 Hello and welcome to Basic Rat Petting. I'm your host, Willard Stiles, posthumous fellow rat petter of the Rat Petting Industry Association. You should have already covered the prerequisites for rat petting, which are rat identification and rat grasping. A quick review. The thing on the man's shoulder is a rat. No, this is not a rat. This is the proper way to pick up a rat. No, this is not used to pick up a rat. To begin basic rat petting, let us assume that you have picked up a rat. The first technique is called the pat. Take the hand not supporting the rat, and pat the rat gently on the head. If the rat should move, follow the rat with your hand. The second technique is called the stroke. Again, take the hand not supporting the rat, and stroke the rat in one direction from head to tail. With these two techniques under your belt, you are ready to move on to the next video in the training sequence, setting rats down. I'm Willard Stiles for the Rat Petting Industry Association.