Photo to the left: Dicey won’t let go of my finger; she wants me to stay with her. This is a far cry from her behavior when she first came to me viciously aggressive. I adopted her and her sister, Pemy, from a rescue (they had been considered unadoptable) to see if I could help them become friendly.

Whenever I think about what to do with a rat, I translate the situation into human terms, and consider what to do.

Human examples can help: If the 4-year old child is afraid of dogs, would I insist she go into a room with a friendly dog, when she does not want to? The thinking is that with exposure she will ‘see’ that there is nothing to be afraid of. What if she begins to cry and clings to the door, what then? Another example: A stranger approaches a child, looms over him, and says, “Come with me, son”. The child cringes and looks worried. These approaches are not helpful for respecting a child’s feelings, and in fact they can create new fears, or worse fears.

The parents take the child to the park where, from a distance, she watches friendly dogs play. At a friend’s home, from the other room, she watches kids play happily with the sweet family dog. The dog happily lies down on his back and wags his tail while the children rub his belly. From 5 feet away, the scared child considers whether she would like to move a little closer. The stranger stops 20 feet away from the 5-year-old, and makes eye contact. Smiling reassuringly, he says, “Hi, son, I’m the coach, and we’re bringing out the basketballs. Would you like to join the team?” The boy considers, likes the idea, and moves to join the coach.

Feel this in your heart; feel your rat’s heart, too.

How do I think about the heart – the soul, the compassionate core – of what it means to affect the behavior of my rats?

What do I want to happen to rats who are learning?

What is at the heart of learning and affecting the behavior of any animal?
(Want more? Read about the science: JoinRats Links to References on the Science of Behavioral Modification.)

All of the above are embedded in modern behavioral modification science. That is the science of Respondent Conditioning and Operant Conditioning. The methods in this science can help achieve everything in the list! Cool, huh?