tbh i think it's why i have always gotten along so well with them, and i don't think that's a unique experience i'm taking a dog training professional course, and the stark difference between it and -everything- else i've ever taken makes me wonder if this field just kinda attracts autistic people
Have you ever read Animals in Translation? It's kinda along those lines.
I have, yes!! It was a fascinating read. All of the people writing/teaching this course I'm taking: emphasize empathy first and foremost, are big science-heads, and also don't give two shits about "tradition" if it's something that hasn't been proven to work it has been -so- refreshing honestly
That's excellent. The old ways of treating our fellow animals are really barbaric. I'm glad that things are changing.
i can't share it b/c it's embedded in the course and i don't have permission but i watched a vid of hyenas who had been trained to come up to the bars of the indoor part of their enclosure, and present their neck for a blood draw. which they did, with enthusiasm. you -can't- do that with force.
i'm at this point in my journey because i adopted a dog who was, uh, A Challenge. and the local trainers all wanted me to buy a shock collar before they'd even met her?? i had to drive 40+ minutes away to find a place that didn't. now i see how she is and i compare her to the dogs w/ shock collars-
- who flinch when you reach your hand out towards them, or tuck their tails so hard underneath their body when they sniff bushes because they're used to being shocked for it my dog? sleeps in the doorway to the kitchen & only moves if she thinks you're gonna pet her. this was by far the better path
Yeah I hear you. I took in a cat who would scream and run when you tried to pet him in the kitchen. I think his last family used to heave him through the air by the neck. He's much better now. Brutalizing someone who is supposed to be your companion animal is crazy.
i've never understood it. tbh i think i slept on dog training as a career option growing up because of the prevalence of that alpha myth/"dog whisperer" nonsense; didn't seem to work for my childhood dogs, didn't like doing it. do these people think early man yanked wolves around?? you'd get mauled
That's alright. Still very interesting!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs-t... WAIT I FOUND IT ELSEWHERE. guess they didn't own the video but did get permission to use it, so here's this!