Operant Conditioning

Many clients ask me for training advice and help with specific behavioral issues. It's tough sometimes to give them a short answer! Changing behavior can be very challenging out in the world with all of its complications and conditions and distractions. And there are so many options! But when you boil it down to its most basic level -- at the level of operant conditioning, as described by B.F. Skinner -- there are five types of stimulus that can be used to change behavior. So here's the crash course:

Positive reinforcement: a desired behavior is encouraged through the use of a reward.
     ie. giving a dog a cookie for sitting on command

Negative reinforcement: a desired behavior is encouraged by removing something unpleasant.
     ie. letting up the tension in the leash when the dog sits

Positive punishment: an undesired behavior is discouraged through use of an aversive.
     ie. saying "No!" to a dog who has just jumped on someone

Negative punishment: an undesired behavior is discouraged by taking something good away.
     ie. taking away the dog's toy because he is starting to destroy it

Extinction: an undesired behavior stops because it produces no result
     ie. a dog is completely ignored while he is jumping - finding no reaction, he moves on to other behaviors

...

It sometimes seems that there are as many methods of dog training as there are dog trainers, but here are some key things to keep in mind while working with your own dog:

- You cannot change the past. You must always start from where you are today. And from here you can go in any direction you like. It doesn't matter where you've been or how fast you're moving -- just remember to enjoy the scenery.

- Your ultimate goal is to create a positive relationship with your dog, based on mutual respect. Be kind, patient, and curious. A sense of humor helps, too.

- Good trainers need excellent timing! Dogs don't hold onto the past, so if you wait too long, they won't understand what they're being rewarded or punished for. We're talking on the order of seconds here, not minutes and certainly not hours.

- A good reinforcer is specific to the animal you're working with. Take the opportunity of training to find out what your dog really likes to work for. Is it food? What kind? Is it a toy? A belly rub? They are all unique, so experiment!

- Never try to train your dog when you are upset, angry, frustrated, or otherwise unhappy. Training should always come from a loving, rational state of mind. Plan ahead -- don't react and overreact.

- Remember free will! When you get down to it, it's really impossible to force any creature's compliance. All you can do is make desirable behavior more rewarding and undesirable behavior less rewarding. So make sure you really appreciate every good behavior your dog gives you. He didn't have to!

   For some detailed (and really technical) info on operant conditioning, check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning

   For a much more in depth discussion of operant conditioning specific to animal training, head over to:
http://www.wagntrain.com/OC/

   And for info on the wonderful world of clicker training, visit:
http://www.clickertrain.com/whatis.html

There's a whole world of information out there, so have fun learning what you and your dog can accomplish together. (Hey, and when you've gotten the hang of it, you might want to try training your cat and your bird and your fish, too!)

Setting Goals for the New Year

I've long believed that setting goals is a great way to lend clarity of purpose and a sense of power and control to the otherwise overwhelming vastness that is the future. It's like editing your potential. And it's something that I've always done quite naturally. In fact, as a young child, I was notorious for making proclamations about how things are, how they ought to be, and how they would be. And why not? I had considered all the angles I could think of, I had studied the world and everything in it, and I felt perfectly comfortable letting people know exactly what was what. The adults around me could rarely change my mind or even budge me once my feet were set. I was a powerhouse of focus and determination. I think "stubborn" was the word my parents like to use.

Of course, as I got older, I learned that even the force of a will like mine doesn't stand a chance against the forces of reality. The world moves and we are moved. It took many years to realize that there isn't enough strength to survive on strength alone. There isn't enough in the world. And anyway, the hammer is just not always the best approach. If you don't balance your strength with flexibility, patience, and judgement, you'll eventually wear out.

So I spent a lot of time working on mental flexibility. Putting things in perspective is a great way to bounce back from failure and learn as much as possible while moving on to the next adventure. Unfortunately, it's possible to become too flexible and lose sense of the future. For a while, as new circumstances and new people came into my life, new possibilities came into view and old ones disappeared. Flexibility means that that's OK because every opportunity is equal in importance and interest. But floating ahead without form, a future without real goals is just a soup of potential. In order to realize that potential and gain the benefits of both the struggle and the victory (hopefully!), the victory has to be defined. You have to be willing to inspect the soup and consciously pick out the parts that, from now on, are going to be most important.

So here are my business goals for 2010:

1. To add grooming staff to enable the shop to service more clients and to free up more personal time for me to pursue other goals.


