If it's on the loose, it'll reproduce

I have been absent a while. It's not that I have not been studying animal behavior, though. In fact, I am currently taking a course on husbandry and wellness. It's time to talk about it...and you knew it was coming...spaying and neutering.  I know this is a touchy topic for some, often grounded in finances or other beliefs. I want to tackle a few of those now.

A single female cat will with her mate reproduce what can amount to several litters a year.  Each of those kittens, not spayed or neutered,  can do the same. As a result, what began with one single unspayed female cat and unneutered male cat, can result in 420,000 cats during their lifetime. That is a LOT of cats...and the reason so many trap, neuter, (TNR) programs are out there working to get the feral cat population down.

Many of you have good, kind hearts. You want to help and adopt these animals. I understand...and I don't want that to stop. But please do not allow the excuses to stand in the way of getting these animals spayed and neutered. First of all, it's important for population control. There are countless homeless pets out there. Visit any shelter. They are full to overflowing. Anyone there will tell you why. Secondly, it is important for the health of the animal. Did you realize that there are ZERO male cats or dogs suffering from testicular cancer? You can't get it if you don't have it. Unfortunately, so many dogs and cats that have been left intact also contract this disease. There are so many health reasons that I can only touch on the subject at the moment (look for more posts in the future!). Unneutered males will wander in search of a mate...as do females. It has been recorded that 80% of car fatalities for dogs are found in unneutered males. (I will get that source for you).

Anyway, suffice to say that you should never adopt an animal that you cannot afford to care for. This includes spaying and neutering. If you are such a kind soul that you end up taking in a stray, please know that there are countless clinics that run spay/neuter clinics. All you need to do is a little bit of research. It's your responsibility as a pet owner. Please spay and neuter!

I welcome questions here. I have only begun to broach this topic and have a wealth of information on the subject. Please feel free to comment below.

A little positive reinforcement can go a long way...

Of course positive reinforcement is a great technique for teaching tricks, but it is also a great way to get your dog, cat or other companion animal to perform your preferred behavior (over behaviors that you might consider less than desirable). Rewards for exhibition of a replacement behavior can go a long way when one is trying to put  undesirable behaviors on extinction.

A replacement behavior, however, should serve the same function for the animal that the target, unwanted behavior does. For example, if your dog is stealing your socks and running away with them in order to get you to chase after her, it is likely that her unwanted behavior is getting attention for her. Therefore, a replacement behavior could be performing a trick. When she does roll over, she will receive the attention she was craving by producing the wrong behavior.

It doesn't hurt to give your animal a repertoire of these tricks and behaviors. Even just being able to perform a sit/stay is a behavior that may come in handy to replace another undesirable behavior. Feel free to spend quality time with your animal teaching them various commands...you never know when they will come in handy!

Just a Few Things...

...to make you smile!  I found these internet memes and just wanted to share here to make your day a little happier

Here's hoping your day is much brighter just for looking at this post!

Duration/Frequency Measurement Tool that I Developed

Tool to collect data on Duration and Response Latency

*This form is for those practitioners that prefer all data on one form.  Separate forms follow for more traditional recording of data.

Make sure that you have a timing instrument such as a wristwatch or stopwatch available prior to beginning your observations.

Procedure:  Use a new page for each date that you are observing behavior.  Each time the independent variable prompts the behavior, write the time under prompt.  Write the time the behavior starts in the next column, then the time the behavior ends in the behavior end column.  Enter the latency total (3^rd column), calculating the amount of time from the prompt until the beginning of the behavior.  Calculate the length of time the behavior lasted and write the total time in the last column.  Average latency may be calculated and entered at the bottom as indicated along with the total time of behavior.

Duration and Latency Data
OWNER NAME:			PET NAME:
DATE:			PET type:
BEHAVIOR:
prompt time	behavior start time	latency total Time		behavior end time	total behavior time
Totals:	Latency total time:			Behavior total time:
	Divided by # of observations
	Average  latency

Reflections on Class

ANS 6002, Animal Behavior III, is an application of many of the methods of behaviorism that we have studied thus far. Though many of the concepts were quite familiar, this class enabled me to have a much more hands on understanding of the intervention process. 

Some of the concepts, however, were newer. For example, using a function matrix and creating graphs were explained in this class. Though I learned much in this regard, my greatest understanding came from the class project. This class project took us from beginning to end with the intervention process, providing me with concrete learning. 

My project involved a 4 year old Wheaten Terrier named Fusilli who exhibited humping behavior upon instances of overexcitement in play and lack of attention/boredom while mom was on the phone. I was able to do an FBA with Fusilli which revealed the function of her behavior: therefore, I was able to choose an appropriate replacement behavior for her. The BIP that I came up with for Fusilli proved to be successful, allowing me the satisfaction of knowing that I had a grasp on the function of her behavior. I was also pleased to see exactly how these concepts worked in a real life scenario.

This class was a bit different from the others I have taken, largely because of the hands-on project. I think this project was key to my learning experience in this class. The only drawback to this project is that I would have liked a bit more time so that I could have enacted an ABAB plan. Otherwise, I don't think there is anything I would change about the class.

The unit quizzes were appropriate and helpful to the learning process. The workload of the class was also appropriate. Because the class wrapped up a bit early due to the professor's wedding plans, the last two weeks were exceedingly heavy in terms of getting the work done. This is something that the class agreed to, and I am not complaining. I do feel the work load the last two weeks would be better under normal circumstances.

Overall, I enjoyed the class. The professor, Dr. Matthews, was extremely knowledgeable and gave us much food for thought in her forum responses. I benefited greatly from those discussions. I would highly recommend this class to others in the program and would also recommend this professor.

Sage Advice

This video clip offers the best advice for not only cat owners but for any pet owner: set your pet up to succeed.  How? Make sure that the antecedents are reflective of effective practice. If the environment in any way encourages unwanted behavior, it needs to be altered so that appropriate behaviors more easily develop.

Reward good behavior. Ignore bad behavior. Why? Any kind of reaction to undesirable behavior is potential reinforcement. Whenever we want to extinguish the undesirable behavior, we put the behavior on extinction so as not to provide any reinforcement. If each and every pet owner or potential pet owner was familiar with these sage words, more pets would be successful and well behaved in their environment and perhaps fewer would end up in shelters...or worse.

Unusual Replacement Behavior

Replacement behavior is chosen for its ability to function similarly to the target behavior. Often the function that is served by the target behavior is not one that is evident to the average owner. For example, it is typical that an animal receives some sort of positive reinforcement for the undesirable behavior, even if that reinforcement comes in the form of disapproval. If puppy nips and mom yells "no!" the pup may experience the reprimand as positive reinforcement and continue to exhibit the behavior.

Sometimes these reinforcers are a bit of a surprise. As a result, the replacement behavior chosen can seem unusual to the average pet owner. The video here 
displays an unusual replacement behavior for thunderstorm fear: play. Often play can be an effective replacement behavior because it is self-reinforcing. It can also provide a change in antecedents. In this particular video it seems to provide a distraction from what would otherwise be a singular focus on the source of the fear. But how does this behavior function in the same way as the thunderstorm?

My guess is that the actual function of the fear behavior was positive reinforcement- attention. Perhaps the dog's owner felt bad for her and tried to comfort her in a storm. This type of attention can actually reinforce the fear behavior. By giving the dog a toy and playing with her, she is still receiving the attention from her owner. Therefore, the play behavior that is being used as a replacement is in fact serving the same function a the target behavior.