Who said playing with toys and learning my ABC's was child's play?

So this week was busy in the world of whale training training. Now that I am solid at doing both targets and point follows Lindsey has brought new things into my sessions. Sunday and Monday was all about learning how to do A to B's. That is when someone sends the whale to someone else who then has to receive the whale. I learned how to both send and receive. I was successfully able to do this with both Kela and Naku. After one of my Kela sessions on Monday she stayed with me for tongue rubs longer than she ever has!!!

Today I was introduced to toy play in the sessions. Toy play involves various props that can be used in different ways: they can be held in front of the whale to target, it can be placed on the head, it can be used to feed with, etc. I had alot of fun figuring out different ways to use the toys. With Naku I used a hollow cone, a ball with a hole in it, and a mirror. I used to the hollow cone to feed her and I put it on her head, I used the ball to feed her, and I held the mirror in front of her while feeding her. I used all of these for her to target in front of me. With Kela I used a more solid cone, the same ball as with Naku, and a small pipe. I used all of these to feed and target and I put the cone on her head. She seemed to really enjoy the session and made vocalizations that I have not heard from her before (Lindsey said they meant she was having fun). I also got to do a trainer interaction with her which involved me just going out on the beach and rubbing her tongue. It was really cool because no food or signals were used, she came to me on her own accord, and made the decision to stick with me:)