Training of circus animals. Circus of horror: how animals are trained

Training as an inhuman phenomenon in modern society

In September 2010, activists of the VITA Animal Rights Center attended the Baltic Forum of Veterinary Medicine-2010, where the Honored Veterinarian of Russia E.G. Sibgatulin made a speech for a large audience the report "Training as an inhuman phenomenon in modern society." Due to the extraordinary informational value of the facts presented in the report, not only for us, professionals in the protection of animal rights, but also for society, we publish it in full.

Veterinary hospital director's report
(LLC "Veterinary Medicine")
Honored Veterinarian of Russia E.G. Sibgatulin at the Baltic Forum of Veterinary Medicine-2010

Let me draw your attention to another area in which animals are actively involved, talk about those animals that perform in the circus.
The demonstration of trained animals has long attracted the attention of the public, and since the 19th century, it has become an integral part of the circus performance, invariably causing a violent reaction from the audience. And indeed, how funny the dancing bears are, how hilarious the monkeys who parody people are ... What kind of animals you can see in the circus. It should be noted that a considerable part of the world fame of the Soviet circus belongs precisely to the trainers. Participation in the circus program of Valentin Filatov, Irina Bugrimova, Margarita Nazarova, Mstislav Zapashny was provided with indispensable sold out. Both then, and today, parents bring their children to the circus in order to acquaint them with the world of animals, including wild ones, to teach humanity and respect for nature. But is it possible?

The basis of training is violence

Having worked for 30 years as a veterinarian in a circus, I was daily faced with the harsh life of the circus behind the scenes. This experience made me a supporter of the idea of \u200b\u200bbanning the genre of training. Suffice it to say that up to 70% of my medical practice is the treatment of injuries caused by animal trainers.

Violence is at the heart of training: in order to tame a wild animal, a person must subordinate him to his will, prove his superiority, and this is possible only by suppressing the will of the animal.
It is believed that there are several principles of training: 1) painful, designed to intimidate the animal; 2) encouraging, stimulating a gustatory response in an animal; 3) complex (mixed) training, combining gustatory rewards and fear of punishment.

All trainers say that cruel treatment of animals, suppression of their will by pain causes only reciprocal aggression from the beast. But is it possible to achieve from a predator a clear execution of a particular trick with just a delicacy? Here's a practical example. To teach a young tiger cub to stay on a curbstone, a piece of meat is placed on it. The tiger jumps up, but immediately, having eaten the meat, rushes away. And as soon as he goes down, they begin to beat him with aluminum rods. And so every time: a treat awaits the baby on the curbstone, and outside of it - severe beatings. This information is fixed in the memory of the animal and, thus, it is fear that makes it stay on the pedestal. Thus, the answer to the question whether it is possible to achieve a precise performance of a particular trick from a predator with just a delicacy is obvious - of course not! This is just one example of the so-called humane training method, which was considered a major achievement of the Soviet circus. I must note that in Soviet times, animals were treated more ruthlessly than in the present. There was no organization for the protection of animals. The state bought the animals for the trainer, which allowed the artist not to stand on ceremony with the animal that was difficult to train. They were simply put to sleep, although they were young, physically healthy individuals. Today, most professional trainers treat their pets more carefully, because they have to replenish the group for their own money. So the Russian living creatures have partially won from perestroika.

In addition to physical influence, another method is popular in the circus - hunger. Typically, large predators are fed once a day, after the show. If one of them has worked indistinctly, he loses his portion until the next time (that is, the animal is starving for 48 hours). It is clear that all this "kitchen" remains unknown to the audience, who enthusiastically accept numbers with animals. Thus, they turn out to be misinformed about the real relationship between man and beast. In fact, circus animals are not the "stars of the arena", as the trainers try to suggest to us, but unfortunate creatures with a mutilated psyche and a crippled body. There is nothing cognitive for children in this spectacle: animals appear here in an unnatural environment for them, their behavior is distorted, instincts are suppressed, there is nothing in them of proud and independent creatures that can be observed in the wild. Is it right to educate a child to love animals through such a deceptive spectacle?

Poor animal welfare in circuses

Violent training methods are just one aspect of the inhumanity of the training genre. The poor conditions of their keeping in circuses cause no less suffering to animals.

