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You should score this test on the first try, but you can also use Drop the Treat to see how fast your pet learns. If your pet looks at the floor, repeat the test a few times to find out how many times it takes for them to catch on. Once they have got the idea, drop the treat behind the table or tray and see what they do. If they stare at the table or tray, they've obviously learnt something new!
If your pet has learnt how to pull the string, try putting the treat and string on a diagonal, so that the treat is just out of reach and the end of the shoelace comes out from under the object further along. To succeed, your pet has to make a decision to move away from the treat in order to get at it, and that's pretty smart!
| SHAPE CHALLENGE - Birds only |
If your bird gobbles up all the bread shapes without worrying about the honey, you could do this test with cardboard shapes instead, perhaps hiding a treat underneath one of them.
| LOO ROLL CHALLENGE - Birds only |
You could swap the colours so that the blue paper takes up ¾ of the roll, and orange paper takes up ¼ of the roll. See how fast your pet changes its behaviour.
| HOOF PREFERENCE - Horses Only |
If you stable your horse, watch which foot the horse uses as they step into their stable. The theory is that horses use their dominant foot in preference to their other foot when doing this. Also try to find out what hoof they lead into a canter with. This may also be the same, dominant foot.
To make sure that your results are accurate, you could reverse the order in which you do the approaches, looking at the hooves on the first attempt and the head on the second. If you find that you always get closer on the second attempt, it could be that your horse has just become disinterested with the test
| PAW PREFERENCE - Rabbits, rodents and ferrets only |
When your pet is sleeping take a look at which way they curl up. Do they rest their head to the left or to the right? And do they always curl up in the same way? Some scientists suggest that curling posture is also associated with the paw preference of the animal.
| COLOUR-CODED FISH - Fish only |
It won't take more than a few days for even the slowest fish to catch on, so if at first they don't succeed, try, try again. Once the fish has got the idea, try placing the red card at the "blue" end and the blue card at the "red" end. If your fish swims in the opposite direction, they have associated the blue card with the food. If not, they are using a number of different cues and you've just confused it!
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