[Cherubim]

Squeakers is my shoulder rat. He'll stay on there. Except he does get startled from loud noises. But of he gets startled, he'll run down my shirt. Otherwise he will sit on my shoulder until I pick him up and put him down somewhere. He also comes when I call him and taught himself to jump onto my shoulder when I tap on it. The others however won't sit on my shoulder. However.. Cookie does. But only until he gets extremely bored.

 

[Rat Daddy]

You guys are really scaring me!

I posted a map of what a safe training site should look like. In my case it's 39 acres of lawn and small bushes and trees, two giant gazebos and low stone walls, surrounded by deep broad waters on 3 sides. It even has an outdoor shower for emergency rat cooling if it gets too hot. There's a picnic area with tables and a kiddie playground for practice meet and greets and lots of room to roam and play unmolested. And there's a nearby dog park so there are practically no dogs at my safe site. And the park police are completely rat friendly.

Absolutely no one should be trying to train a shoulder rat anywhere other than a safe site. What your rat does indoors is irrelevant to what it will do in the great outdoors. And your backyard (unless you live on an estate or farm) is too small to work safely with a young, fast and healthy rat.

Before this conversation goes any farther and moves into the "over the rainbow bridge" part of this forum... I seriously want to hear something about the safe sites you have explored, perhaps even see a few photos and give you a few pointers.

Think about it, you wouldn't mistreat your rats indoors. But if you screw up in the outdoors you absolutely will get them killed. And it will happen quickly and unexpectedly if you and your rat are not properly trained to handle various outdoor situations. And the only place to safely learn is at a safe site.

So get out there, check your local parks, municipal complexes, ball fields, cemeteries and corporate centers. Look for places where you can safely work with your rats and they can't panic and run away. Imagine the worst case scenario that can happen there and when you can't think of one you can't handle you have found your safe site. Put as much care into your safe site selection as you put into picking your rats food or cage. If you feed your rat an inferior diet or keep him in the wrong cage, you won't likely kill him, if you choose the wrong place to work with your rat outdoors and something goes wrong, you will.

So if you can't get away from your PC take your smart phone along and keep in touch with Rat Forum that way, but get out and find your safe site before you get stuck on a bad plan that will kill your rats. Or keep your rats indoors where they are safe.

I don't want to sound harsh... but please keep in mind who's giving you this advise. I've been there and I've done everything you're thinking of doing and I know where you will screw up and I know how *not* to get your rats killed.

The best I can promise you is better than fair chance of success, no guarantees... Much will still depend on your rat and your good judgment. But if you skip the safe site, I can almost guarantee you will come home ratless one day.

So, before we continue with this topic, I want to hear about some safe sites you have chosen. It's the weekend and spring is coming.... Now go! Disburse! Explore! Seek and find your safe sites!

Then I'll help you to train your shoulder rats and learn the craft of safe shoulder ratting.

 

[Ruka]

You guys are really scaring me!

I posted a map of what a safe training site should look like. In my case it's 39 acres of lawn and small bushes and trees, two giant gazebos and low stone walls, surrounded by deep broad waters on 3 sides. It even has an outdoor shower for emergency rat cooling if it gets too hot. There's a picnic area with tables and a kiddie playground for practice meet and greets and lots of room to roam and play unmolested. And there's a nearby dog park so there are practically no dogs at my safe site. And the park police are completely rat friendly.

Absolutely no one should be trying to train a shoulder rat anywhere other than a safe site. What your rat does indoors is irrelevant to what it will do in the great outdoors. And your backyard (unless you live on an estate or farm) is too small to work safely with a young, fast and healthy rat.

Before this conversation goes any farther and moves into the "over the rainbow bridge" part of this forum... I seriously want to hear something about the safe sites you have explored, perhaps even see a few photos and give you a few pointers.

Think about it, you wouldn't mistreat your rats indoors. But if you screw up in the outdoors you absolutely will get them killed. And it will happen quickly and unexpectedly if you and your rat are not properly trained to handle various outdoor situations. And the only place to safely learn is at a safe site.

