Training
Have you ever noticed how naughty smart pets can be? Rats, like any intelligent animal, have very active little brains that need stimulation and problems to solve. If you don't supply the stimulation they need, they will get bored or they will find activities to keep themselves occupied with - and this is where the trouble starts! :)
Think of it this way: in the wild, a rat would be foraging for food, looking for nesting material, protecting the colony, keeping one step ahead of predators and solving interesting puzzles - like how to get into the farmer's cupboard! Your pet rat gets all his food "for free" and lives in relative safety. There is no need for the normal day-to-day hassle. On the one hand, living such a life is great. On the other, things can get very boring! Rats need tasks to complete and puzzles to solve to keep them mentally stimulated and happy. Food and shelter just isn't enough!
One way to stimulate your pet rat is by training him. How you ask? Read on...
Think of it this way: in the wild, a rat would be foraging for food, looking for nesting material, protecting the colony, keeping one step ahead of predators and solving interesting puzzles - like how to get into the farmer's cupboard! Your pet rat gets all his food "for free" and lives in relative safety. There is no need for the normal day-to-day hassle. On the one hand, living such a life is great. On the other, things can get very boring! Rats need tasks to complete and puzzles to solve to keep them mentally stimulated and happy. Food and shelter just isn't enough!
One way to stimulate your pet rat is by training him. How you ask? Read on...
Classical and Operant Conditioning
When you smell your mom cooking a delicious dinner, your mouth starts to water. This is an unconditioned response - it happens naturally. Now, say your mom rings a dinner bell each time you walk into the kitchen and smell all that delicious food. What will happen? After a while, the bell becomes "linked" to the food. When you hear the dinner bell, you think of all that wonderful food just waiting for you. Pretty soon, when you hear the bell your mouth will start to water and your tummy will rumble even if you haven't smelled or seen the food yet. The bell is the conditioned stimulus that now causes the conditioned response (your mouth waters). This is called classical conditioning. That bell now has the same "power" as the smell of food itself.
Operant conditioning has to do with behaviour and consequences. Behaviour that occurs in training can be reinforced or punished. Reinforcement increases the likelihood of behaviour occurring, and punishment decreases the likelihood of that behaviour occurring. There is negative and positive reinforcement and negative and positive punishment. Without going into too much detail, we are going to be talking about positive reinforcement training. What does this mean? Positive reinforcement means adding something positive to the animal's life as a reward for a behaviour. An example: every time your rat runs up to you, you reward him with a treat. Coming to you has been positively reinforced, and the likelihood of your rat running to you when he sees you has increased.
Operant conditioning has to do with behaviour and consequences. Behaviour that occurs in training can be reinforced or punished. Reinforcement increases the likelihood of behaviour occurring, and punishment decreases the likelihood of that behaviour occurring. There is negative and positive reinforcement and negative and positive punishment. Without going into too much detail, we are going to be talking about positive reinforcement training. What does this mean? Positive reinforcement means adding something positive to the animal's life as a reward for a behaviour. An example: every time your rat runs up to you, you reward him with a treat. Coming to you has been positively reinforced, and the likelihood of your rat running to you when he sees you has increased.
So what now?
Now you can start training your rat! First off, you need to do a little classical conditioning.
Get yourself a retractable pen - something like a bic pen. Also have some treats handy. The treats should be small and easy to gobble up. You can use something like Rice Crispies or a syringe (no needle!) filled with unsweetened apple sauce that you can give one drop at a time. Use something your rat likes a lot, but doesn't get every day in his food.
The first while, all you need to do is click the pen and hand your rat a treat. Every time you click, the rat must get a treat. Repeat this about 5 - 10 times. Then, click the pen and withhold the treat for a few seconds. If your rat starts to look around for the treat, seemingly confused as to why it's not coming, he has been conditioned to the click. Give him the treat. Your rat now understands that "click" means there is a treat on the way. If your rat doesn't get this in one session, you can repeat clicking and treating a few days in a row, 5 minutes at a time. You can even click each time before you give your rat some veggies or anything special. Wait until that association between the click and food has been made before you go to the next step.
A simple "trick" to start with is coming when called. Have your rat on the bed or on a large table, and make sure there are no places to hide in or interesting objects to investigate. Have that pen and the treats at hand. Put down your rat and quickly move to the other side of the bed/table. Your rat should run to you. Just before your rat gets to you click and hand him a treat. You can repeat this for a few minutes a day, until your rat "gets" the game and comes to you no matter where you move to. If he doesn't come running at first, you can let him smell your hand and drag it towards you so that he follows. Click and treat just as he gets to you. You can gradually stop using your hand as he realises what the game is about.
Now, every time he comes running, say his name and then click and treat as he gets to you. You can also repeat this a few times or days, as necessary. You can now place something on the bed/table that will distract him for a bit. Any interesting object that he can investigate but not climb into. Let him sniff a bit and then call his name. If he even just turns his head in your direction, click and treat. Repeat this a few times. If he turns away from the object and comes, you can feed him a couple of treats and tell him how smart he is! Your rat has now learnt to come when he hears his name.
