Observation, observation, observation...

Rising before the sun comes up while on a vacation/seminar long weekend isn't my cup of tea, normally.  I'd much prefer stay in my warm bed and get a few extra Zzz's.  In this case, I would have missed valuable learning through observation.  Early each morning at Wolf Park we were given the opportunity to observe the wolves doing what they do that early in the day.

Observation is a very important tool in learning more about any animal's behavior.  This tool can unlock more subtle communication signals, provide additional information about how an animal uses it's space and in turn help the trainer determine how to approach training or changing behavior.  It's something that can easily be taken for granted.  

At Wolf Park we had the opportunity to observer the wolves interact with each other.  We saw how the lower ranking members greeted higher levels, how the puppies shared space while snoozing and then how a somewhat physically challenged wolf used his skills to remain out of trouble with the alpha male.  It was interesting to just sit and watch their world unfold before your eyes.  Each day that we spent with them we learned more and more about their behaviors as wolves, their pack structure and their individual personalities.

What this taught and reinforced in me as an animal loving, dog owning, dog training person is how important this tool really is on a daily basis.  It's a key that can be overlooked with the pressure of time to just get in there and resolve an issue or to just train a specific behavior.  Observation is time well spent!  There is much that can be learned from taking the time to look at the overall picture of the animal and then make decisions based on what is observed.