2. To develop my online client tracking and appointment software for sale to grooming shops.


3. To develop Groomerisms educational products for sale to grooming shops.


4. To update this blog with a new article at least once per month.


5. To attend at least one grooming education seminar.

And there it is. I look forward to an exciting new year!

Winter Grooming

The best kind of grooming is regular grooming. Whether your pet is a fluffed out poodle princess or a seasonally shedding sheltie, there is an appropriate grooming interval that a discussion with your groomer about the specific needs of both you and your pet can help reveal. If that interval is 4-6 weeks, as it typically is for most drop-coated or curly-coated breeds, or closer to 8-12 weeks, as is often the case for short-coated shedding breeds, it's generally a good idea to stick to that interval year-round. Often, however, winter gives pet owners pause when it comes to their regularly scheduled grooming.

"Well, it's cold now, so we're going to wait a bit," is a common comment heard at grooming shops across the un-temperate parts of the country. The reasoning usually is that a pet whose coat is allowed to grow out a bit longer will be more comfortable in the cold weather. Unfortunately, skipping or stretching grooming visits often results in exactly the opposite -- a less comfortable pet. Why is that?

First of all, drop-coated and curly-coated pets who are prone to matting get a double whammy. The extra length of coat combined with the snow-balls and moisture the coat is exposed to creates an ideal environment for tangles to form and tighten and grow. So now your longer coated dog's matted coat actually does the opposite. A matted coat dries more slowly, leaving your pooch wet and shivering after a romp through the snow. Additionally, the tangles in the coat prevent it from insulating efficiently -- an unmatted coat insulates by trapping a pocket of air close to the body while a matted coat just traps dirt and moisture. Of course, this can be prevented by being more vigilant in brushing and combing at home, but that's a lot of extra work without the extra benefit you would expect. Adding a bit more length of coat doesn't really add to the insulating power of the coat the way putting a cute doggie coat on your pet would. By the way, those coats will help accelerate the formation of tangles as well, yet another reason to keep up with a tidy, insulating haircut!

Second, a dog who spends the majority of his time indoors is really not going to appreciate any extra insulation while he's inside, enjoying an otherwise comfortable life with central heating. If he suffers in the cold, doggie clothes will keep him cozy while he's in the cold, without his having to wear his "winter gear" while he's indoors as well!

And while they don't suffer from the cold nearly as much as our designer dogs do, a dog with undercoat often needs a bit of help keeping his coat's insulating power in top form. Undercoated dogs often run into trouble when hairs that were released but didn't shed out properly mat up or otherwise block that nice double-pane window effect and interfere with natural insulation as well. Brushing at home can certainly help keep the coat in top condition, and you should feel free to put off grooming for however long you can stand the eau d' ungroomed dog!

If the points above don't convince you to keep to your schedule, bear in mind that the haircut is usually the most apparent, but arguably, not the most important part of professional grooming. You can certainly request a longer haircut in the winter time so that you can enjoy all the benefits of a professional bath and comb-out, nail trimming and ear cleaning, without taking as much (or any) coat off. Your groomer can make sure your pet's rear end, pads of the feet, eyes and other problematic, debris-catching areas stay clean and tidy while preserving the length of the rest. There's no reason to miss out on the joys of a clean, styled pet just because the snow flies, now is there?

My Ideal Client

Recently, I was listening to an audiobook called Book Yourself Solid: the fastest, easiest, and most reliable system for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if you Hate Marketing and Selling by Michael Port and Tim Sanders. Although it seems at first glance to be a handbook for pulling in huge numbers of people, the book actually emphasizes quality over quantity. By cultivating relationships with clients who are very compatible with your services and your philosophies, you are more likely to do your very best work. When you are exactly what your clients have been looking for and your clients are exactly who you want to serve, everybody wins.

As an exercise, the book recommends making out a list of qualities you would expect to find in your ideal clients. As you might expect from someone with perfectionist tendencies, my list is probably too long and certainly too detailed, but here it is!

