Animal Care & Training

Relationships

Relationships

Forming a strong and trusting relationship between animals and trainers is the foundation to developing a successful positive training program! Spending time playing is not only fun but also allows us to provide each animal an individual training experience that sets them up for success while providing them the mental and physical stimulation they need on a daily basis.

Animal Training

At Ocean Connections we believe in positive reinforcement, meaning our animals get a reward anytime they do something correctly! To target simply means to touch. Utilizing these simple tools, we are able to train our animals a wide variety of behaviors.  

A very important aspect of our training is husbandry care.  Our animals are trained to voluntarily assist in their own medical care by presenting their flippers, eyes, mouth and on a daily basis.  Some of the husbandry behaviors our animals know are laying out for x-rays or ultra sounds, presenting a hind flipper for a voluntary blood draw, and even brushing their teeth.  All of these husbandry behaviors allow us to provide medical care in a restraint free environment that is as comfortable for the animal as it is for the trainers and veterinarians working with them.  It is because of these husbandry behaviors that we are able to provide the best care possible for our animals.