If you have been following along you must know that this is Suze:
And this is Todd:
You may also remember that only one of them is getting trained, despite my best efforts. Todd has been way more receptive to my attempts at training, and is starting to know the deal every time I pull out the clicker. He knows that the clicker means treats. That is about all he knows at the moment (even though we have been at this for a month), but it is more than I can say for Suze. She runs away every time I grab the clicker and hides beneath the couch – even though she is a pig and extremely food motivated. It has been interesting doing this experiment and seeing the outcomes that I have and seeing how this totally tracks with their personalities. Todd is more confident and outgoing; he is wary but quickly sees what he gets out of a situation and faces his suspicions. Suze on the other hand is painfully shy, anxious, untrusting, and in flight mode at all times. This doesn’t mean that she can’t relax and let her guard down, or that Todd won’t run at a moment’s notice, but it is interesting to see how these characteristics are influencing them in their training. I am doing something out of the norm and they are reacting to it.
Now, I could go on and on about my cat’s personalities. Believe me, I have before. But what I find even more interesting than my cats is how I can use them as a template to engage with students with different personalities and triggers. Obviously I cannot teach Todd and Suze the same thing the same way. It hasn’t worked so far and I doubt it ever will. In a classroom this situation is going to come up time and time again. I am going to have to find ways to teach all my students and meet them where they are at. I don’t have the answer for how to do that with my cats yet, but I think I am starting to learn this with my future students. I am excited to see if I can apply multi-modalities and IEPs to my cats. Stay tuned.
