Category: Fun Stuff ¤
  Author: Debi Davis ¤
   Title: Who's Training Whom? ¤

Ahhh, shaping thunderstorm behaviors. I once had a Border Collie (25 years
ago, waaaay pre-OC) who I thought was absolutely terrified during storms.
He's do the armpit crawl on me, whine, eyes all rheumy looking, the shakes,
became agressive toward the other dogs.  This all happened each time a
storm hit when I was around. So, being the good pet owner I was, I held him
close, soothed his "fears", and verrrrry effectively reinforced the
behavior.

One day I'm in the bathroom dressing for a date, and a storm hits. My date
comes to the door, I holler out, "Come on in!", and continued on with my
primping.

I roll out of the bathroom to the thunderous claps outside the window,
which shook the glasses in the cupboard and sent lightening flashes like
strobe lights around the house.

There, in the center of the living room, oblivious to the storm, is my 14
year-old BC, happily playing Frisbee with my date! He sees me, and
IMMEDIATELY goes into his terrified behavior patterns, obviously knowing
this is what I always want from him when a storm hits. DUHHHHH! My first
lesson in OC, and I didn't even know I was learning it back then.

Deb Davis
Tucson, AZ