Back in September (2024) I took some time out from training dogs and spent two days at Paignton Zoo, completely out of my comfort zone training Baboons and Monkeys. To say this was the most unbelievable, emotional, educational and heartwarming experience of my life is an understatement!

This experience was part of a team building and continual professional development event organised for the Puppy School Regional Managers. We all attended the Two-Day Animal Training Workshop at Paignton Zoo, run by Jo Mason of Educating Animals.

I was incredibly fortunate to train two Hamadryas Baboons (Slam and Big Tony) and a young Diana Monkey (Sakari) with other Puppy School Regional Managers training Sulawesi Crested Black Macaques.

Hamadryas Baboons

There are 56 Hamadryas Baboons at Paignton Zoo and they live in a complex hierarchy system consisting of multiple family groups which form a troop. Both Slam and Big Tony are two of the sub adult males.

During our two days at the Zoo, in small groups of 3, we taught Slam and Big Tony to put their arm through a drainpipe and hold a bar at the end. Their keepers will be progressing this training to enable them to draw blood or give injections with the Baboons being willing participants in these veterinary procedures and health checks.

Diana Monkey

There are 4 Diana Monkey’s at the Zoo, 1 adult male, 2 adult females and a young 2-year-old, Sakari. Our group (attempted) to teach Sakari to distinguish between the image of a tree and the image of a car which were presented to her on different paddles. The aim was to train her to recognise and target (touch) the paddle with the image of the car. This was a great exercise for them as it gave this extremely intelligent animal some mental stimulation fun.

The Experience

Training Big Tony and Slam proved much easier than I thought it would. I felt quite daunted by this initially as my knowledge of Baboons were that they were quite aggressive and feisty but they were surprisingly gentle, very focused and keen to learn! It was a slightly different experience working with Sakari the Diana Monkey as although she was very gentle as well, she had a very short attention span – she reminded me of a Working Cocker Spaniel!

This was all achieved through positive reinforcement. We rewarded little increments of success with nuts, fruit and vegetables. We were able to shape and capture the desired behaviours with reward-based training, adjusting our training plans and setting the primates up for success.

During the training the primates have control of the sessions and they can choose to stay or leave. They have choice and they are not forced into training or interacting with us, just like it should be for dogs. The sessions were all undertaken via protected training (behind a safe barrier) as of course there is an element of risk when working with exotic animals. Yet they all stayed with us or in the case of Sakari, returned for more after enjoying some zoomies every now and then!

This two-day workshop also included watching one of the amazing keepers demonstrate their training N’Dowe a Gorilla. This was mind-blowing and watching them train together made me very emotional. The demonstration involved watching the keeper and Gorilla, separated only by their metal mesh barrier working on consent-based handling. She would ask N’Dowe to touch the barrier with a particular part of his body (left hand, right hand, left knee, right knee, tummy, ears, foot, shoulder etc) and he responded correctly almost 98% of the time! His reward each time was a little squirt of apple juice into his voluntarily open mouth. The relationship and trust between this magnificent and majestic but extremely dangerous animal and his keeper was undoubtedly the most incredible and touching thing I’ve ever witnessed.

There are unfortunately still people who think it’s necessary to use fear, force or pain to train dogs and they REALLY need to reevaluate their methods. The keepers and animal trainers at Paignton Zoo are training exotic and dangerous animals such as big cats, zebra’s, baboons and gorillas using methods that build trust, are kind and don’t inflict pain or fear. If that is possible with these animals, why on earth are aversive methods still being used on dogs!

We achieved all this training with animals we couldn’t touch and it made me want to do even more cooperative training with my own dogs and encourage my clients to put less pressure on their dogs and train through more consensual methods.

I think it’s important to remember that when training animals, whatever they are, there are primary reasons for training them and secondary reasons for training them. Our focus should always be on the primary reasons because these are what are linked to the animal’s welfare and should of course take priority over the secondary reasons.

1. Primary Reasons

Physical exercise
Mental stimulation
Co-operative behaviours (medical etc)

2. Secondary Reasons

Education
Research
Conservation
Entertainment
Sport
Working etc

In the words of renowned Trainer Ken Ramirez “Training is not a luxury, but a key component to good animal care.”

Training should therefore, be about enhancing the quality of life for the animal and helping them adjust and live in our world. It should be achieved through trust, respect and kindness. The animal should have control, choice and a way of saying “no” or “I need to take a break”. Training any animal should be a conversation or dialogue between them and us and not a forced interaction.

My experience at Paignton Zoo cannot be summed up in one sentence but it is safe to say that it will be an experience I will NEVER EVER forget.