Animal Trainer

*"Behold, gentlemen! This beast is less ferocious than an old crone. Watch as I insert my entire foot into the dancing bear’s mouth...wait...no Vinny! Stop...urk!"*

## Advanced Career

(New) Animal trainers breed and train animals for transport, hunting or entertainment. Their most common job is breeding riding horses and destriers for the horse markets, but animal trainers are also skilled dog and bird handlers that accompany nobles’ hunting parties. Carnivals employ animal trainers as ringmasters to delight the masses with dancing bears and prancing ponies. Animal trainers can also serve the role of beast handlers in pit fighting arenas, though little effort is expended training the ornery fighting animals that were originally captured in the wild. Though Kislevite bear tamers are famous for their ability to train wild bears, most trained animals are born in captivity.

### Secondary Profile

**Skills:** Animal Care, Animal Training, Charm Animal, Command, Common Knowledge (any one), Drive or Swim, Perception, Ride, Speak Language (any one), Trade (any two: Aviarist, Horse trader, Kennel master or Stableman)

**Talents:** Etiquette or Wrestling, Specialist Weapon (Entangling), Strike to Stun

**Trappings:** Collar with 10 Feet of Rope or Chain, Light Armour (Leather Jack), Net, Thick Gloves, Whip

### **Career Entries**

Bear Tamer, Entertainer, Farmer, Hunter, Muleskinner, Peasant, Rat Catcher

## Reward and Coercion

Animal training is done in three stages: breaking, domination and training. The basic techniques for mentally breaking an animal rely on either reward or coercion. Reward-based breaking exploits the animal’s instinctive need for food or shelter to establish programmed responses. Coercion involves breaking the animal’s will with the lash of a whip until it responds predictably to the slightest flick. Most trainers use a combination of reward and coercion. Domination means convincing the animal to accept physical restraint by the use of hood, cage or harness. Breaking and domination must be finished before actual training can begin. Occasionally animals are discovered to be untrainable during this early period; even those raised from birth.

## Training Animals

Once breaking and domination are complete, the trainer can begin teaching specific tricks. The number of successful skill tests required to teach each trick is determined by its Trick Difficulty (for the Animal Training skill, see WFRP pg. 91). Animals captured in the wild are limited in their ability to override instincts, and therefore cannot learn more tricks than the number indicated below. Animals trained from birth can learn any number of tricks.

#### **Dog or Bear:**

Simple tricks include Sit, Stay and Come. Moderate tricks are Attack, Fetch and Restrain. Teaching dogs and bears to perform carnival tricks is a Difficult task. Feral dogs and bears are limited to 3 tricks.

#### **Riding Horse or Destrier:**

All horses can be taught to Gallop or Stop as Simple tricks. Jumping and Cantering are Moderate tricks, and destriers can also be trained to Charge as a Moderate trick. Special riding stunts count as Difficult tricks for riding horses, and synchronized marching is a Difficult trick for destriers. Wild horses are limited to 3 tricks.

#### **Hawk , Falcon or Owl:**

Hunting birds are difficult to train, so there are no Simple tricks. They can be trained to Attack, Fetch or Follow as Moderate tricks, or deliver messages up to 10 miles as a Difficult trick. Captured birds of prey can only be taught 1 trick.

#### **Pigeon:**

Delivering messages up to 10 miles is a Simple trick. Delivering 11-100 miles is a Moderate trick and destinations 101-500 miles away count as Difficult tricks. Each individual destination is taught as a separate trick and wild pigeons can only learn 1 destination.

#### **Ferret or Cat:**

Basic tricks like Sit, Stay and Come are considered Moderate for these ornery animals. Attack and Fetch count as Difficult tricks. Feral cats and ferrets may only learn 2 tricks.