Yesterday Lewis and I went to our first animal behavior training at our local animal shelter. The goal of the program is to train volunteers to help train animals waiting for their forever homes. Experience has shown that well trained animals are more apt to be adopted and stay in there new adopted homes.
One example of what we will be doing is taking tongue depressor and placing cat food on the end of it to entice cats and kittens to get in the habit of coming to the front of their cages when they see people.
We will also be learning how to clicker train dogs. Clickers are used to reinforce desirable behaviors such as following a command or keeping all four paws on the ground. The clicker creates a universal sign for the dog that can be easily transferred to the new owner. Often the differences in voice pitches between trainer and new owner can confuse a dog and make it less likely to obey a command. The clicker eliminates that confusion.
Lewis preferred to work with cats yesterday so we spent most of our day teaching grown cats how to give a high five in exchange for a cat treat. Lewis seems to be a natural at this and has taught all four cats at home this trick. He has also taught one of our cats to fetch a ball. Yesterday he had pretty good luck with two cats learning this trick after just a few tries.
We ended our day with a visit to the kitten nursery where we were able to take two very frightened
6-8 week old kittens and play with them in a visitation room. The goal was to get the kittens to associate humans with fun cuddles and play, rather than hunkering down and hiding in the back of their cages. So far we love the animal behavior training.
Of all the comforts we can offer, spending time together is the most important. Love this work Mer and the connections you make between the two topics.
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