Corporal Blair Craven (1RNZIR ISD Section IC) says the zoo journeys are an opportunity for handlers to see the latest strategies in animal dealing with and coaching.
“What we see is the amount of positive training they do. The majority of our dog training is positive, but we do need to correct misbehaviours. That’s something they can’t do.”
Zoo handlers must do a very ‘deep dive’ into animal behaviours, tailor-made to individual animals, he says.
“They are very methodical, a lot more leading-edge with the science. Being military, we only have a certain amount of time to get an animal ready to work, to deploy. With the zoo, they spend a lot more time on particular moments.”
The military personnel seen comparable coaching to theirs with the chimpanzees. “It was interesting to see how they operated as a troop. When our senior, more alpha dogs, do something in front of the younger dogs, the younger ones will learn. So quite often, when we do training, the senior dogs are on the outside, doing the work, and the less senior dogs will be in the middle, watching. At the zoo we saw how a chimp, at four months old, sits there and watches what his mum does.”
Holly says it was nice having the Army canine handlers go to. “We love having them here, and they have great questions for us as well. There’s not many people we can talk about animal training that aren’t from a zoo. Each time the Army comes, I learn something new each time. When it comes to animals, there’s always something to learn.”
