Touching Animal Souls

So I am in a grumpy mood and creating conspiracy theories in my head.   Feel like my back is a target for knives and my nerves jangle.   Then I have the good fortune of sitting in front of my guru.   Her name is Frodo.   She is a bottle nose dolphin and an excellent measure of where I am at.   I know as I climb into the water with her that I need to have my thoughts in order.   She has taught me that.   Because if I don’t, she will push me into place.   Or not be as malleable as I wish her to be.   I feel her pushing down on my hand, and immediately I have to make sure I am back being present.   Get out of my head.   Stop worrying about the future or the past or who is slinging mud(or not).   Being where she wants me to be.   With her.   Right in the moment.   I adjust my thinking, drop the target on my back and let the conspiracy theories dissolve.   And her work is done.   The joke – I call mys...

When we work with animals for long enough, we may be lucky enough to see our projections.   A projection is a belief system that we hold about ourselves, consciously or unconsciously, that we use to label those around us.   When we have this level of awareness, we are able to see the animals before us for the perfect mirrors that they are. We had   a good laugh this week.   Five of us have worked together for sometime and have the honour of having special relationships with a group of five female dolphins.   We were brainstorming a solution for a training plan and began to describe the features we saw in each dolphin.   Adjectives like strong-willed, creative, happy-go-lucky, exuberant and eager-to-please were among the descriptions we were using to characterise our favourite friends.   Some of the predicaments we were describing were ‘likes to be in charge’, ‘stuck in the middle’, ‘on her own mission’, ‘wants to achieve’ and ‘looking for att...

Beautiful Spirit Today I would like to celebrate a beautiful spirit.   As animal people we have all got creatures in our lives who we adore.   The expression of my adoration is for Sasha. Sasha joined my family when we rescued her as a puppy.  Found her in a cardboard box on the side of the road.   Someone was trying to sell her.   I instantly fell in love with her, but also needed to get her away from a poor welfare situation.   We went straight to the vet.   Sasha was diagnosed with joint ill.   A disease that is contracted through the umbilical cord.   It is usually contracted when animals are kept in inappropriate and dirty environments.   So began a long road to recovery that included all sorts of medications and interventions.   At one point she had to be injected with fluids every few hours.   I remember at one particular weak moment praying that one day she would grow into a big dog that I could hug.   An...

In life we look for patterns.  They make us feel safe.  When we become aware of the patterns we have created, we become aware of the limitations that we have placed on our existence.   This awareness can open up horizons of amazingness for us to experience.   When two are together and have created patterns together, it can be challenging to shift from predictable patterns to these amazing horizons.   When a trainer works with an animal, we are in relationship.   So there is a strong chance that we can create these structured patterns.   These cause expectation, and as we all know, expectation is not being in the moment and in joy.   It is imperative that we provide a sense of safety – some patterns, but at the same time, we need to steer away from being predictable to the point where we wrap these incredible beings up in cotton wool and prevent them from experiencing anything new.   We need to provide our loves with sufficien...

A TRIBUTE TO BRAVE AND ENTERPRISING TRAINERS Last night I went to observe a dog training class run by a fellow trainer at a dog training school another peer has developed.   #Superdogs.  It was a reminder of how proud I am of so many people with whom I have had the honour to share my training career.   Trainers who have been passionate about what we do in our industry.   I believe we teach ethical communication.   It does not work to keep that message to ourselves.   We have to share it.   So to all those trainers who have taken leap to share our view more widely, I salute you.   It is not always easy to start your career in one place and then leave the animals with whom you have fallen in love to move to another facility or start a venture of your own.   However, some manage to find the gumption, and I have seen so many succeed in so many ways.   Trainers who are working with completely different species now.   Those w...

http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/634930/David-Bowie-dolphin-slaughter-animal-rights-Heroes-The-Cove-Ric-OBarry

The theme is chickens.  Five moved in after noticing the sign above or home that clearly said 'vegetarians live here'. No apology.  The roost in the pergola and the hens even left an egg or two but I was convinced they were still too young to bed as they had just fledged.  So it was a big surprise when on of the hens paraded around one morning with her little flock of chicks.   What an honour to watch the clever animals nurture their young.  She fiercely fends of dogs and cats and horses and me if I get too close.  She has worked out how to coerce me to feed and water her brood.  Love watching her teach her fast little learners.  The art of sand bathing. When to hide under her skirt of feathers.  To come when called.  How to sun tan.  Where to get water.  What to avoid.  Where to rest.  How to turn the compost.  Busy busy.   To think of all those farmed birds who never see the light of day.  Who are cap...

   Hermione joined our family as a wild feral cat when she was pregnant.  This is her with her litter, looking very untrusting.  That all changed the longer she was with us.  In the end she was one of the most trusting animals I have ever had the privilege of knowing.  She was very ill in the last months of her life.  I had to be nebulise and inject and medicate with tablets.  She let me do it all without restraint.  She knew she could leave anytime.  She also obviously worked out that she felt better as a result of the treatments. Eventually I was put in a position where I had to choose to let her go.  I have never really been comfortable with the issue of euthanasia.  Suffering also makes me wince.  It just freaks me out that I have to play God in situations like this.  I had to be clear that I am letting her go for her sake and not mine.  How do we truly know the answer to that? I have done the ani...