My ideal client:

continually seeks education about pet care and solicits, listens to, and values my expertise as a pet professional

understands or accepts the limitations of grooming with regard to coat condition and pet behavior and respects my professional judgment

keeps their pet on a regular grooming schedule and in a length that is compatible with the upkeep they are willing to do at home, the lifestyle of the pet, and the pet's tolerance for maintenance

has their pet spayed or neutered for the health of their pet and to help prevent overpopulation and bad behavior

keep appointments and arrives roughly on time, especially during busy times of year

is flexible with pick-up time and allows me to call when their pet is finished

makes sure that their pets' biological needs are taken care of before drop-off

really appreciates the value of a precise, quality haircut

controls their pet with a leash or carrier, cleans up after their pet outside, and generally ensures that their pet doesn't offend, scare, or injure anyone in or around the shop

understands that accidents can happen when sharp objects and moving pets come together and does what they can to teach their pets good grooming manners, keeps them in good shape to minimize their risk of irritation and injury, and closely watches any minor scrapes that do occur to make sure that the pet doesn't fuss with them and make them more serious

is open and detailed with medical history, aggression problems, and other information that are pertinent to grooming and can help make the grooming process as smooth as possible

understands and appreciates the standards of sterilization and sanitation I make at the shop to help prevent the spread of infection, parasites, and disease but also realizes that there are risks associated with taking your pet out in public and takes responsibility for keeping their pet healthy

when the condition or behavior of their pet forces a change in grooming plan, my ideal client trusts me to do what is best for their pet and says things like, "Do what you think is best"

is generous and honest in their feedback and refers others who can benefit from my services

Solon Home Days

Yesterday, my shop assistant and I spent our evening over at Solon Home Days with the Kelley's Kritters booth and some adoptable kittens. I brought over the two remaining "dumpster kittens," who are staying at my house. Although they were initially a bit anxious about the crowds, they relaxed after a while and enjoyed a lot of affection from passing children. Kelley found a home for one kitten, a gorgeous orange tabby, and a lot of people stopped by to visit, volunteer, buy raffle tickets, and make donations. Hopefully the trend will continue for tonight and Sunday night. If you're in Solon, visit Home Days at Solon Community Park on SOM Center Road. And if you're at Home Days, be sure to visit Kelley!

Kelley's raffle items are numerous and include gift certificates to local businesses (including K9 Design!) and gift baskets full of goodies. Check out the end of this post for a complete list of raffle items. Drawings will be on Sunday evening around 8:00 and you do not need to be present to win! Raffle tickets are $2 each, 3 for $5, or 7 for $10.

You can see a list of cats and kittens for adoption at the Petfinder site for Kelley's Kritters at Petfinder.com/shelterSearch/shelterSearch.cgi?shelterid=OH775.

Kelley is always in need of donations and volunteers so be sure to take advantage of a great opportunity to help out homeless cats in Solon and surrounding areas by contacting her: www.kelleyskritters.com.

If you're looking to add a new feline family member, you can visit the website to fill out a pre-adoption questionnaire and get the ball rolling. Cats of all ages, colors, and personality types are available for adoption. Adoptable cats are tested for FIV/FLV, vaccinated, wormed, and spayed or neutered. Kelley also provides a nice starter kit. Adoption fees vary but typically range from $50 - $75.

Raffle items:

1. Indians Autographed baseball - Asdrubal Cabrera #13, 4 tickets to a 2009 game (weeknight subject to availability).  Value – unavailable.
   
2. Jack Daniels Winter Extravaganza gift basket;  Total Value $400 value.
   
3. (2) 18 holes of golf with cart at Grantwood Golf (weekday only), $50 to Rusty Bucket, digital convertor.  Value $200.
   
4. Horseback Riding Lessons (7) at Promise Land Farms, Mantua. $150 value.
   
5. Indians tickets (August 13th versus Texas Rangers, 12:05PM. Section 175, Row P, Seats 5 &6), 2 Indians shirts (one men’s’ and women’s’) + 2 coupons for medium Sub Combo at Dibellas (medium sub, 20 oz beverage, chips or cookie). Value $120.
   
6. Panera Bread – “Bagel Pack For A Year.” 13 bagels and 2 tubs of cream cheese, every month for 1 year! $175 value.
   
7. John Roberts – manicure & pedicure (with Felisha, Chagrin Falls location, $80), Arbonne NutriMinC Anti-Aging Body Care System (Body Serum and Hydrating Body Lotion), ($85); Total value $165.
   
8. Andrew Jordan Photography - Pet Photography Session & 8x10 print, $150 value.
   
9. Solon Sampler  ($10 Mitchells Ice Cream, $10 Wildlife Gardens,  $25 Longhorn gift certificate, Gionino's  Free Pizza, (2) coupons for medium sub combo meal at Dibella’s, $20 tanline certificate, $40 Jimmy Dadonna’s, Free in-home estimate from Country Curtains).  Total Value $150.
   
