Silver Whistle

This past week our supervisor surprised us all with brand spanking new whistles. They are nice new silver metal whistles that you can adjust the pitches on. They are a step-up from the plastic ones that we all kept biting holes in. We were all like little kids with new toys. We were tweeting those whistles all day. The first setting we had the whistles on the whales could not hear the pitch. It was much quieter than our old plastic ones. So when we sent them off on away behaviors they would be out in the middle of the water and we would be blowing our whistles like 10 times before they finally caught on and returned. We ended up re-adjusting the whistles again to a pitch that was more similar to the old ones. They still have a problem hearing them on occasion during away behaviors but I think its just going to take time for them to pick up on the new sounding pitch.

I have gotten the chance to work with Kela alot over the past couple weeks which has been great. I can see our bond growing and growing by the minute and she is the one that is hardest to win over. Every session I have with her she is a little more motivated and vocalizing on the littlest behaviors. Like simple targets -- I'll ask her to target to my hand, bridge her the moment she touches my hand, and then all you hear is 'weeeeeeeee' vocals with a little gurgling thrown in there. Or when I asked her for a retrival to get a toy out of the water. She left on a mission to find the toy, passed the toy, then brought me back a stick. I took the stick out of her mouth and she did her little 'weeee' vocal like she was proud of herself for bringing me a stick. Her attitude has gotten so much better now that breeding season is up and she is a million times more motivated during sessions. I have also been trying to work her at a place we call 'duck pond window' which is where all the whales-up-close programs take place. I am trying to make that area seem fun and enjoyable so she becomes more comfortable there during a program. Kela doesn't do tongue rubs during the programs because she doesn't really like to be touched by other people. So with the help from another trainer, Justin, I am working on her tongue rubs by the window and once again getting her comfortable there. She is making good progress. I am able to present my hand over the glass and she comes up to receive a tongue rub. And each time I work on this, she comes up closer and closer. Hopefully soon she will be comfortable enough with tongue rubs during a whales-up-close program :)

The other day I got to help with our supervisor Kristine's session with Juno. I got to do a couple of his behaviors like some vocals and mimic spins! He is so much fun! And then I got to do his 'kiss' behavior. I had to point to my cheek so that he would come up and essentially target to my cheek (or 'kiss' my cheek). So I pointed to my cheek. Juno dunked down as though to get a running (or I should say swimming) start then launched up and targeted on my cheek. It was cute even though he almost took out my jaw. I hope I get the chance to work a little bit with him before the internship is over :)