggest lesson Sutherland learned: The only animal you can truly change is yourself.
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paycheck—one neatly tossed fish. How often was I reinforcing trying when what I wanted was doing? If Scott opened the refrigerator door and tried to find a jar of salsa, I’d come to the rescue. If my mother told me she was trying to quit smoking, I praised her. If a friend or relative mentioned changing careers, I’d root them on. Animal training showed me, once again, how my good intentions might undermine me, and why cheering on friends and family didn’t always get results. If you reinforce
enough to keep her waiting around for another. I finally understood why I couldn’t quit gardening despite much heartbreak and cussing in my yard each summer. Though the coneflowers always look as anemic as runway models, the red fountain grass refuses to bloom, and at least one rhododendron croaks with the drama of a silent screen star each season, just enough plants thrive to keep me digging, planting, and fertilizing though I swear each August I’ll stop. Damn the variable reinforcement of
Then they watch for the early signals an animal gives off, the antecedents, so they know what those are next time. Trainers also note the events or circumstances that prompt the behavior, which they call precursors. A common precursor that sets off many captive animals is gating, moving from one quarters or tank to another. Another is being examined by a vet. At the training school, a precursor for Kaleb’s fits was the bark mulch trail near the Galápagos tortoise’s enclosure. Walking over the
snotty, arf, which I can hear in the farthest corners of the house, usually when I’m on the phone, in the bathroom, or otherwise right in the middle of something. I also taught her, by accident, that I am a menace with a car door. One night, we loaded Dixie and Penny Jane in the backseat for a short ride to the local video store. I, feeling warm and fuzzy from a nice big Scotty-made martini, did not notice that Penny Jane had unfurled her usually curled tail. I slammed the door closed, catching
caused, and threw Clayton to the blogosphere. The show’s ham-handed title didn’t help, but Clayton was, to some degree, the victim of the very negative associations some people have with “training.” Maybe potty training didn’t go so well for them, or they can’t afford personal trainers. Regardless, to many folks the word doubles for “manipulation” or “control.” It conjures up images of big-cat trainers with a whip in one hand and a chair in the other, of wild animals being tamed, their noble