What can we learn from Cesar Millan?

Revised October 2023

Are you ready for a challenge?

umbrellas
Everybody’s got some valuable knowledge – a “yellow umbrella”. Finding it can be challenging. 
Find the yellow umbrella.

We can learn something from every single person.

That’s a conviction that I have.

My challenge to you is to try to find that something in every single pet owner or animal professional that you meet.

What animal-related piece of knowledge can you gain from that person?

Find the yellow umbrella. The nugget of wisdom that will change how you interact with animals.

Ignore the other, black umbrellas: the ideas, techniques and explanations that don’t fit your paradigm. And here’s the challenge: though you might find these black umbrellas appalling – the task in this exercise is to ignore them rather than allow them to flip your lid.

Rather, pick and choose that which resonates with you. What you find might be an animal-related technique, a piece of knowledge, or merely an idea that you can mold to fit your own framework.

I try to approach animal trainers from all camps with an open heart and mind, knowing that they all have some insight that will help me improve my understanding of the world in general, and animals in particular.

So, which nugget of knowledge do I find with the Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan?

Continue reading “What can we learn from Cesar Millan?”

Poisoned environments

I’m almost done giving my first online course!

I wanted to share some of the course content here on my blog, and choosing was difficult.

So, I got some help from my students. I asked them:

“Out of the course videos you’ve seen so far, which do you like the best? One that taught you something important that you think the rest of the world of pet owners or animal professionals would benefit from?”

Several students suggested chapter 11 from the GRIEF module entitled Poisoned Environments. So – here it is!

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Animal trainers: take animal emotions into consideration!

revised May 2019.

Is the dog fearful, or crouching? 4384424_s

Does it matter, when you’re training?

The world of animal trainers is divided, and I find that some trainers avoid the subject of animal emotions altogether.

“There’s no need to factor in and understand emotions, just deal with the observable behaviour”, is the gist of what some trainers and animal professionals say.

Continue reading “Animal trainers: take animal emotions into consideration!”