There is one ball Lilly loves more than any other toy in her sizeable toy basket. I had to teach her to love the ball, but once I did, there was no going back. I now use it to train her to play with new toys or to do agility (at home). Tug on the rope, get the ball as reward, for example. Or, if she’s learning something hard, we’ll take a break and play. However, she gets food rewards when she’s learning something new or when she’s working in public because the ball doesn’t cut it when Lilly feels nervous. She won’t play … at all. And, that fact blows a big hole in the make all learning like play theory (at least now that we’re already in trouble).
I thought perhaps it was one of Lilly’s many oddities, but there’s research that shows fearful animals do not, will not, simply cannot play.
In “Animals in Translation,” Temple Grandin writes about lab rats immediately ceasing play when they smell a cat, even if they’ve never seen a cat. On page 207, she says, “Since frightened animals don’t play, that’s a good
indication those rats are afraid.”
learning and behavior comes from lab rats, you have to wonder how much of that
knowledge came from terrified rats. This is an extremely important question, because learning done in a state of fear is different from learning done in a state
of calm.”
That explains why sometimes it feels like I’m training two different dogs — the calm one and the fearful one.
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