Friday Five: Animal Training Expert Jac Menish recommends five books for animal lovers

Jacqueline (Jac) Menish is the Education Animal Programs Manager at the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere.  In Part Two of our series featuring the zoo, Jac gives five book recommendations to help us better understand and work with our animal friends:

• Don't Shoot the Dog: The New Art of Teaching and Training, by Karen Pryor. "When talking to people about training I always recommend this first book.  It is the book that changed my life,"  Jac says, and attributes reading it back in 1992 as the reason she decided to become an animal trainer.  "It is a very simple book and explains the principles and philosophy of training through positive reinforcement," but she says, "it is not a how-to book, but it does give a true understanding of training in a broader sense. It is where it all starts, and if you read no other book about animal training, read this one."
•  King Solomon's Ring, by Konrad Lorenz.  "This book was recommended to me by my college professor who taught my animal behavior class. Konrad Lorenz is considered one of the founders of modern animal behavior study called ethology. This book is a memoir-styled observation of animals, and it really helped me become a better observer myself of animal behavior and communication. That in turn helped me become a better trainer. Finally, it's fun."
• A Behavior Sampler, by Gary Wilkes.  "This book is mostly about cats and dogs, but it is still very helpful no matter what you are training. It is filled with specific solutions to animal behavior issues, and it gives wonderful anecdotes to help explain these issues and solutions in layman's terms."
• The Man Who Listens To Horses, by Monty Roberts.  "This popular book not only is entertaining, but it is also educational."  Jac says it "talks about training animals through observing their subtle communication. It also emphasized understanding the whole animal, both its personal past, but also the specifics of the species that relate to certain manifested behaviors. When working with wild animals, especially, it is of the utmost importance to make sure you know that. This book really helped drive that home for me."
• Animal Training: Successful Animal Management Through Positive Reinforcement, by Ken Ramirez.  Jac says, "This book is a doozy. It's large and expensive, but it is a book that I have learned much from over the years and continue to reference often. It is organized in such a way that if you have never heard of any animal training methods you can start from the beginning and have a near professional knowledge of them by the end. Also, if you are an accomplished trainer you can skip right to the parts that interest you. Though it mostly focuses on marine mammal training, it is helpful to all those who want to better their knowledge of this expansive field." 

Jac Menish's official biography says she "has loved animals since she can remember":

"Her love for nature and animals became the driving force in her career choice of working with animals but also teaching people about them. She has worked with animals since 1986, but began actually training animals in 1992 and has not stopped since. Her current job as Education Animal Programs Manager at the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere incorporates her love of training animals for the shows and education programs and her goal of inspiring conservation of animals and the natural world in all people. When not working with animals she enjoys spending time with her husband, two year old son, dog and cat."

In addition to the exciting regular educational programs at the zoo, check out Harvest Days, September 25-26, and the Ghouls at Grassmere events in October.  There are many ways to support the Zoo, and Zoo membership is very reasonable.  Visit soon!