Nethaly Bond
Brittany Chalmers
English III Honors; 1st Period
18 January 2011
Dolphin Trainer A Dolphin Trainer is a dream career of many people! Almost everyone has seen a dolphin, read or had some type of interaction with them. It’s amazing how such these beautiful creatures can perform such cool tricks. It’s even more amazing what the trainers have to do to instruct the animals to perform the tricks, it might seem easy while they are cueing the dolphins, but there is so much more behind of all of it. What people don’t see is the unique dolphin-human relationship, planning and time they put in. Dolphin trainers have to go through a lot of school, and training before they make it their profession. Just like any other marine mammal trainer, the challenges and dangers are just a part of their everyday life.
When choosing dolphin training as your profession, you have to realize what you’re actually getting into. There is a lot more than just playing and teaching the mammal a trick. You can prepare yourself in high school by taking extra math and science classes such as Marine Bond | 2
Biology and Chemistry. Many trainers pursue in Biology, Marine Biology, Psychology, and Animal Behavior in college. There isn’t any specific college for marine mammal training, but the college you choose will depend in your interest. Once you get your degree in the field you want to study then you can start the stages of becoming a dolphin trainer which include many different methods of studying and learning the animal’s behavior. Brown says “Training is a very much two-way communication process” (20) the trainer must adjust to the dolphin also; you cannot force the animal to do something that it does not wish to do.
While a formal education is very important, the only real way to gain the understanding and skills needed to successfully care for and train marine mammals is by working with them under the supervision and tutelage of senior