The circus takes away all dignity and natural beauty from animals, turns them into prison prisoners. Only unlike the world of people, where criminals must sit behind bars, the four-legged are imprisoned without any guilt. For many circus directors, care about the conditions of keeping four-legged artists comes in last. The premises where they are located, the stables are repaired last and, as a rule, not to the extent required for their comfortable existence. The rubber covering of circus arenas is often traumatic for horses.

Animals suffer from the fact that they are locked in the cramped cages, not always well cleaned. They have been deprived of almost all opportunities to move. The cages are not always properly equipped. Animals lack almost everything they need in their natural environment (for example, for monkeys that live in trees, this is the ability to climb, for polar bears and hippos, it is the ability to take baths). The elephants are kept on short chains, and there are almost always no trees for combing, mud and water pools needed for skin care. These mobile animals can take a maximum of one step forward and one step back. At the same time, animals monotonously shake their heads up and down or shake their trunk. Such content ultimately leads to a mental disorder, the so-called "weaving". In most cases, elephants cannot even lie down, because there is not enough space for several animals "chained" nearby. In addition, in circuses, they almost never pay attention to the social structure of animals: those animals that live alone in nature are often forced to share a cage with relatives, while others, on the contrary, are kept one at a time, although their well-being requires living together with others individuals.

Particularly difficult conditions of detention are in mobile zoo circus with their constant moving and unsettled life. There is no veterinary control over animals in the big top. The tragic incident took place in the city of Murom, where the director of the Fauna zoo of the Russian state-owned company Rosgoscirk, who was touring the Vladimir Region, fled with a large sum of money, leaving the animals and three staff members to the mercy of fate. On the central square of the city of Murom, near the tent, brown and polar bears, a lynx, horses, ponies, a camel, a wolf, a tiger and several monkeys remained in cages. The animals remained in 20-degree frost without food for over a week. The inhabitants of Murom tried to help the animals by bringing vegetables and other products to the circus. However, their efforts were not enough. After the residents of Murom began to complain to various authorities, the chief veterinarian of the Murom district came to the circus. In his opinion, the cause of death of animals, indeed, was exhaustion. The chief sanitary doctor turned to the head of the district, after which hay, carrots, cabbage were brought to the circus, and wastes from the meat-packing plant for the predators. Employees of human rights organizations note that such situations occur quite often. The same happened in the Tula region, where most of the circus animals left in the cold died. Some of the animals - pigs and ponies - were simply eaten by the owners of the circus, and the rest were left to die on the central street of the city. A mobile zoo is the most cruel form of animal exploitation, because in addition to cold, hunger and other hardships, they also endure the hardships of transportation.

Attacking humans is a natural reaction of animals

From time to time from the media we learn that a predator attacked a person in a particular circus. Often, such cases end in death, both for humans and animals. But do we think about the share of the animals' fault in what happened? An exhausted, slaughtered animal is not able to adequately assess the situation, so it is ready for self-defense at any time. Moreover, this behavior is characteristic not only of predators. Close enclosures, poor maintenance, and cruel treatment cause sudden attacks of aggressiveness in other animals. So, since 1990, more than 50 people have been killed by elephants in captivity. The well-known trainer of predators Mikhail Bagdasarov in one of his interviews expressed himself quite unambiguously: "... in 99% of cases of attacks of circus animals on a person, it is the person who is to blame."

Disenfranchisement of circus animals

In our country, animals are in an absolutely powerless position. The existing Russian legislation does not provide for criminal liability for harm caused to a living creature belonging to a person. The recent case in the "Dream" tent confirms this. The Yakutsk prosecutor's office refused to open a criminal case under the article "cruelty to animals" against the director of the big top, during whose move on tour from Khabarovsk to Yakutsk eight trained tigers and a lioness died, believing that the death of animals was not the director's direct fault. It was initially assumed that the predators died due to hypothermia or carbon monoxide poisoning, but later it turned out that the cause of their death was an excessively high temperature in the trailer. At the same time, the Rosselkhoznadzor opened an administrative case against the director, accusing him of non-compliance with the rules for transporting animals. However, according to a source in the Yakutsk environmental prosecutor's office, the director of the circus will not suffer serious punishment. Only if the investigation proves that the animals were born in the natural environment, and were not bred in captivity and ended up in the circus from the nursery, could he be fined.

