Many zoos and aquariums have processes in place for planning and implementing training sessions. However, they are not as consistent in documenting the outcomes of each training session or in assessing the general success of the training program.

Having a written account of the training process is important, in terms of tracking both the animal’s and the animal caretaker’s progress. A written record becomes an “institutional memory” of the training process. Written records help animal caretakers make decisions about reinforces used, time of day to train, and specific techniques used. If a trained behavior has regressed, then the training plan and session documentation can be used as a guide for training the behavior again or in determining why the behavior was extinguished. Training documentation may be a resource for other animal caretakers training the same or similar behaviors and the animal’s training history can be shared when it moves to a new facility.

The design of a format for training session records depends on what information is necessary to evaluate training progress over time. Documentation should include: time of day training occurred, name of animal caretaker, description of the animal’s performance during that training session, description of any aggression toward animal caretaker, record of latency to respond (i.e., amount of time between presentation of cue and behavior performed), reinforcement used, and an assessment of progress towards the training goal (for samples of training documentation, see Ramirez 1999 and Sevenich MacPhee and Mellen 2002).