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May 20, 2007
All went pretty well this week. I have done food prep completely by myself on more than one occasion now, so I'm super comfortable in that area. I'm learning about the medications and whatnot still, but it's only a matter of reading who gets what from a dry-erase board in the food prep room anyway. I have been given more and more responsibility outside of food prep as each day passes. The things I accomplished this week: I was taught how to work the gate controls so that I can assist in gating the dolphins from one pool to another for training sessions and shows. I assisted during one of the presentations in handing medical supplies to one of the trainers on the platform for a husbandry behavior with one of the dolphins. I assisted in a morning training session in retrieving a stomach sample from one of the dolphins - I had to use suction on my end of the tube to get the sample drawn up into it, and it was pretty difficult. But I got it to work! Later on, I helped a little bit in the otter off-exhibit area, spraying feces and water down the drain with a hose. Typical cleanup requirements. I now have two behavioral writeups to complete on free-feeding and basic targeting with the otters - if I can prove that I know my stuff, I will be able to perform these behaviors with them. I stayed up late typing up an otter presentation narration from the material that was originally given to me. I plan on using it as my guide to memorize it. One of the trainers liked it also, so she asked for me to print her a copy. I thought that was pretty cool. I've been practicing over the microphone headset "after hours", just sort of reading it and getting used to speaking articulately and loudly enough over the mic. One of the old interns stayed and tried to coach me through my first one on Thursday. It was super nerve-wracking and scary, but after a few minutes you start getting used to it. So now it's just a matter of me being able to remember all of the information so that I can to talk to the public about the otters! Awesome! Yesterday was especially fun, as I got to help with practicing a behavior with one of the dolphins that we call "v-splash". This behavior is such a powerful upstroke of the flukes that it DRENCHES whoever is standing in in the way. I had to stand across from the trainer and pat the concrete wall after the Sd was given by the trainer. He then swam over to where I was patting the wall and v-splashed with his flukes. 
After 5 times of this, I was asbolutely soaked. :) It was a ton of fun to be a part of that, especially since it was so hot outside. I also feel like I was able to demonstrate to the trainers my ability to understand and follow directions properly, so hopefully that will be to my advantage as I progress through my internship over the coming weeks. The last thing I did before I left was take my swim test in the dolphin pool (the dolphins were in a different holding pool since divers were also down cleaning it). I had to free-dive to retrieve a weight from the bottom (about a 15 ft. depth), tread water for five minutes with my hands above my head, and do a freestyle lap back and forth across the pool. I think I sufficiently proved I will not drown in the water, haha... Anyway. Between the actual day's tasks, review sheets, tests, behavioral writeups, reading supplemental material, and trying to memorize stuff for my practice presentations... it's a lot of work. It isn't something to laugh at, that's for sure. But I'm thriving under the pressure and I'm just keepin' at it. :)
All went pretty well this week. I have done food prep completely by myself on more than one occasion now, so I'm super comfortable in that area. I'm learning about the medications and whatnot still, but it's only a matter of reading who gets what from a dry-erase board in the food prep room anyway. I have been given more and more responsibility outside of food prep as each day passes. The things I accomplished this week: I was taught how to work the gate controls so that I can assist in gating the dolphins from one pool to another for training sessions and shows. I assisted during one of the presentations in handing medical supplies to one of the trainers on the platform for a husbandry behavior with one of the dolphins. I assisted in a morning training session in retrieving a stomach sample from one of the dolphins - I had to use suction on my end of the tube to get the sample drawn up into it, and it was pretty difficult. But I got it to work! Later on, I helped a little bit in the otter off-exhibit area, spraying feces and water down the drain with a hose. Typical cleanup requirements. I now have two behavioral writeups to complete on free-feeding and basic targeting with the otters - if I can prove that I know my stuff, I will be able to perform these behaviors with them. I stayed up late typing up an otter presentation narration from the material that was originally given to me. I plan on using it as my guide to memorize it. One of the trainers liked it also, so she asked for me to print her a copy. I thought that was pretty cool. I've been practicing over the microphone headset "after hours", just sort of reading it and getting used to speaking articulately and loudly enough over the mic. One of the old interns stayed and tried to coach me through my first one on Thursday. It was super nerve-wracking and scary, but after a few minutes you start getting used to it. So now it's just a matter of me being able to remember all of the information so that I can to talk to the public about the otters! Awesome! Yesterday was especially fun, as I got to help with practicing a behavior with one of the dolphins that we call "v-splash". This behavior is such a powerful upstroke of the flukes that it DRENCHES whoever is standing in in the way. I had to stand across from the trainer and pat the concrete wall after the Sd was given by the trainer. He then swam over to where I was patting the wall and v-splashed with his flukes. 
After 5 times of this, I was asbolutely soaked. :) It was a ton of fun to be a part of that, especially since it was so hot outside. I also feel like I was able to demonstrate to the trainers my ability to understand and follow directions properly, so hopefully that will be to my advantage as I progress through my internship over the coming weeks. The last thing I did before I left was take my swim test in the dolphin pool (the dolphins were in a different holding pool since divers were also down cleaning it). I had to free-dive to retrieve a weight from the bottom (about a 15 ft. depth), tread water for five minutes with my hands above my head, and do a freestyle lap back and forth across the pool. I think I sufficiently proved I will not drown in the water, haha... Anyway. Between the actual day's tasks, review sheets, tests, behavioral writeups, reading supplemental material, and trying to memorize stuff for my practice presentations... it's a lot of work. It isn't something to laugh at, that's for sure. But I'm thriving under the pressure and I'm just keepin' at it. :)
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