Circus with animals - a relic of the cruel spectacles of the ancient world

Circus with animals - a relic of the past, rooted in ancient Rome, "glorious" for gladiatorial battles, mass persecution of animals and people in arenas for the amusement of a bloodthirsty crowd. Surprisingly, even today you can see that if the trainer works in a calm manner, then the audience perceives the performance inactively, sometimes indifferently. But as soon as the artist provokes the aggressiveness of the predator, to force the animal to show character, the audience bursts into applause. And in this case, the trainer indulges the bloodthirsty tastes of this very public, which, again, does not contribute to its moral education. Isn't it strange that we entered the new millennium with a caravan of circus-tent and zoo circus, cruelly exploiting wild animals for performances? Indeed, since the times when bloodthirsty forms of entertainment developed and flourished, moral values \u200b\u200bhave changed. Is our perception of the world and the level of thinking remained the same cruel towards our smaller brothers? A child, coming to a circus for a performance with wild animals, is not capable of analyzing what is happening. Therefore, in his perception of the animal world, a flaw is formed, which in the future can contribute to the mental deformation of an adult.

Avoiding the use of animals in a circus is a natural step for a humane society

Nowadays, more and more people around the world are realizing the cruelty behind training. In civilized countries, circuses with numbers with animals are rapidly losing popularity. The use of animals in circuses is restricted or completely prohibited in many countries, including Sweden, India, Finland, Switzerland and Denmark, France, etc. For example, two circuses based in the UK were closed, which toured throughout Europe with performances involving animals. Also, over the past 12 years in this country, half of the circus-tent, which have conducted at least one tour of the country, have been closed. These measures were carried out due to the fact that, according to the results of a large-scale sociological survey, 65% of respondents were in favor of a complete ban on the use of animals in the circus, and 80% opposed the use of wild animals in circus performances. Circus has appeared and successfully exist in the world in which there is no training at all.

Unfortunately, in our state there is no law prohibiting the use of animals in circuses. In Russian society, it is not possible to quickly eradicate this evil, since the traditionally Russian circus is unthinkable in our minds without a variety of animals. Rooms with trained animals are still almost the most beloved and popular. Although, in fairness, it should be noted that the craving for such a spectacle among the majority of spectators is due to both love for animals and ignorance of the cruel method of obtaining the result. If you ask the Russians to name the names of the circus performers, it will mostly be the names of clowns and animal trainers. It is highly likely that the public simply will not go to a circus without animals. Obviously, overnight, by order or law, the problem of banning the demonstration of animals in the circus cannot be solved. For the implementation of such a law, it is necessary to prepare the society. This requires open and truthful information about the methods of training, about the conditions for keeping animals, about all the tragic events that occur in the country's circus system. Parallel to this, there is a need for a broad discussion of the moral human right to violence against animals. This work is for the media. I propose to the leadership of the domestic circus to take a number of measures aimed at improving the life of animals, if you can call it a "minimum program":

1. Establish control over the trainers, the preparation of performances in general, creating control groups of specialists and giving them the right to free access to rehearsals and to places where animals are kept. Moreover, supervision should be exercised by persons competent in this field (mainly veterinarians).

2. Stop the closeness of circus life, honestly inform the public about the methods and means of training, widely discussing the moral right of a person to violence against a living being in the circus.

3. Introduce strict control over the nutrition of animals, their treatment, allowing only highly qualified professionals to do this work.

4. To oblige the directors of circuses to create conditions for animals close to ideal. It is necessary that this task occupy one of the first places in the list of measures for the reorganization of domestic circuses (up to the punishment of negligent directors for neglect). At the same time, it is necessary to completely prohibit the activities of mobile zoo circus.

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that the very idea of \u200b\u200btraining is inhuman. Watching circus performances with the participation of wild animals, we become witnesses of their silent suffering. And if we can calmly contemplate this, it means that we are already accomplices, since we are not doing anything to stop the abuse of animals. Such complicity harms the moral health of the nation. Our task in solving the problem of training in the circus is to put the conscious part of society before the choice of whether we need a spectacle obtained at the cost of cruelty to animals. If there is no demand for cruelty, there will be no supply. Both animals and humans will benefit from this. The more kindness in our life, the less evil there will be in it.

Honored Veterinarian of Russia E.G. Sibgatulin
September 2010 Saint Petersburg.

DO NOT SUPPORT ANIMAL CRUELTY - DO NOT GO TO THE CIRCUS , OPERATING ANIMALS!

