11. November 2011 by admin.

I left for Suffolk early on Sunday and spent three heavenly days with Cookie Dough and Jon working on my cottage. Jon has done an incredible job refurbishing the living room and bathroom and he continued with the renovations whilst I painted, dog walked, and painted some more (and more!).  Cookie Dough loved every minute of the trip and enjoyed exploring Snape Maltings and the woodlands that surround the cottage.  We got home late on Wednesday and I am now catching up with office work and getting ready for the weekend as Tony, Daisy and I are off to Discover Dogs.  I am judging some of the Companion Dog Club Classes with Carolyn Menteith and giving two seminars on TTouch so come and find me if any of you are going.  Tony will also be judging some classes before he leaves for the Bristol Old Vic.  I am also judging on Sunday and will then join Emily and Daisy in Waterloo to watch Tony in The 24 hour Plays so it’s yet more packing and more good fun! 

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11. November 2011 by admin.

It has been a really good couple of days.  The conference was a great success and the speakers were excellent.  I am going to put a website together with Carrie Humble so that we can collate all the information shared at the conference so that other people who could not attend the conference can access the relevant links.  We started the day with a presentation by Sharon Newsome from the IHWT talking about the charity’s education projects and the vision for the future, I then gave a presentation on the link between posture and behaviour and then Jo White from World Horse Welfare gave a fascinating presentation on transportation from the horse’s point of view. Some of Jo’s research is on the World Horse Website and is well worth a read.

Lunch was followed by more presentations by Dr Andrew Waller from Animal Health Trust on strangles, the witty Carrie Humble MBA gave a talk on ex-racehorse welfare, Steve Goody from Blue Cross discussed the Equine Health Survey (which I participate in and I would encourage other horse owners to do the same) and Nicolas de Brauwere MRCVS from Redwings talked about the veterinary perspective on managing equine welfare challenges and shaping the future.  All the presentations were well received, informative and entertaining and I really hope that Sharon, Carrie and I can build on the success of this first conference next year.  The delegates ranged from vets, people working in equine rescue including members from the donkey sanctuary and other Irish charities, representatives from the Department of Agriculture and the ISPCA, horse lovers and owners, staff from UK based charities, a journalist from The Field and many, many more.   In all I think over 60 people attended the day and the feedback had been excellent.  It really could not have gone any better and I am indebted to Carrie for all her hard work that made this conference such a success and I am looking forward to working with her on future projects.

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11. November 2011 by admin.

I am tired but really happy.  The three day Cool to be Kind workshop was great fun and already the feedback is extremely positive.  It is not possible to separate posture from behaviour and I love teaching with Marie as we both understand this inextricable link.  Our students have new information to pass on to their clients and new tools for the training classes that some of them run.  The dogs were all fantastic of course and I am looking forward to teaching part two in the spring. I am going to do more workshops under the name Cool to be Kind for both horse and dog lovers and start a programme for children as well.

I have managed to see some new clients this week, have assessed another dog for an impending court case and am now putting together a power point presentation for the next new project which is on Friday.  The Equine Health and Welfare Conference is being held near the Curragh in Ireland and is looking very promising.  We have several delegates attending from both Ireland and the UK and I am really hoping that we can make this an annual event. Carrie Humble (founder of the Thoroughbred Rehabilitation Centre in Cumbria) has organised some excellent speakers from the Blue Cross, Animal Health Trust, World Horse Welfare and Redwings.  Redwings are also joining me and Tony in sponsoring the event. So it’s more typing, more packing, more flying and more public speaking but Tony is back from the USA and will be coming with me which makes a very nice change as I am usually on my own when I travel.  We are looking forward to meeting up with Carrie and our dear friend Sharon Newsome (co-founder of the Irish Horse Welfare Trust) who are also both giving presentations on their work. 

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11. November 2011 by admin.

I am now chained to my desk finishing work on some information for a new project I am setting up.  I am teaching a new course under the name Cool to be Kind this weekend with my great friend and colleague Marie Miller.  The course is aimed at professionals working with dogs and we are covering several topics including the power of the nose which is something that many people over look when working with companion dogs.  I am also writing a piece on behaviour as the two words dominant and submissive are often used to label dogs. These words are also used to describe horses but they are incorrectly used and certainly over used and once a label is on an animal it is really hard to remove that label. The focus is then on the label and any other positive behaviour that the animal may display is often overlooked. I am suggesting that instead we look at behaviour from a different perspective and have put together a spectrum that would give people a greater understanding of how animals respond in different situations.  As the words dominant and submissive are also rather negative and certainly very limiting I am suggesting that we instead describe behaviour as either Extrovert or Introvert.

