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Training Regimens
Spectators to a captive dolphin program will often see the animals perform tricks that they equate with human responses and emotions. Movement of the pectoral flippers is taken to mean that the dolphins are waving a greeting. Vocalizing seems to indicate that the animals are "speaking" to the crowd. Or, the dolphins swim directly up to tourists entering the water, apparently signaling their enthusiasm to interact. In reality, these are highly unnatural behaviors that hold no meaning for the animal and offer no insight into their state of mind.

What the crowd sees is simply the result of conditioning. The animal overrides its natural behaviors and instincts in anticipation of receiving some kind of reward - typically pieces of fish. Termed by some as "positive reinforcement," this method is actually a form of food deprivation. Since a satiated dolphin will not perform, the animals are left to go hungry. Even when they complete the desired behavior, the food reward is slight so as to sustain the desire in the animal to please. Simply put, a performing dolphin is a hungry dolphin.

This is particularly obvious when a trainer enters the holding area, carrying a bucket of fish. You will notice that the dolphin's eyes are fixed on the bucket, not on the trainer. It is easy to overlook this detail, as most audiences are watching and listening to the trainer. But in observing the dolphin's body language, it is apparent that food is the motivator, not affection for the trainer, playfulness or an affinity for the crowd.

Common Sights at Dolphin Facilities and Shows
• Dolphins always seem to be smiling, which many interpret as a sign of happiness.

Dolphins appear to smile only because of the way their mouths are shaped; it is not a reflection of their emotional state. Whether free or captive, content or in pain, dolphins always appear to smile and eager to please.

• Dolphins beach themselves to let people pet or kiss them.

The aquatic environment is practically gravity free and, therefore, supports a dolphin's substantial weight. When dolphins beach themselves in the wild, they do so because they are sick, disoriented, injured or otherwise in some kind of distress. Many of the beached animals die from the resulting pressure and damage to their internal organs. A captive dolphin that lifts itself out of the water and onto a platform or stage has been trained to beach itself on command. The discomfort can be great and permanent injury is only avoided by the trainer recalling the animal to the water in due time.

• Dolphins swim gracefully in circles around their enclosures.

In the wild, a bottlenose dolphin -- the species most commonly used in captive dolphin swim programs -- swims up to 40 miles per day. In a fenced-in area or a tank, the dolphins are often restricted to swimming in circles.

In many dolphins, this behavior is a sign that the dolphin is suffering psychologically: it is engaging in what is known as a stereotypical behavior. In humans, familiar stereotypical behaviors include obsessive-compulsive disorders and the rocking motion and unresponsive state seen in distressed individuals.

• Dolphins on either side of a gated pen splash and slap their tails. To the layperson, this seems to be a joyful exchange between animals that are happy to see each other.

Far from an expression of playfulness, these dolphins are agitated, frustrated and stressed. They are trying to reach each other but are blocked by a wire fence.

• Some facilities claim that their dolphins are partially free - that they have unrestricted access to the open ocean and return of their own free will.

This scenario is merely an example of clever advertising but does not denote freedom for the animals. Dolphins are only released from their pens when they're hungry, ensuring the trainer that the animals will stay in the area. Stripped of their ability to hunt on their own and psychologically dependent on their trainers, the dolphins are compelled to return when the hunger overcomes them. In the United States, it is illegal to allow a dolphin outside of its pen.