So get out there, check your local parks, municipal complexes, ball fields, cemeteries and corporate centers. Look for places where you can safely work with your rats and they can't panic and run away. Imagine the worst case scenario that can happen there and when you can't think of one you can't handle you have found your safe site. Put as much care into your safe site selection as you put into picking your rats food or cage. If you feed your rat an inferior diet or keep him in the wrong cage, you won't likely kill him, if you choose the wrong place to work with your rat outdoors and something goes wrong, you will.

So if you can't get away from your PC take your smart phone along and keep in touch with Rat Forum that way, but get out and find your safe site before you get stuck on a bad plan that will kill your rats. Or keep your rats indoors where they are safe.

I don't want to sound harsh... but please keep in mind who's giving you this advise. I've been there and I've done everything you're thinking of doing and I know where you will screw up and I know how *not* to get your rats killed.

The best I can promise you is better than fair chance of success, no guarantees... Much will still depend on your rat and your good judgment. But if you skip the safe site, I can almost guarantee you will come home ratless one day.

So, before we continue with this topic, I want to hear about some safe sites you have chosen. It's the weekend and spring is coming.... Now go! Disburse! Explore! Seek and find your safe sites!

Then I'll help you to train your shoulder rats and learn the craft of safe shoulder ratting.

Rat Daddy, about the walk I took, it was just into my backyard on my shoulders to see if he was okay being outside before finding a safe zone or containing on with his training.

Don't worry, I've read your other thread and want to follow your advice to the letter. I know it's dangerous and I want to do everything in my power to learn how to do it properly, and how to keep my rat safe as possible.

I have a safe site in mind, here's an overview photo.

We have snow right now, it's melting, but there's still too much to really show my safe site.

So, here's some google image photos of the giant park near my house.

It's big, and open in some spaces, but has picnic tables, and a children's park. Is got trees, and is only about two minutes walking distance away from my house. There are some dogs that come walking through, my city has a strict leash law and I plan to keep an eye out for unleashed dogs as well.

How's it look? I won't be officially training him until the snow is gone anyways.


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[Rat Daddy]

Wow that's terrific! I absolutely love it! It will be absolutely perfect...

You are going to have so much fun.

So now here's a few pointers to make things even better for you...

Start working under one of those small pine trees, if you rat panics he'll run under the tree not dash across the open field, it will save you lots of running and make him feel more secure. Rats instinctively hate wide open spaces. And by the way, he'll no doubt get a kick out of climbing around in the tree. Check the area for holes and mushrooms, seal off the holes and pick any mushrooms before you let your rat loose.

There are often hidey holes under kids plastic slides and the outdoor play equipment. Check under the play equipment before letting your rat explore there. It's no problem once your rat is trained, to come, but it's a real bear to dig a panicked rat our from under a plastic slide. Your arms are just barely long enough to touch him, but a fraction of in inch to short to drag him out.

Look around for odd black or metal boxes scattered or situated in out of the way places especially around the kiddie play area... They are rat traps or bait stations and must be avoided at all costs. You don't notice them until you look for them, they are designed to look inconspicuous, but when they contain fresh bait, which they actually rarely do... they can attract your rat like a magnet from quite a distance. Thankfully, most exterminators are lazy and rarely actually bait their rat traps. Killing the local wild rats if bad for business and baiting a trap means actually having to clean them up... But every now and then it happens, so be aware.

Look around and glance upwards regularly, practice it and make it a habit to always keep the big picture in mind. At your safe site you should be able to spot danger on the ground from hundreds of yards away and you should see air borne threats from thousands of yards or even miles away. Any threat you spot way in the distance is one you have lots of time to prepare for and react to calmly and without panic. Don't just look for the dangers you expect, be aware of everything that's there. With practice your reaction time will get really fast and your rat should also become confident and predictable. The look up and around exercise will serve you well when you move away from the safe site. Whenever I walk into a store, or step out of my car, I automatically do a quick scan now, it's just part of the way my eyes move and it keeps my rats safe.

Bring a spray bottle of water with you if it gets hot... 85 degrees is the max your rat can take before it pancakes.

Lastly after your rat gets calm and self assured, beware or any anxious behavior, he smells or senses something you don't see, recall him if he doesn't run to you by himself and stop to patiently look around. Last time Fuzzy Rat freaked out, 10 minutes later a fox strolled right across the parking lot... it was a couple hundred yards away and no threat, but Fuzzy Rats superior sense of smell detected it long before it appeared from the brush and we became aware.