The need to train dogs is often talked about, and it seems that the arguments proving its necessity are undeniable. However, a huge number of owners still neglect regular training with their dogs or limit themselves to unsystematic upbringing of their own accord.

This fact is all the more surprising because usually not a single normal person consciously wants to live side by side with an uncontrollable, non-obeying behavior, and even posing a threat to health. But this is precisely the picture we can observe in many families: they put up with the "quirks" of pets, they are tolerated, depriving themselves of peace and comfort throughout the dog's life.

But the solution to the problem exists and is available to almost everyone. In order to fully enjoy the mind, nobility, emotional attachment of the dog, you need to teach her to live next to you according to the rules that you set. If the owner does not do this, then the behavior of the animal will obey laws that are very far from the norms of human society. There are simply no other options for the development of events.

Trust the professionals

In the matter of raising dogs, many people rely on their own strength, believing that they have sufficient knowledge and experience. Perhaps, of course, there are such nuggets, but in most cases the owners are in the captivity of illusions, which is proved by a simple mathematical calculation.

The average life span of a dog is 10-12 years, people rarely keep more than two dogs at the same time. It turns out that by the age of 40, the owner will have time to raise about 2-4 dogs. While hundreds of animals will pass through the hands of a professional during this time, each with its own character and behavior.

A person who has devoted his life to dog training faces and copes with dozens of different problems and gains invaluable experience, which, moreover, must be supported by special knowledge and the appropriate RKF certificate, which gives the right to such activities.

When to start training animals?

You need to start training a dog from a very early age, literally from the moment when quarantine after vaccinations passes, that is, from about 4 months. This does not mean at all that if you come to the instructor with a one-year-old, three-year-old, five-year-old, or even ten-year-old dog, you will be chased away.

The fact that adult dogs are unteachable is a myth! They, like people, can successfully study at any age, the only question is the speed and effectiveness of learning, because the habits and stereotypes of behavior that have developed over the years can be very difficult to break. In addition, it is much more difficult to build a dog's relationship with the owner if the animal has not been used to respect and reckon with him over the years.

It is also worth noting that dogs of all breeds and sizes can and should be trained! Do not believe the statements that can be found on some breed sites that this breed is so smart that it does not need any kind of education and training.

Breeders who spread this lie behave irresponsibly, and we can observe the fruits of this irresponsibility every day in yards, squares and on the streets.

Site or private lessons?

If you start training with your dog on time and do not start the problem, then group training is definitely preferable. Indeed, in this case, the puppy not only acquires the necessary skills, but also learns to communicate with its own kind, undergoes the most important socialization for its life.

At the same time, the course of this process can be immediately directed in the right direction and adjusted with the help of an instructor, which will allow avoiding many troubles in the future.

Individual lessons are recommended in case of severe deviations in the dog's behavior, for example, aggression, as well as when the root of the problem lies in the relationship between the owner and the animal and, in order to establish them, the instructor must devote a lot of time to both of them.

In the general group, this is difficult. In any case, the question of group or individual lessons is decided after the professional has close acquaintance with the dog and the owner.

How to choose a site?

Training grounds can now be found in almost every area of \u200b\u200bmajor cities, and owners tend to choose a dog school closer to home. However, convenience should not be the decisive criterion for selection. First of all, you must be sure that there are professionals on this training site who can help you achieve the result.

Reputable clubs provide a wide range of services, which you can find on their own website. Among them, there must be a separate course for puppies, an initial training course, which can be called OKP (general course of obedience) or UGS (controlled city dog), as well as OKD (general course of training), ZKS (protective guard service) and optional courses sports, circus training, handling (behavior at exhibitions), etc.

Whatever you choose later, the education and training of animals should contain at least a minimum, which means that it is advisable for your dog to take courses for puppies and OKP or UGS. The latter are a somewhat lightweight version of the OKD, containing training in all the necessary commands and skills, but without complicated transportation, overcoming obstacles, etc.

Of course, a full OKD will benefit your dog, but if you are limited in money and time, then you will get an obedient dog even with the minimum that we indicated. After making sure of the seriousness of the approach in this club, go to the indicated address without a dog yet.

The training area should be located in a sufficiently large and fenced area, where no outsiders walk. Ask permission to observe the class, see how the instructors interact with the dogs and their owners - you should feel a working, welcoming atmosphere.

