Quote Originally Posted by jdrmd View Post
Geoff,
You point is well taken. I try to only wear the glove when I want the bird to come to me otherwise its off. If I go in the mews to get her, I wear the glove, if I go in to change the water or do other chores I don't. She looks for the glove when I enter, if she doesn't see it she carries on with whatever she was doing and responds similarly in the field. As I get more experience that might change but for now...
Being a surgeon, I am subconsciously aware of my hands, especially with gloves on, because of sterile technique. I would never touch my nose with my sterile hawking glove
I guess then it is pretty aparent that I am not smart enough to be a surgeon.

The cue can be anything that the critter you are training can percieve as being a distinct signal. There is a lot of reasons why your example of holding out the glove wouldnt work for me, but it seems clear to work well for you.

Its also important to keep in mind that the aninimal you are training will often pick up on cues you are not even aware of, and these can sometimes accidentally be given as well. As an example of this, I used to keep my hawk food and tidbits in a fanny pack back when they were commonly around. I kept my fanny pack in front so it was easier to get to. One of my redtails noticed that I touched my fanny back just before I called, and that became a cue that it reacted to far better than the raised glove, whistle, or even the lure. I nearly needed to get stitched up the first time I noticed the connection, because I was just shifting the fanny pack around a bit. I learned keeping food near your groin area is never smart unless you are a total masochist.