This is a great place for you and your rat to learn and explore and meet folks. If your rat makes it here you will be way better prepared for the next step, if your rat washes out, no harm done.

Great job Ruka! You have found a place where a potential shoulder rat can safely meet the great big world. You are ready to take your rattie outdoors as soon as he knows his name and basic commands and you feel he is well bonded to you. Everyone else should study these photos closely and start looking for their own safe site.

 

[Ruka]

Wow that's terrific! I absolutely love it! It will be absolutely perfect...

You are going to have so much fun.

So now here's a few pointers to make things even better for you...

Start working under one of those small pine trees, if you rat panics he'll run under the tree not dash across the open field, it will save you lots of running and make him feel more secure. Rats instinctively hate wide open spaces. And by the way, he'll no doubt get a kick out of climbing around in the tree. Check the area for holes and mushrooms, seal off the holes and pick any mushrooms before you let your rat loose.

There are often hidey holes under kids plastic slides and the outdoor play equipment. Check under the play equipment before letting your rat explore there. It's no problem once your rat is trained, to come, but it's a real bear to dig a panicked rat our from under a plastic slide. Your arms are just barely long enough to touch him, but a fraction of in inch to short to drag him out.

Look around for odd black or metal boxes scattered or situated in out of the way places especially around the kiddie play area... They are rat traps or bait stations and must be avoided at all costs. You don't notice them until you look for them, they are designed to look inconspicuous, but when they contain fresh bait, which they actually rarely do... they can attract your rat like a magnet from quite a distance. Thankfully, most exterminators are lazy and rarely actually bait their rat traps. Killing the local wild rats if bad for business and baiting a trap means actually having to clean them up... But every now and then it happens, so be aware.

Look around and glance upwards regularly, practice it and make it a habit to always keep the big picture in mind. At your safe site you should be able to spot danger on the ground from hundreds of yards away and you should see air borne threats from thousands of yards or even miles away. Any threat you spot way in the distance is one you have lots of time to prepare for and react to calmly and without panic. Don't just look for the dangers you expect, be aware of everything that's there. With practice your reaction time will get really fast and your rat should also become confident and predictable. The look up and around exercise will serve you well when you move away from the safe site. Whenever I walk into a store, or step out of my car, I automatically do a quick scan now, it's just part of the way my eyes move and it keeps my rats safe.

Bring a spray bottle of water with you if it gets hot... 85 degrees is the max your rat can take before it pancakes.

Lastly after your rat gets calm and self assured, beware or any anxious behavior, he smells or senses something you don't see, recall him if he doesn't run to you by himself and stop to patiently look around. Last time Fuzzy Rat freaked out, 10 minutes later a fox strolled right across the parking lot... it was a couple hundred yards away and no threat, but Fuzzy Rats superior sense of smell detected it long before it appeared from the brush and we became aware.

This is a great place for you and your rat to learn and explore and meet folks. If your rat makes it here you will be way better prepared for the next step, if your rat washes out, no harm done.

Great job Ruka! You have found a place where a potential shoulder rat can safely meet the great big world. You are ready to take your rattie outdoors as soon as he knows his name and basic commands and you feel he is well bonded to you. Everyone else should study these photos closely and start looking for their own safe site.

Okay, I can do that all.

Is there any trick to teaching a rat their name quickly? All my rats except for Voda know their names, but oh my gosh, it took forever.... There's got to be a better way.


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[Rat Daddy]

Rats don't understand close enough... or similar sounds. Fuzzy Rat responds to Fuzzy Rat, not Fuzz, Fuzzy, FB or Fuzz Buster or even big fat tail dragger.

His name is Voda, so you always call him Voda and every time you talk to him you address him with his his name... as in Hi Voda, Come Here Voda, Up on hand Voda, I have a treat for you Voda, here Voda etc. When you pick him up you say up Voda. Don't forget Good Voda, treat Voda, come for treat Voda, Your my Voda. He should learn his name in about one to three days. After you repeat it about 10,000 times.

