Anyone familiar with Skinnerian behavior mod can tell you what a great idea it is to reward Putin for starting a war.

We have a small dog who begs for food from the table, and damn our soft, liberal hearts, we sometimes give in.

I think it’s more that we just want her to stop bothering us, so we slip her a piece of OUR dinner in hopes it will satisfy her and go away.

HA! It just reinforces her bad behavior and before the morsel can make its way to her stomach, she’s back for more.

So we reason thus (knowing we will keep doing it because she’s so damned cute)

1. We only give her treats from the table that are good for dogs.
2. What’s the worst that can happen? She’ll never grow up and will live in our basement?

3. She’ll never be able to hold a job?

Such rationalizations might work for how we treat our dog.

They don’t work for how we should treat dictators who have a habit of gobbling up counties.

At least our dog begs nicely.