If you think non animal training people like our friends, Thomas, Bjorn, Vincent, Simon and others from across the water, and non animal training folks here like Chic, Amy, Jack, etc. sometimes don't understand something, I am here to tell you I don't understand after half a life time. I have always been told, without fail, that the only reason there is an occasional act with two people in the cage, is if it is a women presenting the animal's, and a man is needed to move the heavy props. That explanation does not work if the man is presenting the act, and the women is just standing behind the behaviors or sitting on an occasional animal. The explanation is really flawed if there are TWO men in the act. I should think one could move the props quite easily, unless they are heavier in Europe then they are here in the Colonies. What non anonymous reader want's the explain the most important reason for two people to be in the cage, for the success of the act?
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Zapashny
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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5 comments:
If they weren't brothers,I'd guess they were sisters
Wade,
You know I am an expert at talking first and thinking second!! However today I have thought for a bit about this question.
My aerialist answer is this, they can't do the act alone. They can't "safely" be in the arena/ring/performing space with the animals and get the job done, they need help.
Am I saying they don't know what they are doing or have physical challenges ? I believe that is what I am saying.Do I think these acts are so layered and complex they need two people in side to manage. Well I don't know , what you need to do the job..my answer so far today
Rebecca
Rebecca,
Safety is normally not a factor. It is like the person who want's a horse that is small to ride. That way if they "fall off they won't get hurt." I never got on a horse with the intention of falling off, and if you get on looking far a soft spot to fall, you are in desperate trouble.
If your dog doesn't listen to you or "come when you call", do you sometimes need to have the help of someone else. It is the same deal. "I don't want to sit up so I will leave and go to my seat." Not if somebody is standing behind you, you won't. That's what between a rock and a hard spot means.
Wade
I agree with Wade here, I have never been a fan of two people working a cat act, none the less two men. I can name plenty of people that have worked more cats in the ring by themselves than they are (Wade Included). I am not saying in any way that these two men are not capable, their animalslook great and appear to work well on video, safety however is no excuse, hell, not too long ago (1980s) there were quite a few 12+ acts out with one presenter.
Dom,
Again, it has nothing to do with safety. Things happen, especially if Josip Marcan is video taping. It goes, I think, from what I have studied for many years to a skill level. Taking something as elementary as a dog, if you can't get that dog to come to you, no matter what you try or do, and somebody has to "bring" it to you, and stand close by so it say's with you, have you really "trained" it. Most assuredly it would be a fast/quick way to get him to come and stay, but the person making sure he does what you have asked will have to stay there always. Rest assured there is a history of boneheads who did/do it alone. If you wanted an inexperienced person in the cage to present the act, and they didn't posses the skills necessary to present it, then the only option would be to stay there and "babysit" to make sure they came when called, and stayed to perform the behavior. If a monkey is placed on a pony, is it actually "riding" it. Of course not. If he was, he would neck rein him out of the ring, nail a sliding stop at the end of the tent when they blocked his exit, roll back, and head the other way, not half halting the pony, so he could catch his wind, until he was in the next county. Now that monkey would be a trainer, but not the one just sitting there, because somebody placed him there.
Wade
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