How to Train Marine Animals

Training a marine animal is no different than training your household pet. Most animals are trained using positive reinforcement. This reward-based training is quite possibly the most effective way to train marine or terrestrial animals. Training animals can be done several times a day or several times a week. Any animal can be trained, from goldfish to elephants. All you need to know are what the animal eats or likes and what you want to train it to do.

Things You'll Need

  • Food, petting or other reinforcement items
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Instructions

    • 1

      Identify your animal's reward. Typically this is food, such as treats. Giving the animal affection in the form of praise or touch can also be a reward, if this is what the animal desires. Looking at an animal's natural history or diet can give you clues on what the best reward will be.

    • 2

      Determine what you want to train the animal to do. This can be virtually anything. Most often, it's easiest to start with something the animal does naturally. For a dog, it may be to sit. For a cat, it may be to scratch a post or for marine animals it may be swimming from point "A" to point "B."

    • 3

      Guide your animal to perform the behavior. If you are using food as a reward, you can 'bait' the animal. Dropping food in a fish tank as the fish swims will encourage it to swim from point "A" to point "B." Holding a treat in the air and close to a dog's nose will encourage it to sit.

    • 4

      Repeat and practice this behavior. All animals learn at different speeds. If your animal is highly motivated for its reward, it's likely your training will go faster.

    • 5

      Associate a cue with your behavior. Making a sound each time before the behavior is performed will allow the animal to associate a sound with the behavior, which can increase your chances of training success.