Pay attention to the trainees themselves: dogs that are trained correctly, creating positive motivation in them, get great pleasure from the training! Their eyes burn with joy, their movements are free and impetuous, their tails are not drawn in. It should seem to you that they are ready to jump out of their own skin, wanting to understand and execute the command.

If you see such a picture, then you can agree with the instructor about the beginning of classes.

Animal training is a reciprocal process

There is no greater mistake than bringing your pet to the training area and addressing the instructor with the words: "Here is a dog, I want her to be able to do this and that." It won't work! Animal training is always a joint process of training the owner and the animal with the help of a professional.

All instructors unanimously say: "We teach not so much the dog as its owner!" And this is the true truth for which you need to be prepared. You will have to make a lot of effort to comprehend all the intricacies of relationships with your four-legged friend, to master the approach to training and methods of animal training.

Moreover, in order to get the result, you cannot do without doing homework, which the instructor will give out at each lesson. The final result depends on how conscientiously you treat this. Try to listen carefully to the instructor and carefully follow his instructions.

Training and feeding the dog

The dog must come to classes hungry, 8-10 hours after the last meal. This is important because during training, positive reinforcement is necessarily used, most often a delicacy. The sharper the dog's hunger, the more desirable the food will be for it, which means that the training will go faster and more pleasant for the animal.

During active training it is also very important to pay special attention to the quality and composition of the dog's basic diet. The animal spends a lot of strength and energy, which must be fully replenished from food. The success of training largely depends on the quality of the feed, its usefulness, that is, the presence of a sufficient amount of animal protein and all the necessary vitamins and minerals in the composition.

If you fulfill this condition, and also regularly work with your pet, following the instructions of the instructor, then literally after a few months, you will be able to fully enjoy the delight that communication with a trained dog gives.

When we went to the circus as little kids, we always thought: a how animals are trained? Let's consider how and why animal training is possible.

A person most often trains only those animals that lend themselves well to training. Usually these are mammals and birds (while we remember that whales, dolphins, sea lions, seals are also mammals).

There are many stories about flea circuses. The animal trainers boast that they were able to tame these insects. In fact, they force fleas to act as they would in nature.

People also tame wild animals. It is usually easier to tame those animals that live in flocks. It is customary for these animals to obey someone and live in a group. There are substitute leaders, leaders, subjects, and also the rest of the pack: aged animals or vice versa, young and weak. They all behave differently, but all must obey the leader. The leader maintains his power with fear and strength.

What can not be said about the trainer - he acts in a different way. An animal cannot be mocked, and especially beaten. The trainer must find a common language with his animal, make friends with him, and only after that the animal can act as a person wants.

In the first place when taming animals is the reward for correctly completed tasks. If the animal begins to behave differently than the trainer intended, then the animal should not be given a reward.

It is quite easy to make an animal do what it will do in nature. Training will give good results only in this case. Take, for example, Durov's corner - his number is that a raccoon is rinsing linen. The natural instinct of the animal is involved in this trick - before eating its next victim - a snail or a frog - the raccoon washes them off the ground.

Animal training

German shepherd dog swinging on a swing in competition

Chicken on a skateboard

Animal training (from the French. dresser - to straighten, train), - a set of training actions on animals, taken to develop and consolidate various conditioned reflexes and skills. Training can be carried out with the aim of developing friendly relations, forming an adequate behavior of an animal for finding it in human society, searching for objects of any type, protection in certain circumstances or entertainment. Training is a necessity for a comfortable coexistence of a person with certain types of animals.

The basis of training

The basis of animal training is the formation of conditioned reflexes, according to the teachings of I.P. Pavlov on higher nervous activity. Using a variety of stimuli, such as sound, food and gesture signals, which are conditioned, and mechanical actions, which are considered unconditioned reflexes. It is this effect that causes the necessary reaction in animals, which the trainer is trying to fix.

Methods and methods of training

Turtle charmer

A person engaged in training should be able to feel the dependence of the type of higher nervous activity of the trained animal on its characteristics, and only after determining this dependence can one choose the training method necessary for this animal.

Contrast methods

If the necessary commands are fulfilled, the animal is encouraged, in case of disobedience - punished. In order for the skills to be developed, the animal must be periodically trained. In this case, the trained animal will ideally perform all the actions that a person requires of him.

