The End

I really enjoyed working with my rat, Nala, throughout this experience. I love animals, but I did not think that working with a rat would be much fun. By the end of the training experience, I found myself looking forward to going to see Nala. I enjoyed observing her behavior throughout training. It was interesting to watch her learn things. You can see the moment that something clicks and that was a rewarding part of training. The only thing that I did not enjoy about the experience was that Nala did not learn to press the bar. This is not something that can be controlled for or improved upon. However, it would have been nice to see her complete the assignment. I wish that we had more time to work on the assignment. I would have liked to have continued to train Nala to see if she could eventually learn to press the lever. I was surprised by how smart Nala was. Before this experience, I did not think that rats were very intelligent animals. They seem like pretty simple creatures. Watching Nala learn things throughout training changed that. By the second day of me going in to feed Nala on my own, she knew when it was time to get food. She also learned very quickly that she could climb out of the cage when I wasn't paying close attention. Overall, this was a fun, unique experience that I am glad to have been a part of.