10. $100 Flemings gift certificate, Arbonne Intelligence Hand Cream and Herbal Foot Cream ($30); Total Value $130.
    
11. Dino Palmeri – manicure & pedicure (with Amy, Solon location), ($85) and Arbonne Ginger Citrus bath salts and sea salt scrub ($30), Tanline gift certificate ($20); Total Value $135.
    
12. Blade & Hue Salon – manicure & pedicure, ($70), Nieman Marcus beach bag with Arbonne Reactivate sea salt scrub, herbal foot cream and cleansing gel ($60). Total value $130.
    
13. Learning Resources, Pretend & Play Animal Hospital (3+ year, $40), Mobile Machinery Shop Toy ($5), $15 PlayMatters gift certificates, cat stickers ($5), 6’ x 6’ custom fleece blanket from “Barbies Binkies,” ($50), Total Value $115.
    
14. Wine Gift Basket;  2006 PETs, Petite Sirah – Vinum Cellars, California.  2008 Gato Negro Cabernet Sauvignon, Valle, Chili.  Chardonnay, Harthill Farm, California.  Wine for Dummies 2 painted wine glasses cat theme, wine charms, 4 wine corks, hand towel & miscellaneous crackers & chocolate). $100 value.
    
15. Swarovski crystal necklace, bracelet & earrings, $75 value.
    
16. $60 off 1 hour booking of Whirly Ball, or Buy 1 game of LaserSport, get a game free!  (2) coupons for medium sub combo meal at Dibella’s.  $75 value
    
17. $20 K9 Design & Grooming for any combination of grooming services and/or pet products; Doggie basket, $50 value.
    
18. $20 K9 Design & Grooming for any combination of grooming services and/or pet products; Cat basket, $50 value.
    
19. $25 Spa-K9 Dog Grooming & Daycare Gift Certificate & dog gift basket, $50 value.
    

Reiki Time!

Almost a decade ago, my husband, Mike, was turned on to reiki by a friend of his. He said that over lunch one day, this friend -- Christy -- put her hand over his on the table and said, "Just keep talking, don't pay attention to your hand." At some point during the conversation, Mike began to feel a strange sensation. It was the feeling of a hot, swirling energy on his hand. "It was very distinct," he said. And that got him hooked.

He took a reiki level I class with Christy and started to develop his reiki skill with meditation and focus exercises and practicing healing others. He told me that he had once worked on someone's headache and said that he could sense a "ball of energy" in her head. Experimenting, he began to move his hands around, trying to move the energy ball. He said that it felt like it was moving with his hand, from one side of her head to the other, and then finally, he drew it away and out of her.

When the session was over, she said that her headache was gone. And, although she could not see or feel what Mike's hands had been doing, she commented on how strange it was that the pain was moving around her head before it disappeared. Very interesting!

Over the years, however, Mike lost touch with reiki practice, focusing on other things. Every once in a while he would bring it up to me though, wishing that he hadn't "lost" the power. Then he met Gretchen at work and began talking reiki. She has been practicing for a while now and offered to help Mike rediscover his own power. Mike and I met up with her at a health food store and ate good sandwiches and talked for a long time. Gretchen offered to come to our home and do reiki treatments on us and we took her up on it.

I had a lot of mixed feelings on the sessions. To me, reiki looks like a guided meditation, with movement and proximity guiding the subject's thoughts. If you're not familiar with reiki, it is an ancient healing art originally from Japan. Reiki is said to be universal life force energy that flows in through the crown chakra and out through the healer's palms. So the practice of reiki involves focusing on creating this "flow" and then holding your hands either on or over different parts of the subject's body in an effort to direct healing energy to them.

Reiki disclaimers typically state that reiki is for fun and relaxation, but reiki devotees (and increasingly, medical practitioners) consider it a genuine supplemental medical treatment. And while the benefits of relaxation and meditation are well-documented and support the idea that our emotional states have profound impacts on how well our bodies work, studies done on reiki and other "spiritual healing" arts are showing measurable, physical benefits in laboratory and hospital settings.

There are a number of studies whose results you can find online with various kinds of disease models and different kinds of tests. A good listing of articles can be found here. Several studies use "sham" healers as a placebo group and pit them against reiki masters and measure results. Since people can not tell which are attuned reiki masters and which are just pretending, the fact that the results on the reiki side were better suggests that it's not just a mental benefit. And readings of the biomagnetic fields (essentially our body's natural electricity) has been found to be much stronger around the palms of trained healers than in people who do not practice healing touch.

