14 Progressive Bird Training with Hillary Hankey

Animal Training Fundamentals with Barbara Heidenreich

My favorite kind of animal trainers are those who break the rules!! What I mean by that is that they are the ones who question everything in the name of doing it better. That is why this episode is entitled “Progressive Bird Training.” My special guest Hillary Hankey is one of those trainers who spends every day analyzing, studying and practicing the art and science of animal training with a diverse collection of birds in southern California. And her results have demonstrated that indeed we can always improve. She describes the spectacular immersive free flight experience guests, students, clients and interns can have when they visit her facility. We discuss practices that can improve the welfare of birds trained for educational presentations, as well as enhance the guest experience. This means diving into how we create motivation, collection planning, the types of behaviors we train and altering guest’s expectations. We also discuss the current trend of free flying companion parrots and some of the things pet owners need to take into consideration. Visit the episode webpage to see video clips and learn more about her online education program the Avian Behavior Lab and future on site workshops.