Tag Archives: know thy pet

Modifying Behavior-Lesson 2: Trial and Error

The first lesson in learning to modify behavior was getting to “know thy pet”. Which I tried to better explain in What it Means to Know Thy Pet. To illustrate both Lesson 1 and this next lesson, I’m going to use the example of an unwanted behavior I had to deal with last year: Tabby banging on the blinds. Step 1: Applying Lesson 1 – Why the Blind Bashing Ceremony? No one likes to be awoken in the wee hours by a cat determined to figure out how to make it past the blinds blocking her view out the window. … Continue reading →

Modifying Behavior: What it Means to “Know Thy Pet”

In Modifying Behavior-Lesson 1: Know Thy Pet I proposed you have to first be able to “read” your pet before you can modify their behavior. I suggested trying to understand why your pet’s acting a certain way so that you may better assess how you can change the unwanted behavior. I’m not sure I did a very good job explaining myself. But today in my quest to learn about deaf dogs for my friend Lyn, I ran across the most brilliant quote. In order to really enjoy a dog, one doesn’t merely train him to be semi-human. The point of … Continue reading →