Most of us have experiences the mornings when it just would have been better to stay in bed, pull the blanket over us and get buried in the warmth of the bed.
I just recently experiences one of those days; I got up and while I was doing my breakfast I happened to dropped an almost full carton of milk on the floor just to find out later, after cleaning the kitchen floor, that the other carton I had was out of date and soured in my coffee.
- Sometimes it just feels that we're not meant for success. -
Spilling the milk vs animal training
Spilling milk on the floor does not have anything to do with animal care or training - except that my cat got pretty curious and came to see how I am doing with the mess. Fortunately it was not too keen on milk and passed my "service". This was actually the first delight on my day; On the contrary to an old belief that cat should be given milk - we should avoid it. Most of adult cats are lactose intolerant as they don't posses the lactose enzyme in their intestine to digest the sugar in the milk. Drinking milk can make them feel unwell - at least in greater volume, it can cause vomiting, diarrhea and stomach pain - like it does to some of us humans.
When things go wrong
Note I am not saying that if things will go wrong when we are spending time with our animals - but my wording is "when they do". It is inevitable that at some point of our journey with animals - things or training, the life together is not hitting A+ (or to us Skandinavian 10+)
What do we learn, when making a mistake?
Making the mistake is not the end of the world. Being a parent I do know this sometimes too well; via my mistakes but also of the ones my children are doing. Fortunately this world was not made to be perfect - so making mistakes is very much ok.
Doing thing wrong is actually something that is in the very core of learning. Getting negative feedback (reinforcement or punishment) does regulate and form our future behavior or thinking as it does with animals too.
If we think for a moment how things are set in the wildlife; the strongest and smartest will survive. The answer to this lies in making mistakes and through learning process via those experiences; getting "smarter" by not always being perfect hunter or by not being the best in foraging generates each individuals innate talents to a completely different "higher" level. For the wild animal populations & individuals life is not linearly successful. Success does of course plays a major factor in getting positive experiences and those will sharpen one's behavioral skills. Positive reinforcement is the one factor we want to uphold in the daily life and behavior management with the animals under our care.
The morning when my milk was spilled on the floor didn't really give the best vibes to start a day but at the same time it didn't mean I couldn't be successful in some other task. I guess my point is that getting stuck in training sequence or making sometimes major mistakes does not mean that we couldn't achieve the ultimate goal at some point, we just may have another unexpected twist on the way to reach our destination.
All the roads lead to Rome.
Being creative is one talent we as animal trainers do need quite frequently. I've faced this kind of situation so many times; But remember there is more than one way to achieve your behavior management goals. If one way of thinking is for any reason blogged - find another way. Take a look at your situation either a bit further apart or get in closer and try to find out triggers or reasons why the one (method) you used is not working. What are the reinforcements in the environment which are guiding the animal behavior to it's current path.
If there's will there's a way.
These are famous proverbs know by most of us. So finding a new way to our ultimate goal is nothing new. Sometimes when things just hit the wall - so to speak, we tend to give up. Seems like there wouldn't be any way further. In case this may happen several times there is a possibility that we - animal owners, trainers, keepers - may also learn a very unwanted behavioral form called learned helplessness.
In such case we start to think that this is how it is and instead of trying to find some new innovative solution to the situation - we are gradually starting to accept the way of incorrect behavior. as normal. You may hear something like; "Well she/he is always like that." or "He/she has done it this way since I can remember." - At that point it could be wise to sharpen a bit of your memory! There must have been some triggers which have affected the behavior in some way, reinforcing the animal to perform them as they are now.
Learned helplessness is just a painted cattle guard in our way of getting further with our training.
Cattle guards, also know as cattle grids, are structures placed in the ground in order to prevent livestock from escaping a closed piece of land or border.
A link to further info on cattle guard:
http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.fol.005
Another trap we may fall into in this kind of situations is self fulfilling prophecy.
By saying kind of sentences described earlier in this text is not fair for the animals under our care. We should be enablers - not excluder for the success of it's behavioral progress. When we are expressing ourselves with negative expressions like - It's not gonna work, we are actually expressing a "prophecy" for our failure.
- Be optimistic and creative with your behavior management with animals under your care. -
Conclusion:
"If life gives you lemons - make lemonade."
Cheers
- Kai -
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