Voda is listening to you and he's watching you and he is trying very hard to make sense out of those strange noises you are making. Rat brains don't associate similar sounds so Voda and Voder and Vodette are different sounds and might have different meainings. So be very precise when you pronounce his name each time.

I have a joke I use with my daughter... A normal rat will learn between 6 and 12 human words be careful what words you teach them. Also words like "treat" with multiple meanings are hard for rats.... One time "treat" means apple pie, another time it's a cookie. Rats have trouble dealing with groupings that are easy for us to understand. One word needs to have one precise meaning every time.

With Amelia, when I call her "up on hand"... she wants my left hand not my right. If I offer her my right... she gets all confused. It's like she's saying that's not hand, the one over there is hand. Rats brains are very precisely wired there's little room for the kind of fuzzy thinking humans do. Words like chair, coat, pants, carpet can apply to a wide variety of things in human language. If a rat learns chair... there's only one chair, the one you taught him and therefore everything else you sit on must have it's own name too, but certainly not "chair".

I know it sounds strange that rats don't group things like humans, we are actually taught to make groups in school, (remember the worksheets teachers handed out that said circle every thing that's blue), but imagine how great it is that they can learn the meaning of human words at all.

Training a rat is a matter of communicating in a way he understands. Once he gets it, he's got it... Also watch him closely, he's trying to communicate with you... remember in his language his gestures will be very specific and he will most likely repeat them over and over until you get it.

Fuzzy Rat spent a great deal of time teaching me basic rat, she was stubborn and just kept repeating herself until I got the message, and if I did what she wanted I got licked. She was really training me, while I was training her. Amelia was neglected, she tries to communicate sometimes, but she pretty much expects that no one cares or understands so she doesn't try very hard. Oddly enough, if I yell at Amelia she comes right up to me, normal rats like Fuzzy Rat dive for cover. I don't know how that got screwed up.

Good luck Voda should know is name within the next few days... start testing him with Voda up on hand and Voda come etc.

 

[Ruka]

Rats don't understand close enough... or similar sounds. Fuzzy Rat responds to Fuzzy Rat, not Fuzz, Fuzzy, FB or Fuzz Buster or even big fat tail dragger.

His name is Voda, so you always call him Voda and every time you talk to him you address him with his his name... as in Hi Voda, Come Here Voda, Up on hand Voda, I have a treat for you Voda, here Voda etc. When you pick him up you say up Voda. Don't forget Good Voda, treat Voda, come for treat Voda, Your my Voda. He should learn his name in about one to three days. After you repeat it about 10,000 times.

Voda is listening to you and he's watching you and he is trying very hard to make sense out of those strange noises you are making. Rat brains don't associate similar sounds so Voda and Voder and Vodette are different sounds and might have different meainings. So be very precise when you pronounce his name each time.

I have a joke I use with my daughter... A normal rat will learn between 6 and 12 human words be careful what words you teach them. Also words like "treat" with multiple meanings are hard for rats.... One time "treat" means apple pie, another time it's a cookie. Rats have trouble dealing with groupings that are easy for us to understand. One word needs to have one precise meaning every time.

With Amelia, when I call her "up on hand"... she wants my left hand not my right. If I offer her my right... she gets all confused. It's like she's saying that's not hand, the one over there is hand. Rats brains are very precisely wired there's little room for the kind of fuzzy thinking humans do. Words like chair, coat, pants, carpet can apply to a wide variety of things in human language. If a rat learns chair... there's only one chair, the one you taught him and therefore everything else you sit on must have it's own name too, but certainly not "chair".

I know it sounds strange that rats don't group things like humans, we are actually taught to make groups in school, (remember the worksheets teachers handed out that said circle every thing that's blue), but imagine how great it is that they can learn the meaning of human words at all.

Training a rat is a matter of communicating in a way he understands. Once he gets it, he's got it... Also watch him closely, he's trying to communicate with you... remember in his language his gestures will be very specific and he will most likely repeat them over and over until you get it.

Fuzzy Rat spent a great deal of time teaching me basic rat, she was stubborn and just kept repeating herself until I got the message, and if I did what she wanted I got licked. She was really training me, while I was training her. Amelia was neglected, she tries to communicate sometimes, but she pretty much expects that no one cares or understands so she doesn't try very hard. Oddly enough, if I yell at Amelia she comes right up to me, normal rats like Fuzzy Rat dive for cover. I don't know how that got screwed up.