Behaviour is a continuum and just like people, animals have many ways of expressing themselves and at times may be more withdrawn and at other times more expressive.  I am not implying that we should simply re-label an animal as either extrovert or introvert but do want people to start looking at the animals body language and responses to stimulus at all times so am using these words to describe behaviour rather than general temperament although of course it is likely that an animal will be more one than the other.  Ideally though there should be times when an animal is more extrovert in expression and times when an animal starts to become more introvert such as when it is resting (if in fact it can even do that) and by studying the animal at different times and in different situations people may start to see their animals with new eyes and make any adaptations to the way they train, handle and manage the animals in their care.  Problems arise when an animal is stuck in one phase of the spectrum as ideally an animal should be able to move through the phases without much intervention from the handler depending on many factors including the time of the day. The more extrovert expression would be volatile, explosive reactions and the more introvert expression would be an animal that is shutting down.  I certainly see plenty of horses and dogs that display these behaviours and the more I look at animals in this way, the more I see. Both extreme responses are reactions to stress.  I am interested to see how this is received when I present this at the workshop on Saturday.  Below is chart that makes up some of the written hand-out I am putting together to help people start re-assessing the dogs that are currently in their care but the same applies to horses as well.

• Extrovert                                                                                  Introvert

• Warmth                                                                                      Coolness

• Sun                                                                                              Moon

• Day                                                                                             Night

• Expanding                                                                                   Contracting

• Vocal                                                                                           Quiet

• Expressive                                                                                  Reflective

• Releasing                                                                                     Accumulating

• Exuberance                                                                                 Lacks enthusiasm

• Drive                                                                                            Hesitancy

• Enthusiastic                                                                                Reluctant

• Movement                                                                                    Stillness

• Colour                                                                                          Paleness

• Confident                                                                                     Unsure

• Interaction increases energy                                                    Interaction saps energy

• Thrives on company                                                                   Prefers solitude

• Appears energetic and keen                                                      Appears aloof

• Becomes more active when stressed                                        Withdraws / stressed

The trip to Holland was a great success and I had around 50 people from various rescue organisations at the workshop which was organised by a friend who I met at ICAWC several years ago.  I am due back in Holland at the end of the month and will be presenting this concept there as the audience is going to consist mainly of people working in the field of behaviour. 

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11. November 2011 by admin.

I am back home and packing again as I leave for Holland tomorrow.  At least I only need to take out my work clothes, wash them and fold (shove?) them back in my suitcase.  I had a fantastic time in Latvia at the International Companion Animal Welfare Conference working with Steve Goward from Dogs Trust who has a natural gift with dogs and we picked three young puppies from the local shelter for our behaviour workshop.

My favourite was a shy little black GSD type who was really nervous.  In the taxi on the way back to the conference venue he was shaking and vocalising. He was also really touch sensitive which is not uncommon in nervous dogs or horses.  We took him and two of his friends into the room before the delegates arrived so that we could accustom them all to their new surroundings and had great fun playing with them.  My good friend Carolyn Menteith was also with us which was a great help and the pups were hilarious.  They had never had a collar on before the seminar and had never been on the lead either (obviously) so the learning curve was rather steep, bless them, but they were AMAZING.

We had excellent feedback from the workshop which was packed but the best response was from my little GSD pup.  When I took him back out to the foyer to wait for a taxi back to the shelter he was as calm as anything.  He had learnt so much in such a short space of time and had significantly grown in confidence.  He was calm and relaxed and watched everyone coming and going without a murmur.  He was happy to be handled all over his body and seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed his first outing.  I love this work.

I also participated in a presentation by Ian MacFarlaine dressed up as a young Bristolian dog owner without any canine knowledge seeking advice from a mobile welfare unit and had a great time on stage dressed in plenty of gold with fantastic fake eyelashes which I have become strangely attached to wearing.  I am seriously tempted to re-invent myself although it was rather disconcerting walking from the hotel to the conference venue as no one gave me a second look - clearly the residents of Latvia think I always dress this way.

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