Trainer Academy|by trainers for trainers!

Yah man!

Arriving on the British Virgin Islands for the very first time was one of the best experiences that I have ever had. Having four dolphins in my charge for basic training and making them feel comfortable in their new environment was a learning opportunity every single day. Even though I am experienced with dolphins, this represented a big challenge for me.

Raul training a golden hand tamarin monkey Dolphin Discovery

Training was just a small part of the experience that helped me to sharpen my skills and to become the person and trainer that I am today.
What really taught me how to be a trainer was, on a daily basis, living in a new place, in a different culture, with a huge diversity of races, plus having no guacamole! Even though I have lived in many places in the world, the Caribbean at that time, was a different experience for me; it was way too laid back. For instance, the exasperating attitude of; “Don’t worry, yah man, tomorrow will be ready”, when you really needed it yesterday!
My point being, if you don’t open yourself up to new opportunities and learn from them, you will never be able to find a way to get the best out of the circumstances that you encounter. No matter what, without exception, you can always find something worthwhile to learn.
You must believe in yourself and your dreams. It’s really easy to say but once you have it in the forefront of your thoughts, things do turn out differently, and believe me - it’s true!
What is your goal in life and what are your dreams? For sure you must first have an idea, then follow it, fight for it and do not let any obstacle steer you away from it, even to the point of quitting. Focus on your dream and make it happen.
We are always going to crash into something that we don’t like, that makes us feel uncomfortable or perhaps even something worse. Yeah, that’s for sure!
If you reach a stage where you feel you are breaking down, thinking “that is enough” or, that you do not deserve it, this is going to take you nowhere. You will not be thinking clearly and all the possibilities of success will fade away, therefore:
“I got stuck and I cannot do it”, will become part of your life.
Putting this attitude into a training scenario, these would be your thoughts while you are doing your job with the animals that you love the most. This wouldn’t be fair to them because there is always a little spark of opportunity in front of you and with an understanding of the scenario, you will get it.
This is what ABC is about; never to have the attitude of being closed to any option or having one of failure. That it teaches the best way to understand animals’ needs and how to see them, improving the animals’ life within any single session and even how to apply it to your fellow mates, remember that little spark is always in front of you.
Putting it this way - use the right criteria, according to the right scenario, through positive reinforcements. And then you will reach the next step!
In my case – my “Yah man” experience really helped me to grow as a person and being a part of ABC has made everything easier and taught me how to communicate in a better way with both animals and humans.

Raul training a tail splash Dolphin Discovery Cayman

To grasp it was not easy but Dolphin Discovery is a great family that offers extensive support and listens to your concerns.
ABC is a part of Dolphin Discovery. I am proud to say that I am a member of Dolphin Discovery and I love every single moment of my experience, there are so many stories to tell and all of them have a smile in them…..
Jeez, I just got goosebumps!
Cheers heaps Mates! Raul

I’ve been training dolphins and other critters for some 18 years now and a few years back I was asked to stop working dolphin everyday and create an education course for our trainers at Dolphin Discovery. I must admit, my first answer was a polite ”no thanks”. Well turns out like most requests from your employers it wasn’t really a request. It was an order. I was totally bummed and wondered why I was being punished. If memory serves me correctly I even shed more than a few tears.

So I found myself I trading my wet suit for normal working clothes and, most horrific of all SHOES! I discovered the hard way that corporate type folks frown upon bare feet in the office. And as a side note I also discovered that daily trainer activities such as talking to yourself, singing, and yes, even dancing are also unacceptable office conduct. Go figure. It should be no surprise then that my tiny office eventually was located as far away from all the other office people as possible. That was all right by me.

Well, time past and I flung myself wholeheartedly into my new project, acquiring skills I never knew I needed, much less wanted. I learned movie editing software, camera angles, lighting and other such things needed for a successful DVD production. ABC of Animal Training was born. I also learned power point and refined public speaking skills and such for classroom seminars. Dolphin Discovery now has a state of the art in-house training program for its trainers. To my surprise I just recently began teaching these classes to the public,ABC Dolphin Trainer Academy, which is a 5-day hands on workshop with marine mammals.

Being a trainer is an evolutionary process. When your first start learning your humble and wide eyed and think only of yourself and how someday you too want to be that trainer, yeah, her, the one in the water, whistle in her mouth swimming with HER dolphin. Then you learn a few things, become cocky and all sure of yourself and think you were put on this earth by God almighty to train animals. If you stay in the business long enough that phase mercifully dies a miserable, painful death. You begin, slowly at first mind you, to actually listen to the dolphin, actually really see them for the first time. Once you acquire these new skills the dolphin teach you more than you ever thought possible. Humility returns and you realize after all it really isn’t about you, the trainer, it’s about the animals, the reason you became a trainer in the first place.

The most common question I get from trainers is “Shelley, don’t you miss the dolphins? This is the funny part. NO, I don’t. Let me try to explain.
So do I miss the dolphin? No, I don’t. My teaching allows me the ability to reach out and affect animal’s lives so they may live a happy, healthy life living under human care. Before I could only affect the animals directly under my supervision. But now, I’m blessed to have the opportunity to affect dolphin and other animals all over the world. This is what motivates me. To see a trainer ‘get it’ knowing full well the animal reaps all the benefit. So that’s my mission, that’s my goal, create happy trainers and happy dolphins. That’s what I call Happy Training!

Shelley