by Shirley Scott – Animal communicator/psychic
When you’re just starting to work with an animal or pet, there are many things to take into account before you start any training program. The first thing you need to find out is whether the pet you have chosen can actually learn to do what you think they should do. I mean a wiener dog won’t be able to round up cattle like a cow-dog. And a Great Dane can’t dance on its hind legs like a small poodle.
So before you try something out on your pet, take the time to think about the way their body is shaped, their weight, their intelligence level and their personality. Just because you want them to do something doesn’t mean they’ll be able to do it.
And there’s something else to look at; not all animals will be good at all tricks. Not all of us humans are good at bowling, ice-skating or other activities and neither are all animals. Just because your friends’ dog can do something don’t expect your dog to do it or even like to do it.
So when choosing an animal for a certain task, make sure you have the right breed, body style and personality. Just because we have a preconceived idea about what a certain breed is supposed to be good at, doesn’t mean anything. The point here every thoroughbred is a winner and not every mutt’s a loser.
Another thing you should ask yourself is “If I was this pet, would I do this trick or action?”
If you know it’s going to hurt the animal or put the fear of God in them, then it’s not a trick to be done. If you wouldn’t do it, don’t expect your pet to do it either. It’s very important we use our brains in training animals and that’s where common sense and telepathic communication come in. If you don’t have any common sense, don’t try training an animal because they’ll out smart you every time.
Learning to watch, listen and communicate with your pet is a big step to helping you train him better. The more you get to know them and understand their likes and dislikes, the easier it will be to train them. The more you communicate on their level with them, the more you will understand their intelligence level, their tolerance level and many other aspects of their character and personality.
When you get to know your pet on all these levels, you’ll know what they are capable of learning. Here’s just one example. I had a client that was into extreme horseback riding and down hill racing. This kind of riding takes a very good horse, a very good rider and lots and lots of work for both of them. He picked a good-looking Arabian that was very fit and supposed to be from a long bloodline of excellent horses.
However after just a few short weeks of training, he realized the horse was too nervous and scared to really become good at the down hill racing. He saw and understood that this horse could get into a panic if pushed to race down hill and that would be dangerous for both himself and the horse. But the horse was very sure-footed and became a great trail horse.
He could have beaten the horse into submission but the results would still been very dangerous in the long run. He gave the horse to someone who used him for trail riding and both the horse and the new owner where happy.
I want everyone to take just a second and think about how you’d feel if someone was trying to teach you something and every time you didn’t do it right they hit you. Wouldn’t you get mad want to strike back? This is how your animal feels when you hit or yell at them. If your pet looks at you with fear or confusion in his eyes, honor that and take an extra minute to reassure him everything is okay. Remember if you’re going to train an animal with fear and pain, you’ll end up with a fearful and hateful animal.
There’s an old saying I use with animals and with people. It goes like this, “You get more bees with honey than with vinegar.” It simply means if you’re nice to animals and people, they in turn will be nice to you. If you learn to train an animal with love, patience and respect, they in turn will give you love, patience and respect back.
Training an animal means they’re learning something from you. If you are overly rough on them, they’ll be afraid. If you’re too easy, they’ll walk all over you. There’s a balance when you’re training an animal. And that balance extends to you. You need to be balanced and calm when you’re training a pet.
You should never start a training session if you aren’t in a positive mood or feeling well. The animal will pick up on this right away and the session will be over before it begins. Your pet will not want to do anything because of the energy they are feeling. There’s no blame on you or your pet if this happens, it’s just that training isn’t going to work that day. So put it off until you and your pets are in better moods. Remember, if you feel unbalanced or out-of-sorts, stop!
And there’ll be days that no matter what you do or say, your pet just doesn’t want to do anything. So step back, stop trying so hard and try it again tomorrow. If it still doesn’t work the next day, then maybe it’s not supposed too and you need to look at why it’s not working.
Here’s an example of what might be going on with you and your pet. You walk up them and say something with a sweet, soft voice but your stomach is tight with anger from work or a fight with someone. Your pet will feel the tightness in your energy and back away. In other words you are sending him one kind of energy with your voice but another kind of energy with your body. You now look unbalanced to your pet and looking unbalanced is a threat to him. He doesn’t know what to expect from you.
He’d rather you walk up to him and say, “okay, I’ve had a hard day at work and I’m not feeling too good, but if you’ll work with me I’ll try to relax.” This they understand.
Animals react to your energy or the energies they pick up in the air, just like electrical currents. They can feel the change in the wind and know it means rain. They can feel the calm before and after a storm. They can feel an earthquake before we do. .
So please be aware of what you’re feeling and thinking before you walk up to any animal. They’ll feel your emotions and react accordingly. When you start thinking before you act out, you’ll find that you and your pet are coming together in a new way. Both of you are merging your energies and thoughts.
As you grow and learn these techniques, you’ll find that one day your dog will “sit” just by you thinking it at him. Your cat will actually pay attention when you talk to her. And when you get on a horse, you’ll be a rider WITH the horse – not a rider AND a horse. You’ll be feeling and communicating on a different, yet deeper level. This is true communication.
So before you start any training program, pick your animal well and get to know them first. Write down in detail what you want to teach them, how you’re going to teach it to them and why you want them to learn it. If there’s NO reason you can think for them to learn it except it would be fun for you, then don’t even bother. There should be a point to learning something. If you want them to sit and stay it’s usually because you want them to calm down or be good. So think of what you want to teach them and think about why.
And always, always, always have this thought is the back of your mind. “If one way doesn’t work, don’t get mad. Try teaching them in a different way.” Not all humans learn in the same way and not all pets learn in the same way either.
The truth is if you do something the same way all the time, you are going to get the same results all the time. And if the results aren’t want you want, then change the way you are doing something. If how you are training them isn’t working or you’re not getting the results you want, stop it and try it a different way.
Be enough of a person to admit that you might not be communicating well with your pet. Maybe someone else could help you. There’s no shame in this. It’s just like asking for directions when you’re lost. You could stay lost and get frustrated or you could ask for help and move on your way. It really boils down to having some common sense about things.
Not all of us can understand or even learn from the same teacher, no matter how smart we are or how good the teacher is. Maybe we just can’t learn from them. How often has someone told you something you just didn’t understand, but another person comes along and says the same thing to you in different way and you get it? This can happen with an animal in training as well. Just be a big enough person to realize your pet isn’t learning from you and ask for help or try something different.
Keep in mind that your pet may also have a very different idea of what he wants to learn or do. Animals have thoughts and emotions too. They might not be just like ours, but they feel pain, happiness, fear, cold and heat, attachment, hate and love. We seem to think they are just stupid animals. But many of these stupid animals have more brains and make wiser choices than we do.
I hope this helps you begin a training process that will be happy, healthy and rewarding for both you and your pet.
Shirley Scott – Animal communicator/psychic
To learn more visit www.shirley-scott.com
@2018