Animal Education

19/09/2024

It doesn't take much to stop and put some joy in another person's day. Nice to meet you Darren.

13/09/2024

Noosa Show 2024, done and dusted. I drove my boy Jacko in 4 classes. First time pulling a cart at a show after only a few months training. He has a good work ethic and has a nice calm attitude once he's in his harness. Only one small brain fart and recovered fast. I'm very proud of him. My boy. ☆ Thanks to everyone who has helped us in this journey, particularly Susanne Heikkinen and Paul N Debbie Clyne . Love you guys.

31/08/2024

We had a great morning at Wondai Show today. Jacko got Champion Working Harness Horse. Log pull, long rein and slide all with obstacles and the pumpkin sn**ch. Such great foundation for a stallion and loads of fun. Thanks so much to Susanne Heikkinen for her support and pumpkin handling !

16/08/2024

Yesterdays lesson while waiting for Shelby to have his surgery. This is Dove. Bought as a Jack Russell, but obviously has Corgi in her. Dove was a bit of a bossy boots, so we did a lesson at home, and then off to the duckponds for handler training in a real situation. She was calm and on a loose lead by the time we sat for a warm drink and a toastie.

16/08/2024

This is Buddy. A lucky boy who had been through a few homes before his owner Sarah took him home. Buddy was a bit nervy so we took him out to a local Cafe, Soma Soma and then walked over the rail overpass and sat at the Steam train station and watched while the engine moved around with all the carriages. Lots if fun and good training.

16/08/2024

Desex your dogs if you have no intention to breed. Be responsible. If you are even considering it, do your health checks first. Here are just a few I have desexed in the last few weeks.

16/08/2024

Another little rotty female pup with early resource guarding issues. Another case of simple mixed messages which allowed her to think she could bluff her owner. That didn't work with me. She learnt she only got what she wanted unless she was calm and if I took it, she got something better.

16/08/2024

Last week I worked with this good looking Rottweiler pup. He'd developed a few resource guarding issues. Not anyones fault but caused by a few mixed messages. Once they were sorted, his demeanour settled nicely.

08/08/2024

Jackaroo's first drive with another vehicle in the arena as well as us, plus with a mare. He was good considering he's a stallion and separated from his mares atm.

31/07/2024

A family photo. Left. Kola. Mother. Middle Rosie. Great grandmother. Right Pepsi. Son and great grandson.

29/07/2024

I saw this meme on a local mechanics page. It gave me a laugh. Significantly worth a share. We usually get what we pay for....

29/07/2024

Today I visited Bull Terrier Lily and mum Sandy at their home. Lily had a few quirks we worked through by showing her the only way to get what she wanted was to be calm. We went for a walk down the road where she usually refused to go, and this shadow caught my photography eye.

29/07/2024

This is one of Echo's boys Zeus. His owners Sam and Brooke are great for making sure they keep on top of training as he matures. Saturday we did some work around distractions. Also, if you need an electrician around Pomona, Sam's your man !

24/07/2024

I'm often still working late into the evening feeding animals and settling them in for the night. Beautiful scenes like this are the extra reward.

24/07/2024

Does anyone have a couple of matching front wheels of a trail bike second hand ? Not too rough looking but doesn't need to be perfect.

23/07/2024

After I have put some foundation in a dog's mind, I then like to think out of the box with ongoing training, to mimic real life.
This red heeler Jake had some aggressive attitude problems. So for lesson 3, Teresa and Danny cut a load of firewood, each swapping handling Jake and operating the saw, while I drove the tractor, helped cut wood with my saw and I had two of my dogs along too.
Everyone was good and Jake has a new chance at a better life with more outings and fun stuff. Good boy.

23/07/2024

With Pepsi, 16 months old, son of Pan and Kola, today at Upper Glastonbury. He is GS x DS x Mal.

21/07/2024

This Bluey Hunter was a bad vehicle barker. He was driving his mum and dad nuts and chewing up the car.
We started with the buggy, no problems, then went for a drive in the car to town and sought out all the triggers that normally set him off, cars, bikes and trucks. Sorted.
He also has an aggression problem, so now he can be transported, we can start to take him out places and train in public.

14/07/2024

I often talk about the value of big breaths out when training. Listen carefully in this clip and you can hear my horse and I exchanging them. If you can't hear, look at his nostrils. BTW, he was watching himself in the phone camera.

13/07/2024

Be loyal in return.

No one will ever be loyal to you
more than your pet ❤️❤️🐾

12/07/2024

I got this lovely email from Sarah a few days ago. PS I'm not a magician, but thank you. x

Kate I can’t thank you enough!

Wow what a difference in Millie and Buddy already. Honestly you’re a magician.

I’ve just had the first calm non reactive car journey in over 6 months! I’m honestly crying I’m so happy. And they even laid down in the car. Both of them just calm and lying down. From time to time they’d pop their heads up and look out the window and I would praise with ‘good quiet’ and from time to time do the happy exhale you did and they would lay right back down again.

I’ve got Buddy a separate and slightly lower mat side by side with Millie's and when Millie got a bit rowdy with Buddy I stepped in-between them and said ‘leave’ and then praised when she stopped and offered a sit instead.

Total magic! I can’t wait for next week.

Thanks a million.

10/07/2024

Yesterday I had a play with my two Rotty girls I have retained for a future litter. Fourth and fifth generation bred here. As usual, my own dogs are the ones who get the least work, because I'm always training clients dogs first. This is Priscilla's first bite at the gate, and I think Tulip's third. As they progress, bites go further up the sleeve. These girls have the right stuff genetically. Good health and confident loving temperaments. I'm looking forward to finding the right boyfriend for them.