Pain method

Incentive method

Imitative method

Circus training

Animal training for circus performances has been known for a long time. Even in Ancient Egypt and Ancient Rome, animals were used for these spectacular events. Now in the circus you can see a variety of trained animals, from elephants to mice. If the bulk of the trainers used painful methods in working with circus "artists", then VL Durov was the first to use a painless encouraging method based on the teaching of I.P. Pavlov about conditioned reflexes. It was this method that allowed Durov to subdue and work with animals, the training of which was previously impossible. This method has received wide recognition and is used by many trainers, for example, the famous circus master Yu. D. Kuklachev uses just such a rewarding and painless training method when working with cats.

Types and variety of trained animals

Various types of both wild and domestic animals are subject to training. Wild animals are first tamed and then trained. The younger the animal, the easier it is to train and get used to humans. The elements of training can be the simplest actions with farm animals, for example, a milkmaid milks a cow, but if the animal has not previously undergone a certain training, then milking will be problematic and the cow simply will not give milk to the milkmaid. That is why the animal is preliminarily accustomed to the place, room, to the sight and smell of a person. This is the simplest training, but even such training and taming is considered training.

A horse is trained by teaching it to walk in a bridle, brushing, a saddle fixed on its back, and training horses for dressage or for a higher riding school is a rather complex training that requires certain knowledge and skills of a person.

Dog training

Basic principles of dog training

Features of training birds and insects

Birds and insects lend themselves to training. For example, the domestication of pigeons for long-distance flights. It was thanks to the work of man with these birds that the ability of carrier pigeons to find their way home was developed.

Beekeepers who want to get honey from a certain species of plants work in advance to create conditioned reflexes in bees to smell the necessary flowers. This method was first proposed by the Soviet scientist A.F. Gubin in 1933. The necessary actions are achieved by feeding insects with sugar syrup with the addition of the aroma of a certain honey plant. Having got used to a certain type, taste and smell, bees will look for this particular plant in the future.

see also

• Riding High School
• Kevin Richardson (zoologist)

Links

Notes

Literature

• Karen Pryor, "On the training of animals and people"
• VL Durov "Animal Training"

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

See what "Animal training" is in other dictionaries:

Training (from the French dresser - to straighten, teach, train), methods of influencing an animal in order to develop and consolidate certain (necessary for a person) actions and skills as a result of the formation of conditioned reflexes. Theoretical ... ...

TRAINING (from the French. Dresser to straighten, train), methods of influencing animals in order to develop and consolidate certain conditioned reflexes and skills in them. They use training, for example, in service dog breeding, in the preparation of circus ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

TRAINING - (from French dresser "to school"), animal training. D.'s difference from training itself is often seen in the fact that a trained animal does not understand the meaning of its actions. D. is as old as a person, but only at the present time, the study of conventional ... ... Great medical encyclopedia

- (from the French dresser to straighten, train) the development of fixed forms of behavior by alternating positive and negative reinforcements. Training is one of the oldest methods of controlling animals and people. Many people ... Wikipedia

I Training (from the French dresser to straighten, teach, train) methods of influencing an animal in order to develop and consolidate in him certain (necessary for a person) actions and skills as a result of the formation of conditioned reflexes. ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

- (from the French dresser to straighten, train), the impact of various methods on animals to develop and consolidate in them certain conditioned reflexes and skills. They use training, for example, in service dog breeding, in preparation ... ... Modern encyclopedia

training - and, w. dresser. 1. Action by value. ch. train; a method of teaching animals associated with the systematic consolidation of the skills they have acquired. ALS 2. 2. perev., Obsolete. Training, instilling behavioral skills (usually by cruel methods, drill) ... Historical Dictionary of Russian Gallicisms

- (from the French dresser to straighten to teach), methods of influencing animals in order to develop and consolidate certain conditioned reflexes and skills in them. They use training, for example, in service dog breeding, in the preparation of circus animals for ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

I (from French dresser to straighten, train), methods of influencing animals in order to develop and consolidate certain conditioned reflexes and skills in them. Training is used, for example, in service dog breeding, in the preparation of circus animals ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

TRAIN, rui, rue; oval; not sov., whom (what). Train (animals) to do what n. actions, develop the skills a person needs. D. dog. Trained animals. Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 ... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Instructions

The majestic striped predators are second only to brown and polar bears in size. Tigers respond well to training, although their brains are small. But it is always necessary to keep in mind that these animals are representatives of the wild, where hunting, the struggle for superiority over other predators and the protection of their own territory are natural instincts.

