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Updated: Feb 7th, 2008 - 19:12:52 |
Before I begin, let me just preface this article with a personal note: I am in no way advocating animal testing. I'm not suggesting that your child perform some "Frankenweenie" style surgery on Fluffy or feed him an all-brown sugar diet to see if he can get Spike's blood sugar higher than the contents of a Pixie Stick. I find the thought of kids hurting animals for school projects completely atrocious. Conversely, I am not suggesting that you allow your dog to do your child's homework for her. This always ends badly for everyone involved.
As the dreaded science project season approaches, so does the panic that comes with trying to conjure up a project that earns a good grade while not being painfully boring. If you have been reading this column at all lately, you already know who I am going to suggest you call on for help: Mr. Fun, your four legged friend who knows how to inject a sense of play into any situation. So, here are a few fun ideas with which your dog can help:
Operant Conditioning: Using a clicker and treats, demonstrate how your dog can learn to perform a behavior on command. For a more in-depth project, show several different ways you can use operant conditioning to get your dog to respond to a command. There are different ways to show that your dog can be enticed into performing a behavior by equating that behavior with a reward:
- Clicking when you "capture" a behavior your dog does on his own, such as yawn.
- Luring the dog by having him follow a treat with his nose while you direct him toward the desired behavior, such as sitting or lying down.
- Targeting by teaching the dog to touch a paper dot, then placing the dot on another object to evoke the desired behavior, such as rolling a ball with his nose.
The following web sites may be helpful in developing your project: www.clickertraining.com and www.wagntrain.com/OC/.
Of course, your dog doesn't need to attend the science fair - you can display photos of the training process instead.
Nature Walk With a Twist: This one works best on long or medium haired dogs but any dog will do. Take your dog on an exuberant walk through the woods. This is one time when it's okay for your dog to play hard and get dirty. When you arrive at home, have him sit on some spread out newspapers while you inspect, comb, and brush through his fur to see what types of plant material he's collected. You may find bits of grasses, seed pods or even squished berries. Identify and record what you find. Discuss how plants use animals to help them spread their shoots and seeds.
Pet Therapy: How about taking your dog to visit various friends and neighbors. First, take the person's blood pressure after ten minutes of sitting with you in the room. Talking is allowed; just no getting up! Then, bring the dog in and have your friend pet and interact with the dog for ten minutes. Again, getting up (or rough play) is not allowed so that exercise doesn't skew the results. Take your friend's blood pressure again and record the results. Don't forget to have a "control"
visit as well with each person, when you sit with them for ten minutes, take their blood pressure, then do the same for ten minutes and take their blood pressure again, instead of bringing in the dog for petting.
With a bit of thought and creativity, your dog can participate in more areas of your life than you may have thought possible. Helping with homework is just one way to keep your dog engaged in family life while strengthening the bond you share. Introducing new activities can stave off canine depression and human stress. Don't believe me? Try experiment number three and see for yourself.
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