Yard Gard, the all natural ingredient animal deterrent, uses the principle of “Operant Conditioning” to repel animals. Wild animals have a very keen sense of smell and taste and Yard Gard uses these keen senses against the animal to deter it. This basically means a pest animal encounters and remembers the negative, reinforcement stimulus or ingredients used in Yard Gard. When an animal forages or digs for food in an area treated with Yard Gard the animal smells and tastes the stimulus ingredients, which render an uncomfortable smell and flavor to the animal and since it is uncomfortable for the animal to forage there, it is conditioned or trained to avoid that particular treated area. The animal simply moves on to other non-treated areas, Yard Gard does not harm the animal.
As an example, the armadillo has a very keen sense of smell, in fact the olfactory lobe of the armadillo’s brain, which contains the sense of smell, occupies one third of the size of the animal’s brain. With this keen sense of smell the armadillo can sniff out a grub which is located six inches underground. Yard Gard uses these senses of smell and taste against the armadillo by utilizing ingredients with particular flavors and odors that are offensive to the armadillo. Wild animals do not reason or think, they simply react, such as reacting to a light, motion, noise, smell or taste. Yard Gard has an offensive odor and flavor that is not pleasant to the armadillo and they react by simply leaving the area where the flavor and odor are present. The path of least resistance for the animal is to leave the area for more pleasant, un-treated feeding grounds.
Since even the slightest odor can be detected by wild animals, and Yard Gard used natural ingredients which can dissipate over time; Yard Gard has determined the varying amounts and concentration levels of Yard Gard ingredients which will still deter the animal even when the ingredients are at a minimum level. After an area has been treated with the full application rate of Yard Gard and the animal has been conditioned to avoid the area, keeping a residual concentration of the Yard Gard ingredients in the soil over an extended time period causes the animal to remember the unpleasantness when they were being conditioned with the full strength and they will continue to be deterred away. The prescribed original application rate of Yard Gard, renders a higher concentration level of ingredients into the soil for the preliminary purpose of conditioning of the animal, It has been determined that even at the lower concentration level, the animal can still smell the ingredients, and it associates that odor with the sensation of unpleasantness it experienced when it had previously foraged in that area and it continued to be deterred and repelled.
By reapplying Yard Gard every 60 to 90 days, at a lower application rate, it keeps a minimum concentrations of ingredients in the soil which the animal can detect. It has been determined that applying the second or third application at a lower application rate during the year, prolongs the effectiveness of the initial application and renders the lawn a Pest Free Lawn for the entire year.
Yard Gard’s “Advantage Club” addresses this situation by reminding its members when it is time to reapply Yard Gard. At a prearranged time (60 to 90 days later) the follow-up product is automatically shipped. When the product arrives it is not only a reminder to the member to treat their lawn but the product arrives on time without having to remember to order and for Advantage Club members the Yard Gard products are at a 25% price discount.
Initially, a homeowner treats their infested lawn with Yard Gard at the prescribed application rate. This concentration of ingredients conditions the animal to leave the area and the homeowner sees the animal activity diminish and assumes the animal has permanently departed the area; after three to four months the animal’s activity may start again. This renewed pest animal activity may be due to several reasons: (a) the original animal was conditioned but the smell and taste of ingredients in the lawn has dissipated below the effective levels, or (b) new animals that have not been previously conditioned entered the area, or (c) a combination of both a and b. One key purpose of the Advantage Club is to help our Yard Gard users prolong the effects of Yard Gard for a Pest Free Lawn for a full year. The Yard Gard Advantage Club is offered to the users of Yard Gard at no charge membership fee through the remainder of 2014.
0 Comments