jorats said:
Yes, you can teach social skills!!! Each time Rocko goes near the boys but chooses to turn away, click with your tongue and give a small treat. Do that each time he chooses not to go near their face to nip.
oh wow, I didn't think it could be done!
and it turns out, I've been doing it without even realizing it- I can't do clicker training- it would require me think and react quickly in a way that does not come naturally to me
(just thinking and reacting normally is difficult for me :lol: )
BUT! all 3 boys do listen and react if I tell them NO (I just blurt that one out if they are about to do something like, bite the extension cord :shock: )
they will stop and run off to do something different, or run over to me for comforting if my No sounded more angry than insistent :giggle: :cuddle:
I also praise Rocko any time he's gentle with the other boys and I praise Dre and Norry when they are being brave around Rocko
I pet all 3 and I say to Rocko, "love the boys, love the boys" when he is approaching them (at the same time I'm stroking Dre and Norry to show him that I love them, then if he's not on alert, I'll stroke him too)
I didn't think this would do a whole lot, but it turns out they listen.
the intro sessions tonight are hard to describe. Everything happened in slow motion, almost.
I went to grab my camera to get a video but I'd forgotten to put the media card back in it! :wallbang:
There were so many things that happened that I don't know how to interpret, but my overall feeling from what I was seeing them do, was that Rocko had gained some respect for Norry and Dre and what they could potentially do to him, if he got too rough.
It's like he finally realized they are rats too, with the same defenses, and if he pushes it too far, he might have to deal with some unpleasantness himself.
at first, I had them on the floor in a small coroplast pen. they had a plate of baby food cereal with fruit, and they all ate from the same plate right away. :joy:
that's a first, usually only Rocko eats and the other two huddle
Rocko did press against Norry at one point, just sat beside him pressing into him but Norry didn't yield and nothing bad came of that.
after eating they all tried to find a way out of the pen :lol:
there was a great deal of peeing, mostly on the floor and not each other
there were several times when all 3 boys huddled together.
there were several
very slow and careful face offs between Norry and Rocko.
Rocko would push himself under Norry, Norry would stand up in the position to box,
Rocko would either keep sniffing Norry's belly or nether bits, or he'd stand up in boxing position, but keeping his paws relatively low.
Norry would do a bit of very half hearted slapping at Rocko if he got up in his face too close, and maybe Rocko would lightly slap back or maybe not.
It was the strangest thing.
all in slow motion, and now sometimes ROCKO will squint his eyes like he's afraid something bad might happen, instead of Norry being the one to always have the half closed eyes.
To me, I was seeing two boys with out any animosity towards each other, trying to find a way to settle things as peacefully as possible.
at one point, Rocko had Norry in a corner, and he put his hands on Norry's chest or shoulders - in about the least aggressive manner you could imagine.
Norry just backed up so much that he was leaning into the corner of the pen, then he
very slowly slid down on his back til he was almost laying down and Rocko didn't do anything at all. Just let him slide on down. Rocko no longer had his paws on him as Norry had slipped down out of reach.
while this is happening, Dre has mustered up his courage and he is sliding along, low to the floor, on his belly, towards Norry and Rocko. Occasionally his tail would twitch, like he was almost wagging it! I have never seen him do that before.
I have no idea what his intentions were, and apparently neither did Rocko
because he got down on all fours and then decided it was time to groom himself, while Norry very slowly flipped himself over off his back onto his feet and then he huddled up with Dre
Rocko came and huddled with them.
at this point I was like, I really don't understand what all is going on here, but it seems unlikely that anyone is going to get hurt. They are all moving so slowly and carefully, that I decided it was time to "rip the band-aid off" and I opened up the pen and let all three of them have the whole room.
It went incredibly well. Only lasted about 15mins. Rocko did some pushing against Norry, but any time they came face to face and stood up as if to box, Dre would come over and they'd all go back to exploring.
Dre never did anything, he just came over as if to say, that's my brudder, don't mess with him. at the same time, I was telling Rocko "love the boys, love the boys"
and every time nothing violent happened I praised them all.
after a few times of Norry and Dre not backing down, I think Rocko got a bit nervous (and possibly overwhelmed) and he came over to me and hid in my shirt! :lol: :heart:
I asked him if he wanted to go home and he reached up in the direction of the cage, and I moved toward the open door and he leaped inside!
I don't know what all this means, exactly, but I am going to do the next session the same way, except that I"ll block off the cage so no one can get under it, and take a few things out of my way in case I need to get to them quickly.
I'll try to remember to put the media card back in the camera but will have to set it up and not hold it, so my hands are free just in case someone needs a time out.
I'm very encouraged by today's session.I think I will continue to take advantage of the fact that all three want to please me, or so it seems, and just give liberal praise when things go well, and scold them if they get too rowdy.
