Revising Pet Club

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results". This is a common saying.

 Last year, I ran a Pet Club to help me take care of our school's skinny pigs. I reflected on how successful Pet Club was, as we had our celebratory event for those who continued to do their duty, near the end of the school year, and determined that it had some challenges. As I wrote in my June blog post,

The problem with Pet Club is that students were, to use a Caribbean figure of speech, either "8 or 80". They either completely forgot about checking on them, leaving them without basic necessities, or over-attentive, checking on them at every recess and free period (and even during lessons too). We had schedules set up and posted all over the library, as well as copies sent home with the participating students. I included a list of the things to do as part of Pet Club. Unfortunately, some students still had difficulty keeping up with the demands ...

If I wanted Pet Club to be useful and helpful to the actual animals it claimed to serve, I needed to make changes. These are some of the alterations I've made in the hopes of improving Pet Club for the 2025-26 school year.

Scheduling Shifts

In the past, I had six groups of four students and they'd rotate every two weeks. Students could not remember when it was their turn, despite all the signs. Now, I'm going to have four students and they are assigned a single month. I was going to reduce the number of students involved, but I did not have the heart to turn down any of the students that signed up to be part of the club. We don't have a lot of club options for kids in this particular age range, from Grades 3-5, so I couldn't deny them. I used to be concerned that they'd have to wait too long for their chance to be in charge. I hope that, with it being tied to a specific month, it will be easier to remember than the previous system.

Firm Times

I made it much clearer about when Pet Club members need to perform their duties. Before, I really hoped that they would be able to use their judgement to decide when food bowls needed filling or bedding needed replacing. Unfortunately, the students aren't quite at that stage yet. Therefore, I made it much more concrete. They are to check the cage between the first bell and the morning entry bell and they must stay after school on Wednesdays to help me clean the cage. 

Tracking Helpers

Before this year, I didn't document whether or not the students showed up to tend to the piggies. I am going to monitor this much more closely this year. It means more work for me, but that way, I can determine if students are committed to this club or if it's just a passing fad. 

Changing Food Containers

One of the reasons why the skinny pigs get so smelly is because other students like to squeeze their plastic water bottles, soaking parts of the cage and making it stink. I can't blame the students 100%, because I noticed that some of the water bottles were dripping when left unattended by either human or beast. I purchased a new, glass water bottle that does not seem to leak, and I plan on drilling a hole into the side of the cage to attach a bowl that will not flip over but is low enough for the skinny pigs to reach on their own. 

Adding Someone New

This was an unplanned revision. I took Alvin and Simon to my local pet store to get their nails trimmed, and was chatting with the employee who took care of them. Long story short, we've added a new skinny pig to the family. His name is Brutus. 

Brutus will not live in the same cage as Alvin and Simon. It can be challenging to get non-related skinny pigs to cohabitate. Even brothers will sometimes fight, like Ernie and Bert did after a while. I have had up to four skinny pigs at once time in my house (Chocolate, Vanilla, Kirby and Owen, back around 2014). I won't have a herd, but it will be interesting to see how this new pig will be viewed by the students, who are accustomed to having Alvin and Simon.