Good luck Voda should know is name within the next few days... start testing him with Voda up on hand and Voda come etc.

Gotcha, I will make sure to let everyone here know once he has mastered his name.


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[Rumy91989]

Rats don't understand close enough... or similar sounds. Fuzzy Rat responds to Fuzzy Rat, not Fuzz, Fuzzy, FB or Fuzz Buster or even big fat tail dragger.

His name is Voda, so you always call him Voda and every time you talk to him you address him with his his name... as in Hi Voda, Come Here Voda, Up on hand Voda, I have a treat for you Voda, here Voda etc. When you pick him up you say up Voda. Don't forget Good Voda, treat Voda, come for treat Voda, Your my Voda. He should learn his name in about one to three days. After you repeat it about 10,000 times.

Voda is listening to you and he's watching you and he is trying very hard to make sense out of those strange noises you are making. Rat brains don't associate similar sounds so Voda and Voder and Vodette are different sounds and might have different meainings. So be very precise when you pronounce his name each time.

I have a joke I use with my daughter... A normal rat will learn between 6 and 12 human words be careful what words you teach them. Also words like "treat" with multiple meanings are hard for rats.... One time "treat" means apple pie, another time it's a cookie. Rats have trouble dealing with groupings that are easy for us to understand. One word needs to have one precise meaning every time.

With Amelia, when I call her "up on hand"... she wants my left hand not my right. If I offer her my right... she gets all confused. It's like she's saying that's not hand, the one over there is hand. Rats brains are very precisely wired there's little room for the kind of fuzzy thinking humans do. Words like chair, coat, pants, carpet can apply to a wide variety of things in human language. If a rat learns chair... there's only one chair, the one you taught him and therefore everything else you sit on must have it's own name too, but certainly not "chair".

I know it sounds strange that rats don't group things like humans, we are actually taught to make groups in school, (remember the worksheets teachers handed out that said circle every thing that's blue), but imagine how great it is that they can learn the meaning of human words at all.

Training a rat is a matter of communicating in a way he understands. Once he gets it, he's got it... Also watch him closely, he's trying to communicate with you... remember in his language his gestures will be very specific and he will most likely repeat them over and over until you get it.

Fuzzy Rat spent a great deal of time teaching me basic rat, she was stubborn and just kept repeating herself until I got the message, and if I did what she wanted I got licked. She was really training me, while I was training her. Amelia was neglected, she tries to communicate sometimes, but she pretty much expects that no one cares or understands so she doesn't try very hard. Oddly enough, if I yell at Amelia she comes right up to me, normal rats like Fuzzy Rat dive for cover. I don't know how that got screwed up.

Good luck Voda should know is name within the next few days... start testing him with Voda up on hand and Voda come etc.

This explains so much! I don't plan to train my gals to be shoulder rats as a) I can't think of a safe space to practice, b) my most inquisitive girls are also not super well behaved, and c) all of my rats look very much like rats. But I have about a 60/40% success rate with their names and I was trying to figure it out... it's because they have nicknames and I don't distinguish between them when I'm addressing them. I'll work on fixing that. Thank you!

 

[Ruka]

Okay, so I think Voda is learning his name pretty well now. What's the next step?

Rat Daddy, you are the expert here. Do I train him to come to me like you would a dog? With a treat and a call?


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[Cherubim]

Squeakers knows his name because everytime I'd take him out I'd be like "Squeeaaaakersss" in a high pitched voice. Don't even ask. That's how we've always called him and he comes when we do that now. Just keep saying his/her name "Voda" and she/he'll come with lots of praise and treats. That's how I trained my boy anyway..

 

[Rat Daddy]

Actually rats like to come to you and be with you and they usually really appreciate skritches, so you don't need lots of treats. They won't hurt until Voda gets the idea. My rats love to hear "good girl" They pretty much respond to good girl just like a puppy would. I associate good girl with skritches and hugs and treats until they understand that I'm really happy when I say it.

