Dogs With Big Feelings

In this episode, I share a story about a poor choice I made and I discuss why we don't kick and bite or growl and snap like horses and dogs do with each other.

In this episode, I talk about letting horses and dogs move forward when they are anxious and asking for help if you need to.  I also discuss forgiving yourself if you get scared or frustrated and resort to harsher methods, and describe why I feed Zephyr for keeping his foot ON the ground when I'm teaching him to pick up his feet. 

In this episode we discuss shaping a behaviour to address anxiety in crossties, NRMs vs Positive Interrupters, Primary vs Secondary Reinforcers, and more =)

Egos in animal training? Or is it anxiety? How can we build confidence in people and in animals? What will I do about that itchy colt who wants to rub his face on me?

What kind of halter am I using and why? Are rope halters bad? How can you train your horse to confidently walk through puddles? When you have a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. 

I found a fantastic person to help me with Zephyr! I also talk about optimal levels of arousal for learning and resource guarding aka food aggression.  

Zephyr is having trouble transitioning from walking in-hand to being ponied. I talk about lumping vs splitting, the language we use to justify punishment, and how fear affects how we train our horses. 

Zephyr is learning about grooming, and I am learning about taking my time. 

What happened with Zephyr nipped me? What is suppression? Why is promoting extreme views so damaging?

What aspects of an animal's life do I evaluate when considering euthanasia of an older pet? We just euthanized our pony Hercules and I thought I'd share our decision making process.