One of the most important things I have learned about animal training is something Maria is learning now, and by herself – to train an animal well, you must shed the anger and frustration inside of you. Training is not about obedience, it is about communications.  Maria came to understand what any good trainer comes to understand – the problem is always us.

We bring so much of our own baggage to training, our impatience, arrogance, anxiety and frustration. All of this is sensed by our dogs or horses, when we stop and shed our arrogance, all of the human stuff we keep insisting animals possess, then training really beings.

People do not understand why I am uncomfortable with so much unwanted advice. it is because I want to be my own guru, not the slave to someone else’s ideas. Maria is working things out with Chloe beautifully, and it is not because she read books or watched videos or did what other people told her to do. It is because she looked at herself, listened to her horse and studied her, because she has learned to communicate with her, and now they are getting in sync, just as Fate and I are getting in sync in our training together.

We don’t need gurus and books and videos to train animals well. We can learn much from other people, but the best lessons come from within, from our own very individual interactions with our animals. We are all different, we bring different issues and traits and experiences to our training. We live in an extreme capitalist culture, we are easily persuaded that we can’t train our animals without $35 books and videos from gurus. It isn’t true.

I am not you, and you are not me, and my dogs are not your dogs, your animals are not mine. I respect the individuality and uniqueness of training. The system of training around us teaches us that we are all dumb, and we cannot communicate with our dogs and horses until we find people outside of ourselves to tell us what to do.

Nuts, our personalities and animals and environments are all unique, so is the way we train and live with out animals. Every day I remind myself to understand my own anger, ignorance, frustration and limitations and the more I shed my own stuff, the better we do. Good training empowers people to learn for themselves, open their minds to the reality around them, have faith in their own ability to communicate with their animals. It is very possible to do.

I believe the best lessons come from within, and it is inspiring to see Maria learn for herself how to deal with her horse, as I am always learning how to deal with my dogs. Those are the best lessons of all.