Back to School + Positive Reinforcement on Animals

It’s Back to School 

It's back to school season again. June is the start of a new academic school year for most schools in the Philippines, but not yet for my niece who's an incoming grade six student because the start of classes is not until August. It was just like yesterday when she’s in grade three, time flies really. It’s only three more weeks until the new school year begins. She’s pretty much ready for school, she’s got new set of books, uniforms and we’re also done shopping for school supplies. I guess what I'm excited about is that she will get to see her old friends again and hopefully meet new ones. 

I thought the main reason for moving the start of the school year from June to August is just because it's the start of the rainy season in the country, but also to align it with the international academic calendar. According to sources, the Philippines and Thailand are the only countries that start their classes in June. To be honest, I did not notice a huge difference at all because the rainy season does not end in June, it's pretty much until the end of the year actually so there's still a lot of typhoons and class suspensions. 

Positive Reinforcement on Dogs

I’ve also been training our pets basic tricks for four years now. Jagger, our three-year-old German Shepherd just recently learned to catch food. I’m no pro when it comes to training animals but I believe that it is necessary for them to at least learn basic tricks like sit, stay, lay down, etc. Animals are more disciplined when they are taught basic tricks at an early age and they also learn to become patient and tolerant. Positive reinforcement on dogs and other animals works like a charm. We have three dogs and a cat in our household and I’m proud to say that all of them knows a trick or two. Animals will do anything for food so I make sure to reward them for a job well done. No matter how challenging it is to train pets, it’s always a rewarding feeling to see them learn something new. 

Positive reinforcement means adding something immediately 
after a behavior occurs that makes the frequency of the behavior go up.