When you are out and about with your shoulder rat you may not have treats handy, so try to associate good behavior with love more than food. Now Fuzzy Rat knows the difference, and if she doesn't want to come to me indoors she insists on being bribed with treats, Amelia just wants to know that I'm not mad at her so good girl tells her she's going to get hugs etc.


Outdoors, Fuzzy Rat follows commands pretty well, she knows the great outdoors are dangerous and usually responds pretty quickly, whereas indoors I'm just being a spoilsport.

So use precise commands and happy words to reinforce them and treats to back up both only if needed.

You should be about ready to take Voda to the safe site now. Pick out your small pine tree as far away from any other hiding places and spread your blanket. Then just sit down with Voda and let him start to get the feel of the place.

Your goal is for your rat to stay with you at first, then explore the tree and slowly grow more confident. A shoulder rat in training starts making larger and larger circles with you at the center.

A rat that sticks to you like glue and refuses to explore will be trouble as will be one that bolts and tries to run away. On the up side rats usually only bolt to get under cover and that's why you are close to the tree in the first place. The rat that sticks to you like glue is one panic attack away from being gone. Rats should free range between 10 and 30 feet from you. If your rat keeps making the circles larger and exploring further and further away, they are leaving you. Some rats are just hardwired to leave you, if you know the signs you can stop them, because they just keep stretching the invisible tether... they are about 50 yards away and can't seem to decide which way to go when you call... for sure the next time you take them out they are gone.

If all goes well, Voda will come to you then wander a little, then you can let him climb in the tree and call him and eventually even walk him away from the tree.

Observe and interact, remember you chose this place because it is safe, this is where you want things to go wrong or at least if they do there aren't going to be any consequences. Once Voda gets more at ease you can carry him around on your shoulder and even play tag. The object of the exercise is to experiment here until you really know how he will behave. Half of shoulder rat training is just knowing what your rat is going to do when stressed. The other half is learning to manage things before they get out of hand.

In just a few sessions, you will see Voda either start to evolve into a shoulder rat or not. It really hurts when a rat washes out, but that's part of the plan too. If a rat can't get comfy outdoors this is where you want to find that out. No rat is perfect, but a shoulder rat has to be predictable.

People might notice your rat and they are likely to ask what it is and want to meet Voda, don't approach strangers, let them approach you. Then let Voda meet and greet them. As your promotional rat this will be a big part of his job. And the safe site is a great place to meet a few people at a time, you can usually find more people and kids around the playground so you can get practice with larger crowds. Just beware of toddlers, they seem so cute and interested then suddenly it's squish or splat and toss. A toddler is unpredictable and thereby dangerous by definition.

Well, let me know how your first safe site visit goes, remember if you drive there the parking lot is the most dangerous place, keep him well controlled until you get to your safe shrub or tree and work outward from there.

 

[Ruka]

Actually rats like to come to you and be with you and they usually really appreciate skritches, so you don't need lots of treats. They won't hurt until Voda gets the idea. My rats love to hear "good girl" They pretty much respond to good girl just like a puppy would. I associate good girl with skritches and hugs and treats until they understand that I'm really happy when I say it.

When you are out and about with your shoulder rat you may not have treats handy, so try to associate good behavior with love more than food. Now Fuzzy Rat knows the difference, and if she doesn't want to come to me indoors she insists on being bribed with treats, Amelia just wants to know that I'm not mad at her so good girl tells her she's going to get hugs etc.


Outdoors, Fuzzy Rat follows commands pretty well, she knows the great outdoors are dangerous and usually responds pretty quickly, whereas indoors I'm just being a spoilsport.

So use precise commands and happy words to reinforce them and treats to back up both only if needed.

You should be about ready to take Voda to the safe site now. Pick out your small pine tree as far away from any other hiding places and spread your blanket. Then just sit down with Voda and let him start to get the feel of the place.

Your goal is for your rat to stay with you at first, then explore the tree and slowly grow more confident. A shoulder rat in training starts making larger and larger circles with you at the center.

