Hello. It's Belinda.
First a little “hay business.”
Have you checked out the harvest sale?
It’s a great time to stock up on hay. For example gourmet hay. If you haven’t tried it all l I can say is “wow.” Give the link a click.
Speaking of click. That brings us to this week’s topic.
Clicker training again.
Two weeks ago, when my roommate got the “bright idea” to train me using a ballpoint pen, I just ignored her.
After a few days she stopped “loitering” by the dryer and clicking the pen at me.
I thought that was the end of it. But she found a new student.
It all started Wednesday around noon. I was under the utility sink, working on my harvest hay sale reports.
Suddenly I heard my roommate walking down the steps to the bottom level.
Usually that means she’s going to start opening and closing the dryer door or sweeping the floor. Which is distracting when I’m trying to concentrate.
I turned my back to show her I was busy. “Too busy for chit chat.”
Then I heard it.
Click!
The pen. You have to be kidding me. I’m trying to work on my--
“Way to go!”
Oh good. She wasn't pestering me.
She was talking to my boyfriend’s companion, also known as Little Fang.
Then again.
Click!
“Yay! Good job!”
I heard a crunch. Little Fang was chewing something.
A few moments passed.
Click!
“Nice! Here’s your treat!”
I couldn’t take it. I turned so I could see them.
My roommate was leaning over the exercise pen, looking down at Little Fang. She held the “clicker” in her left hand.
In her right hand, she held a small box. I couldn’t see the label.
They didn’t notice me watching.
My roommate pressed on the ballpoint pen.
Click!
I am telling you the truth when I say Little Fang did not do anything special. Not a flip or a roll.
She just stood in one place like usual. Looking up at the box my roommate was holding.
“Excellent!” said my roommate.
She reached into the box. She broke something into pieces.
And she gave Little Fang a treat.
First of all, that’s not how clicker training works. That’s not how it works at all.
You’re supposed to perform a stunt or a trick. Then you get a reward.
Little Fang was faking it. I don’t know what she was faking but I know what I saw.
Also, that box looked familiar. It looked like a box of Country Loops.
Everyone knows how I feel about loops.
So there you have it. My day at the “office” on Wednesday.
Sitting in the shadows under the utility sink trying to work. While across the room my roommate hands out Country Loops like Halloween candy. That “takes the cake” if you know what I mean.
Even after my roommate walked back upstairs to watch her shows, I kept thinking about it. The entire situation was very distracting. “To put it mildly.”
I would do almost anything for loops.
But I’m not going to attend a “clicker training class.”
Even if the stunts are fake.
Sincerely,
Belinda
Spokesrabbit, Small Pet Select
Belinda@smallpetselect.com
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