10/07/2024

On Tuesday, two separate dogs, Poppy and Lily, did their second lessons with their owners. Both young females with issues like pulling on the lead, socialising with other dogs, resource guarding and mouthing. One a Dane x Mastiff from a rescue and the other a bull terrier female bought as a pup.
Their owners say there is a big difference in their behaviour and I could sense a calmer, more settled demeanour.
Both girls are so lucky that their owners care about them. Training takes some effort but its not rocket science and its wonderful to see the relief on a dogs face when we understand them better.

10/07/2024

This is the same for dogs. It is why I require a minimum 3 - 5 day handover period. A lady enquired about buying a dog yesterday. She insisted that she could only get here for 2 days, and got quite annoyed that I would not agree to bend my rules. I know the dog needs time to be comfortable leaving here with a stranger.
Abruptly she said, well its obvious this isn't going to work, and hung up.
Sorry lady, my dogs happiness and mental well being is more important to me than your money.

"New Home Syndrome"🤓

I am coining this term to bring recognition, respect, and understanding to what happens to horses when they move homes. This situation involves removing them from an environment and set of routines they have become familiar with, and placing them somewhere completely different with new people and different ways of doing things.

Why call it a syndrome?

Well, really it is! A syndrome is a term used to describe a set of symptoms that consistently occur together and can be tied to certain factors such as infections, genetic predispositions, conditions, or environmental influences. It is also used when the exact cause of the symptoms is not fully understood or when it is not connected with a well-defined disease. In this case, "New Home Syndrome" is connected to a horse being placed in a new home where its entire world changes, leading to psychological and physiological impacts. While it might be transient, the ramifications can be significant for both the horse and anyone handling or riding it.

Let me explain...

Think about how good it feels to get home after a busy day. How comfortable your favourite clothes are, how well you sleep in your own bed compared to a strange bed, and how you can really relax at home. This is because home is safe and familiar. At home, the part of you that keeps an eye out for potential danger turns down to a low setting. It does this because home is your safe place (and if it is not, this blog will also explain why a lack of a safe place is detrimental).

Therefore, the first symptom of horses experiencing "New Home Syndrome" is being unsettled, prone to anxiety, or difficult behaviour. If you have owned them before you moved them, you struggle to recognise your horse, feeling as if your horse has been replaced by a frustrating version. If the horse is new to you, you might wonder if you were conned, if the horse was drugged when you rode it, or if you were lied to about the horse's true nature.

A horse with "New Home Syndrome" will be a stressed version of itself, on high alert, with a drastically reduced ability to cope. Horses don't handle change like humans do. If you appreciate the comfort of your own home and how you can relax there, you should be able to understand what the horse is experiencing.

Respecting that horses interpret and process their environments differently from us helps in understanding why your horse is being frustrating and recognising that there is a good chance you were not lied to or that the horse was not drugged.

Horses have survived through evolution by being highly aware of their environments. Change is a significant challenge for them because they notice the slightest differences, not just visually but also through sound, smell, feel, and other senses. Humans generalise and categorise, making it easy for us to navigate familiar environments like shopping centres. Horses do not generalise in the same way; everything new is different to them, and they need proof of safety before they can habituate and feel secure. When their entire world changes, it is deeply stressful.

They struggle to sleep until they feel safe, leading to sleep deprivation and increased difficulty.

But there is more...

Not only do you find comfort in your home environment and your nervous system downregulates, but you also find comfort in routines. Routines are habits, and habits are easy. When a routine changes or something has to be navigated differently, things get difficult. For example, my local supermarket is undergoing renovations. After four years of shopping there, it is extremely frustrating to have to work out where everything is now. Every day it gets moved due to the store being refitted section by section. This annoyance is shared by other shoppers and even the staff.

So, consider the horse. Not only are they confronted with the challenge of figuring out whether they are safe in all aspects of their new home while being sleep deprived, but every single routine and encounter is different. Then, their owner or new owner starts getting critical and concerned because the horse suddenly seems untrained or difficult. The horse they thought they owned or bought is not meeting their expectations, leading to conflict, resistance, explosiveness, hypersensitivity, and frustration.

The horse acts as if it knows little because it is stressed and because the routines and habits it has learned have disappeared. If you are a new human for the horse, you feel, move, and communicate differently from what it is used to. The way you hold the reins, your body movements in the saddle, the position of your leg – every single routine of communication between horse and person is now different. I explain to people that when you get a new horse, you have to imprint yourself and your way of communicating onto the horse. You have to introduce yourself and take the time to spell out your cues so that they get to know you.

Therefore, when you move a horse to a new home or get a new horse, your horse will go through a phase called "New Home Syndrome," and it will be significant for them. Appreciating this helps them get through it because they are incredible and can succeed. The more you understand and help the horse learn it is safe in its new environment and navigate the new routines and habits you introduce, the faster "New Home Syndrome" will pass.
"New Home Syndrome" will be prevalent in a horse’s life until they have learned to trust the safety of the environment (and all that entails) and the humans they meet and interact with. With strategic and understanding approaches, this may take weeks, and their nervous systems will start downgrading their high alert status. However, for some horses, it can take a couple of years to fully feel at ease in their new home.

So, next time you move your horse or acquire a new horse and it starts behaving erratically or being difficult, it is not being "stupid", you might not have been lied to or the horse "drugged" - your horse is just experiencing an episode of understandable "New Home Syndrome." And you can help this.❤

I would be grateful if you could please share, this reality for horses needs to be better appreciated ❤
‼️When I say SHARE that does not mean plagiarise my work…it is seriously not cool to copy and paste these words and make out you have written it yourself‼️

08/07/2024

Another sad case reported today of a domestic violence victim murdered by her partner.
Ladies !! If you think this might happen, come and get a dog from me, and keep yourself safe. My dogs are calm and well behaved unless you are threatened. Only then do they show what their skills are.
Don't wait until its too late.