A rat that sticks to you like glue and refuses to explore will be trouble as will be one that bolts and tries to run away. On the up side rats usually only bolt to get under cover and that's why you are close to the tree in the first place. The rat that sticks to you like glue is one panic attack away from being gone. Rats should free range between 10 and 30 feet from you. If your rat keeps making the circles larger and exploring further and further away, they are leaving you. Some rats are just hardwired to leave you, if you know the signs you can stop them, because they just keep stretching the invisible tether... they are about 50 yards away and can't seem to decide which way to go when you call... for sure the next time you take them out they are gone.

If all goes well, Voda will come to you then wander a little, then you can let him climb in the tree and call him and eventually even walk him away from the tree.

Observe and interact, remember you chose this place because it is safe, this is where you want things to go wrong or at least if they do there aren't going to be any consequences. Once Voda gets more at ease you can carry him around on your shoulder and even play tag. The object of the exercise is to experiment here until you really know how he will behave. Half of shoulder rat training is just knowing what your rat is going to do when stressed. The other half is learning to manage things before they get out of hand.

In just a few sessions, you will see Voda either start to evolve into a shoulder rat or not. It really hurts when a rat washes out, but that's part of the plan too. If a rat can't get comfy outdoors this is where you want to find that out. No rat is perfect, but a shoulder rat has to be predictable.

People might notice your rat and they are likely to ask what it is and want to meet Voda, don't approach strangers, let them approach you. Then let Voda meet and greet them. As your promotional rat this will be a big part of his job. And the safe site is a great place to meet a few people at a time, you can usually find more people and kids around the playground so you can get practice with larger crowds. Just beware of toddlers, they seem so cute and interested then suddenly it's squish or splat and toss. A toddler is unpredictable and thereby dangerous by definition.

Well, let me know how your first safe site visit goes, remember if you drive there the parking lot is the most dangerous place, keep him well controlled until you get to your safe shrub or tree and work outward from there.

Now, if only my safe site was ready for me.... It's still covered in about two feet of snow!!!

It WAS melting, and I mean really, really melting, then it just... Stopped. Oh no..

Okay, so if Voda decides the first time not to go quite that far, is he still a candidate? Or would at be a wash out? I haven't done it yet, so I'm just throwing out possibilities.


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[socal_sarah]

Aww, so my ruby-eyed Garnet isn't a good shoulder rat candidate?

 

[Ruka]

Aww, so my ruby-eyed Garnet isn't a good shoulder rat candidate?

What does Garnet do? And generally I have heard ruby and pink eyed rats don't make the best shoulder rats...


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[Ruka]

I think we have hit a BIG snag, I think Voda may be deaf....


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[Phantom]

I think we have hit a BIG snag, I think Voda may be deaf....


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My friend had a dog who was once deaf, but responded amazingly well when it came to hand signals. I wonder if this is possible with rats too? I know for her dog the hand signals she used had to be completely different from one another so the dog could tell them apart.

 

[Ruka]

My friend had a dog who was once deaf, but responded amazingly well when it came to hand signals. I wonder if this is possible with rats too? I know for her dog the hand signals she used had to be completely different from one another so the dog could tell them apart.

Well, whenever I have called him I have always made a hand signal, I do it without thinking with all my rats, and when he sees my rand, he comes running...


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[sara1991]

Maybe it would be a good idea to buy a harness in case he/she decides to make a dash for it

 

[Ruka]

Maybe it would be a good idea to buy a harness in case he/she decides to make a dash for it

Well, considering I want him to be trained for promotional events for my rat rescue,mperhaps him being deaf could work to my advantage..

I, not sure about it yet though. But he has already picked up on some hand signals, so perhaps a leash, harness, and shoulder riding he could still help me out in the same way, but in addition he can show that even disabled pets can be loving.

I mean, wouldn't his deafness be an advantage for noisy fundraisers?


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[Kaliloca]

A leash/harness is a must outside for little deaf rats.

I'm not sure how much being deaf will help for noisy fundraisers. Not sure if people would be trying to pet him and such. I guess if people learn to not accidentally sneak up behind him to pet him it would work.

Deaf rats get startled easily. If they "see" you coming to pet them, they're fine. If not, they might give a loud squeak and try to "run away". Even worse.... they might try to bite.

My guy is deaf and he's learning just as fast as my other rats. Being deaf doesn't affect him at all........ as long as nobody accidentally sneaks up behind him.