If your rat doesn't even notice you with an object to investigate, go back to the previous steps. Be patient, and keep trying until he learns that his name means he has to come to you. For some rats a verbal cue - calling his name - might not work at all. You can also tap or pat the table each time he comes and that will be the signal for "come here". Play around until you find a signal that works for your rat.
Remember: Training should always be fun, so keep your sessions short and don't continue until your rat is full. A full rat won't be interested in treats. Also, never ever punish your rat if he doesn't get it right away. Training must only mean good things for it to work. If your rat realises there is an equal chance of being rewarded and being punished, he won't want to play this game anymore.
Get yourself a retractable pen - something like a bic pen. Also have some treats handy. The treats should be small and easy to gobble up. You can use something like Rice Crispies or a syringe (no needle!) filled with unsweetened apple sauce that you can give one drop at a time. Use something your rat likes a lot, but doesn't get every day in his food.
The first while, all you need to do is click the pen and hand your rat a treat. Every time you click, the rat must get a treat. Repeat this about 5 - 10 times. Then, click the pen and withhold the treat for a few seconds. If your rat starts to look around for the treat, seemingly confused as to why it's not coming, he has been conditioned to the click. Give him the treat. Your rat now understands that "click" means there is a treat on the way. If your rat doesn't get this in one session, you can repeat clicking and treating a few days in a row, 5 minutes at a time. You can even click each time before you give your rat some veggies or anything special. Wait until that association between the click and food has been made before you go to the next step.
A simple "trick" to start with is coming when called. Have your rat on the bed or on a large table, and make sure there are no places to hide in or interesting objects to investigate. Have that pen and the treats at hand. Put down your rat and quickly move to the other side of the bed/table. Your rat should run to you. Just before your rat gets to you click and hand him a treat. You can repeat this for a few minutes a day, until your rat "gets" the game and comes to you no matter where you move to. If he doesn't come running at first, you can let him smell your hand and drag it towards you so that he follows. Click and treat just as he gets to you. You can gradually stop using your hand as he realises what the game is about.
Now, every time he comes running, say his name and then click and treat as he gets to you. You can also repeat this a few times or days, as necessary. You can now place something on the bed/table that will distract him for a bit. Any interesting object that he can investigate but not climb into. Let him sniff a bit and then call his name. If he even just turns his head in your direction, click and treat. Repeat this a few times. If he turns away from the object and comes, you can feed him a couple of treats and tell him how smart he is! Your rat has now learnt to come when he hears his name.
If your rat doesn't even notice you with an object to investigate, go back to the previous steps. Be patient, and keep trying until he learns that his name means he has to come to you. For some rats a verbal cue - calling his name - might not work at all. You can also tap or pat the table each time he comes and that will be the signal for "come here". Play around until you find a signal that works for your rat.
Remember: Training should always be fun, so keep your sessions short and don't continue until your rat is full. A full rat won't be interested in treats. Also, never ever punish your rat if he doesn't get it right away. Training must only mean good things for it to work. If your rat realises there is an equal chance of being rewarded and being punished, he won't want to play this game anymore.
Why am I using a clicker?
Clickers (the click of the pen) works so well because it can be used so accurately. Once you have conditioned your rat to understand that that sound means a treat is coming, you can effectively highlight the action that you are giving the treat for. When the rat is doing something and you click right at that moment, he knows exactly what he is going to get a treat for. It makes it much less confusing for them and very soon it becomes great fun for them to try and find out what they can do to get a click!
Try it!
You can now try this with all different kinds of tricks. Try teaching your rat to sit up and "beg" by holding the treat above his head and clicking as soon as he stands up to investigate.
There are so many possibilities! We recommend this book for more ideas and advice:
Ducommun, D. 1958. The Complete Guide to Rat Training. ISBN: 9780793806515
There are so many possibilities! We recommend this book for more ideas and advice:
Ducommun, D. 1958. The Complete Guide to Rat Training. ISBN: 9780793806515
Points to remember:
- For this to work, the rat must get a treat each and every time you click!
- Don't let anyone play with the pen near the rat, as this will confuse him and he won't know why he is hearing a click but not getting a treat.
- Keep your training sessions short so that the rat doesn't get full or bored. This has to be a fun game he looks forward to each day.
- Don't try to train your rat the moment you get home and he is let out for the first time. Let him play and investigate a bit first. Otherwise he won't concentrate on anything you have to say!
- Never punish your rat for "getting it wrong"!
- Only train one rat at a time so you don't confuse them if one rat gets the trick right and the other doesn't.
- Lastly: We all have "off" days. If your rat isn't feeling well, or just isn't interested that day, don't worry. Give him a cuddle and a treat and let him just enjoy some time outside of the cage. You can always train again tomorrow.