Shaping

 Cheez-it only took two days to shape! In total it took approximately 54 minutes and 5 seconds, but on day one it took 26.28 minutes and on day two it took 27.37 minutes. For shaping me and my partner took the approach of delivering a treat every time she would go near the lever, and then advancing to delivering a treat every time she put her foot on the lever. On the first day, it took longer to accomplish pushing down on the lever, but on day two she was soaring through getting 131 pellet deliveries that day. The process of training a rat is very similar to what Dr. Trench described in a class by how fast they learn and also how motivated they are to get a treat.