Beyond the Textbook: Building Practical Animal Handling Skills

It is vital for anyone who works or lives with animals to learn methods of handling that can promote animal wellbeing. Animal handling may occur during the study of animal behavior, when caring for animals, or in day-to-day activities. Some animals can become fearful or anxious during handling and will display signs of stress through their behavior and body language. There are several handling skills that can help reduce an animal’s stress level and promote healthier human-animal interactions.  

Observe for Signs of Stress 

Recognizing signs of stress and fear is the first piece of building better animal handling skills. Signs of stress can be noted through the animal’s body language and behavior. The first step is to educate yourself about stress indicators for the specific animal you are handling. Some of these stress indicators are displayed across many types of animals, such as freezing in place, when the animal’s body suddenly remains motionless and stiff. This is a common fear behavior in animals because it has survival value. The drive of many predators is stimulated by visual movement. If an animal is frozen, they have a better chance that the predator will ignore them and move on.  

On the other hand, some stress indicators are more specific to the type of animal that you are handling. Mammals are known to display fur piloerection when stressed or fearful, this is when the fur stands up on their ends. However, reptiles, which have no fur, will display a pigmentation change in their skin when stressed (Warwick et al., 2013). 

Other signs of stress may be extremely subtle and easy to miss. Another common sign of stress in animals, especially mammals, is frequent lip-licking or swallowing. These behaviors happen very quickly but they can be a key indicator that the animal is experiencing stress or fear during handling.  

In all, it is important to educate yourself about animal body language, especially behaviors relevant to the animals you will be working with. One tip to doing this would be to go on YouTube and view videos of the animal species you’ll be handling. Try and spot signs of stress in the videos. The more you practice, the better you’ll be at spotting the signs. 

Respond to Signs of Stress 

Now that we know how to recognize signs of stress in an animal, what do we do if an animal is displaying these signs of stress and fear? First, you should take the handling session slow, and allow the animal to make contact at its own rate. If the animal was just brought into a new location for handling, it can help to give the animal a few minutes alone in the room. This allows the animal to acclimate a bit to their surroundings. You can also make the handling experience more pleasant for the animal by providing attractive rewards such as treats or toys. Providing things the animal enjoys can help shift the animal’s focus away from the handling interaction and toward the rewarding items they are receiving.   

Another common method of responding to stress is to use training to teach animals to participate in their own care. This type of training is known as cooperative care, and it is commonly used in animal facilities like zoological parks and wildlife sanctuaries. Cooperative care has been shown to reduce stress for animals during handling and routine care. In one study, two primates, capuchins and macaques, were taught to participate in a blood draw procedure. Here, the animals learned that if they presented a leg for the blood draw they were rewarded with a food treat. These animals begin to voluntarily offer their leg for the procedure which allows the animal to have more control over their situation. This research indicates that the capuchins and macaques taught to participate in the blood draw displayed lower levels of stress and less defensive behavior (Dettmer et al., 1996; Reinhardt, 2003).  

There are many skills you can teach an animal to help implement cooperative care and reduce stress during animal handling. One is to teach your animal to “target” an object. Here, a target object (such as a stick with a ball on the end) is presented to the animal. Each time the animal touches the target object, give them a tasty reward. After doing this several times the animal learns that if they approach and touch the target something good will happen. Now, the target stick can be used to guide the animal’s behavior. This provides more choice and control to the animal which can help reduce stress. You can “ask” the animal to move from one location to another by using a target rather than forcing them to do so.   

Look at Context

As we have discussed, it is important to observe and respond to animal behavior and body language. When first learning these handling skills it can be important to break down each behavior and body language trait individually so that you can better identify when these occur. In reality, an animal will display several body language indicators and behaviors simultaneously. It is important to look at these together to discern the animal’s overall state. For example, another common body language indicator of stress in some animals is dilated pupils. Animals such as felines will display dilated pupils when stressed or fearful, however cats will also have dilated pupils during play. So, how can we tell the difference? 

The main way to determine the animal’s overall emotional state is to examine the context in which the behaviors are occurring. If you are at home and the cat is playing with a toy, it is likely the pupil dilation is occurring due to excitement rather than fear. However, if the pupil dilation is occurring at the veterinarian, then it is more likely this is due to stress. Another way is to examine the other behaviors and body language indicators occurring simultaneously. Do you see any other signs of stress? For example, are the cat’s ears flattened against their head (another common stress indicator) or pointed forward and upright (a sign of confidence)? Looking at the animal’s behavior holistically, along with the context of the situation, will allow for a better understanding of the animal’s emotional state. 

Finally, even within an animal species, different individuals may have different body language indicators. Dog tails can be very expressive and indicate a lot of information about the dog’s stress level, however not all dog breeds have a tail. In these individuals, tail movement and placement would not be the best indicator. It is also important to remember that every animal is an individual and will have different thresholds for stress. Just because an animal you worked with in the past did well with a certain type of handling, doesn’t mean the animal you are currently working with will also do well. Behavior is individual, as are human-animal relationships.  

Building Trust

There are several physical restraint methods that can be used to handle animals, but many of these can exacerbate stress, especially if used improperly. If possible, it is important to use the least amount of restraint that is necessary for the situation and individual animal (Lloyd, 2017). Human-animal relationships need trust to thrive. Therefore, the final recommendation is to build trust with any animals you will be handling.  

When meeting a new animal, begin to build a relationship with them so that they are familiar with you. Begin building this trust at the first moment you meet the animal. Do not rush up to the animal and directly interact with them upon meeting. Instead, approach the animal slowly and avoid sharp movements or loud noises. For animals with which you have an existing relationship, try using cooperative care training to help build that trust and show the animal they have some level of choice and control over their lives. In all, every individual animal and relationship is unique and should be treated as such.  

Turn Your Love for Animal Care into a Career with Unity’s Animal Health and Behavior Degree

For those passionate about animal care, Unity Environmental University — Distance Education offers a comprehensive Animal Health and Behavior bachelor’s degree program. This program equips students with the knowledge and practical skills needed to excel in careers related to animal welfare, training, and behavior analysis. By integrating scientific principles with hands-on experience, the program prepares graduates to handle real-world challenges in animal health and behavior. Whether you aim to work in zoos, sanctuaries, or companion animal care, Unity’s program offers the expertise you need. 

Written by: Kristyn Vitale, PhD, CAAB, Assistant Professor of Animal Health & Behavior

Sources

Dettmer, E. L., Phillips, K. A., Rager, D. R., Bernstein, I. S., & Fragaszy, D. M. (1996). Behavioral and cortisol responses to repeated capture and venipuncture in Cebus apella. American Journal of Primatology, 38(4), 357–362. https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci4020022 
Reinhardt, V. (2003). Working With Rather Than Against Macaques During Blood Collection. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 6(3), 189–197. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327604JAWS0603_04 
Warwick, C., Arena, P., Lindley, S., Jessop, M., & Steedman, C. (2013). Assessing reptile welfare using behavioural criteria. In Practice, 35(3), 123–131. https://doi.org/10.1136/inp.f1197