We are all familiar with the expression “Oculi speculum animae”, the eyes are the mirror of the soul. When we look at another person’s eyes, we can tell a great deal about how that person is feeling at that moment: calm, afraid, angry, sad, depressed, disbelieving… and this information helps us modulate our approach. When [...]
After a couple of unfortunate incidents with a neighbour’s dog, Salma has been wary about unknown dogs approaching her. Today, she had a positive learning experience! As we parked to start our walk, from the car parked alongside emerged an Englishman man who lives in Madrid with a young vizsla. The man asked whether they [...]
Another of Salma’s favourite activities is weaving through the slalom poles. They are not set at the reglamentary distance for agility because my aim here is just to make the activity fun while promoting suppleness through the body bending to both right and left. She weaves both on and off lead and enjoys doing it [...]
Sometimes things we do with the best of intentions turn into a problematic situation. When the little feral cat turned up on our doorstep in the midst of torrential rain, providing her with food and shelter seemed like the right thing to do. The consequences of this decision have been far-reaching. Then she had her [...]
Those of you who have been following my journey with the two horses who are abandoned at our place may remember that they are not at all happy to be touched. This, of course, poses major challenges and has been a source of concern. From time to time, Arena, the mare, has been limping but, [...]
At the end of a one day workshop, particularly one on a topic such as reactivity which evokes so many emotions, it is a gift to hear a participant say that she is leaving with hope because she saw improvements in her dog throughout the day, and she could see that he was much calmer [...]
February 5th. was a red letter day! We had the first in-person Tellington TTouch workshop in over two years. Day two will be on February 12th. It is always heartwarming to see how committed some people are to impriving the life experiences of their pets. It was also great to see the changes, great and [...]
Mimi is a 10 year old mini pinscher who came to us with her mother 5 years ago. Unfortunately her mother is no longer with us. Her mother, Ophie, was a stalwart and fearless little dog but her daughter is quite the opposite, fearful and hypersensitive and this has increased since losing her mother who [...]
Yesterday afternoon we did two exercises. The first was free work. I put out a variety of different surfaces, some smooth and others more rough and a tray with a few plastic balls, and placed pieces of cheese on them. Salma did not have a clue at first but Mimi, who in the past would [...]
Some years ago during a trip to Guatemala they told me this joke. "A man went to the market where he saw a fishmonger who had two wooden barrels on his stall. In each barrel there were shrimps. One barrel had one price and the other a different, higher price. One barrel was open and [...]