Final Reflection

I enjoyed the training experience more than I thought I would. I was surprised by how quickly I became attached to Nicky and how much I wanted her to succeed, as if she was my child and I was an overbearing parent. I enjoyed seeing how Nicky progressed from one training schedule to the next and I liked how Nicky’s behavior was so moldable by our reward system. The only think I wish was different about the project was that we had a little more time to try and shape Nicky’s behavior so that we could have tried some more complex reward schedules. The most surprising part of the project was how quickly Nicky’s behavior could change. We went from taking three days to learn shaping to learning FR-1, FR-2, and FR-3 in the same amount of time. I did not realize that Nicky could struggle so much to learn to press the bar, but then learn different reinforcement schedules quickly. One misconception that I overcame during the project was my feelings towards rats. Most people think rats are dirty animals, but our rats were clean and Nicky even began to form a relationship with Olivia and I. Overall, I enjoyed the experience and I am looking forward to our next project where I hope to train Breesy, my black lab.