Spectacular performances with the participation of ferocious representatives of the animal world are certainly the most dangerous. Few people dare to enter a cage with tigers or lions, put their heads in the mouth of these huge animals. Trainers should be extremely careful, it is no coincidence that people who train these unpredictable animals in behavior are called tamers.

People working with these animals can tell how to teach tigers to perform different commands. For example, the famous Samara trainer, People's Artist of Russia Nikolai Pavlenko is "subordinate" to fourteen "wards". His commands striped artists perform without question. According to the tamer, it is more difficult to train small dogs than huge tigers: cunning kids constantly strive to deceive, not follow the command, and predators can always be predicted. Tigers are able to perfectly perform numbers, even if they are trained once a week.

Formidable animals from the very birth are under the supervision of Nikolai Pavlenko. He bottle-feeds them, educates and educates them, but never strokes. The trainer understands that no amount of weasel will make aggressive wild animals tame, so his main task is to find the right approach to them. Mutual respect should exist between a man and a tiger, the concept of "friendship" is simply incomprehensible to predators.

According to the circus artist, interest in tricks with tigers is shown only when the animals appear to be aggressive. Pavlenko had a tame tiger, but his brothers were hostile to him, the gentleness of his character made it impossible for the pet to stand up for itself. This "domestic cat" was looked after, but not forced to work. A tamed predator is simply not suitable for performing in the arena. N. Pavlenko refused the tigers that appeared to him very rarely, only in cases when they could not be taught to hear the commands.

The trainer treats his huge cats warmly, communicates kindly with them when they meet. Before performing in the circus arena, only Nikolai Pavlenko himself enters the cage, and his assistant feeds the formidable animals with fresh meat, milk and eggs.

The artist perfectly knows the character of each of his striped pet; he chooses tricks for performances specially "to the liking" of predators. N. Pavlenko admits that he had to force his charges to perform actions that they are incapable of. But after an unsuccessful rehearsal with a tiger that fell during a jump and was seriously injured, the trainer is very attentive to the choice of suitable tricks.

A tamer in the arena is a leader among predators waiting for the command to act from their seats. The iron stick is the main means by which the trainer gives his angry performers various directions. Nikolai Pavlenko, working in a cage, does not see anyone except his striped pets, he predicts their behavior in advance. And you need to be on the alert all the time. Many people are scared to imagine themselves in such a place: aggressively growling tigers are moving towards them on their hind legs, and behind them there are a dozen predators ready to rush at any moment on a person.

A famous trainer keeps the situation in a cage under control, easily commands angry artists. He serves meat from his long stick to tigers who have performed well at tricks. But a fight breaks out between the animals. The blow of the iron training pointer on the stage makes menacingly growling angry animals obediently disperse to their places. Nikolai Pavlenko says that predators feel fear of a person, so a real tamer must be brave.

Only professional trainers with sufficient physical strength and courage can train the ferocious representatives of the wild. It is important to ensure that predators accept humans as the “leader of the pack”, otherwise they will not fulfill the requirements.

A true tamer seeks to suppress the aggressiveness inherent in tigers. Affectionate treatment of animals is of great importance here. Even if you have to use force during training, the impact on animals should not be cruel. Violence and intimidation will not bring the desired results, on the contrary, animals that do not know how to forgive brute force will try to take revenge on the offenders.

Some people think that training is based on the instinctive feeling of hunger of animals. Edgard Zapashny, an artist from the family circus dynasty, considers this opinion to be outdated and incorrect. On the contrary, a severe punishment is applied to trainers who use a similar method in their practice - a ban on working with animals. The carrot-and-stick principle is viewed from the other side: the good work of the wards is encouraged with a piece of meat, and the blows of the whip or stick express a person's dissatisfaction with the actions of the four-legged artists.

Any tamer needs to think in a timely manner about protecting from the unexpected anger of his charges. Trainers use long metal sticks in their work, which indicate to animals a certain order of their actions, and when they show aggression, they can be used as a means of protection. A metal curbstone raised in front of itself will also prevent the beast from reaching the tamer. The predators who have come out of obedience are returned to order with the help of cannons, which calm the "violators" with a strong pressure of water. People with fire hoses seem to fierce cats more terrifying than a man with a gun.