Use Touch to Help Shy Rats Tolerate Touch

Touching a rat who does not want to be touched is a touchy subject.

Which rat is ready for this method? The answer is, the rat who already likes to be touched. She doesn't mind you picking her up, she is relaxed when you touch her. This method can help extend the amount of time the rat allows you to touch her.

Which rat is Not ready for this method? The rat who doesn't want to be touched.

If I touch a rat or offer brief holds, I watch to see that the rat is not further frightened during my touching. This is working with desensitization.

I do not touch or hold a rat who does not want to be touched, so that she struggles or tries to escape. Any so-called method that tells a rat owner to hold a rat for some period, such as 20 minutes, and to insist the rat accept being held, is subjecting the rat to flooding. In my opinion the so-called techniques of "forced socialization" and "immersion", more often result in flooding the rat.

Flooding is a behavioral modification principle whose purpose is to trigger extremely scary feelings of some kind, and to have the animal (or person) feel that way for an extended period of time. The adrenaline and fear can only be sustained for a certain amount of time.

Flooding can be a valid technique in human pyschotherapy, such as working with phobias. In human therapy, the client knows what is going to happen and is prepared for it. There has been therapy previously, and an assessment made that the person wants to try, and can handle the experience. The therapist is an ally, is helpful, is monitoring the person's feelings so that they do not exceed pre-discussed parameters. The client knows how flooding works, s/he and the therapist have discussed in advance what those scary feelings are, and how flooding works. Maybe even practiced it a little. The client can say stop at any time, and can trust that will be respected and supported by the therapist.

None of the above happens with an animal during training. Instead, the fear eventually overwhelms the rat, who then goes through a kind of shock. A kind of collapse into helplessness can occur. Like giving up. What we might see in the rat's behavior can resemble Calm and relaxed, when it it neither. In responsible animal training, flooding is avoided for obvious reasons.

Note: Relevent Youtube videos on this subject can be found on another page, here:

Using Touch to Help Shy Rats Tolerate Touch - YouTube Videos