Gretchen told Mike about a usui reiki healing series of courses held at Lakeland Community College. So we signed up. Last Tuesday we took Reiki I and received our first attunement. On Thursday, Reiki II. After a week's break, we'll be going back for two more classes -- one focusing on chakras (eastern medicine's energy centers of the body) and finally Reiki III, the master class, on July 9.

Adventures in Kittens

Yesterday a client dropping off mentioned that there were some "kittens out there."

"Where?" I asked.

"We saw them as we were driving in," she replied.

She saw three, huddled together, next to the dumpsters, as a matter of fact.

Another client had also spotted them and the two of us managed to wrangle them up. The first was easy to catch. The other two darted back behind the dumpster, amid the piles of smelly things, and it took a few tries to flush them out and capture them. We set them up in a cage at the shop with a mushed dog cookie to nibble on. A little bit later, some of the wait staff from the restaurant caught another one and brought her over, for a total of four.

They are about four, maybe five weeks old. Their eyes are still blue but they have full sets of teeth on board. They were horribly filthy and stained from dumpster diving. And their foraging didn't seem to be very successful -- they were weak and skeletal. But now they've had baths, numerous courses of kitten chow, an amazing number of bowel movements, and a quiet, restful night. Already they're looking stronger and more vibrant.

They're afraid, though not "born in the wild" afraid -- maybe just "not used to much handling" afraid. They have no sign of fleas or upper respiratory infection either, which makes me think they may have been dumped out there rather than having been born out in the woods somewhere. It's all speculation, of course, but the thought of someone dropping off babies like that is intolerable. Even sending them off to certain death at a city pound is a better fate than letting them starve or freeze or be eaten by something in the night on their own. Dumping kittens is pure cowardice, whether they are dropped somewhere remote or somewhere with people. These are domestic animals -- humans bred them to be companions. They are our responsibility.

These babies are another reminder of how important it is to prevent pregnancies and more kittens. I remember reading a statistic somewhere that in order for all the cats in the US to have homes, every single person in the country would have to have seven cats. Not every household, every person, man, woman, and child. For the love of these unwanted babies (and since these will be wanted, will be adopted, will be taken care) for the ones I can't get to, please, spay them all. Neuter them all. There are just too many of them and too few of us. Adopt, always adopt, and always spay and neuter. Each of those single, simple acts by just one person will stop hundreds of thousands of dumped or feral kittens from ever existing. They can't suffer if they are never born. And it's the same for the dogs.

So these little darlings, these lucky few, have names now. From left to right they are Ellipsis, Placid, Rhys, and Wednesday.

Ellipsis is definitely the spitfire. She the dominant one, who charges the food dish and spits and hisses if she feels threatened. Today she realized she likes the fingers that come in and scritch her under her chin and massage her head and hit that elevator butt button. She leaned in and purred. Soon she'll be screaming for her meals and pawing at people for attention like a regular kitten.

Placid is the calm one. She is a lovely tuxedo cat with peaceful eyes. She's much less frightened than the others, more docile and trusting.

Rhys is the only male and if malnutrition doesn't stunt his growth, he's likely to be a big boy. He has big feet with white socks. I can't imagine he'll grow into anything less than a big teddy bear.

Wednesday is the shyest of the bunch and her eyes are ever watchful. She's also a tuxedo, with a nice white blaze on her face and a white belly. Her ears curve a little at the top, giving her an almost cartoonish appearance. She's likely to be one of your stereotypical aloof cats when she matures, mysterious and watchful. She'll be the perfect lady for someone who loves a more independent personality.

Of course these are just first impressions and although I've seen many many kittens grow up, they usually have some surprises in store as their personalities solidify. I expect them to relax soon -- within a week, if not in a few days -- and start playing and wanting to cuddle like average, well-adjusted kittens. I'll probably miss these days then, because they're nice and quiet and calm right now!

They'll be seeing a vet soon and I will definitely be asking my rescue contacts about a vet who does early spaying and neutering. They're probably too thin just yet, but they'll be ready for new homes in a few weeks, I should think. Anyone in the area who's been thinking about growing their feline family, please contact me at the shop! I'll be asking an adoption fee to cover vet expenses and of course I will be looking for good, responsible homes for them.