A Letter to Veterinarians

Aug 292021
 

Over the past few years, a bit of a disconnect has developed between many veterinarians and their clients, and I wanted to share a slightly different perspective on the problem and suggest that it might be somewhat ameliorated by vets rethinking some of how they operate:

Many articles and memes have been written about how challenging the veterinary field has become: the depressing suicide rates; the crazy student debt; the unkind, entitled, and unappreciative clients; the long hours that are never enough; the unfair expectations… All of that is true and valid, and I will continue to support the veterinary profession and encourage pet owners to be as kind and understanding as possible! Let me say that again—be kind to your veterinarian, they are working very, very hard to help you and your animals, and they deserve courtesy, thanks, respect, and gratitude!

That said, let me share with you another perspective. Long ago I worked in several vet offices, most of my childhood I wanted to be a vet, many of my friends are vets, and I have owned many animals for over 40 years, so I have a lot of experience with vets.

I used to love going to the vet: I had multiple vets, and I felt like each and every one of them was a friend, an ally, a vital and cherished member of the team working to keep my animals healthy! We were comrades, and we would discuss current research and best plans for how to make the best decisions for my animals. They treated me as the world’s foremost authority on my animals, and they listened carefully and conspired with me to do what was best for my animals. They trusted me, and I them. I would bring in some research study on a new protocol, and they would take it and research it and call me a few days later to discuss. If I needed a relatively benign medicine, I could almost always call and get some without having to bring my animal in for a stressful visit. In most cases they welcomed me to assist, to restrain, to comfort, and if they thought my participation was likely to be counterproductive, we discussed options. If I wanted to spend all day lying on the hard floor comforting my animal, they encouraged it, smiled, and stepped over me. Even though bills were sometimes high, I rarely doubted that they were doing what they absolutely believed was best for my cherished animal and for me, and I always came home feeling thankful and deeply grateful.

Over the past twenty years, long before Covid, vet offices have become much less collegial. Many vets seem to feel that all owners are uninformed idiots who know hardly anything about animals, and while I recognize that some significant portion of clients are dopey, I think assuming all are is deeply problematic.  Many vets want to talk money before anything else, want to immediately take animals into the back, want to perform unnecessary procedures that seem far more about profit than animal welfare. They often try to upsell unnecessary, and sometimes strongly contraindicated, products or procedures. Many seem uninterested in the emotional or psychological needs of an individual animal. Often it feels like if you go to the vet you will be swept up into their process and have little control over what happens. Many vets seem to believe they know best even about topics upon which they have very little education or experience, or that they love and care more than the animal’s owner. A surprising number of new vets seem quite brainwashed by the Animal Rights agenda and are more than a little misinformed, anti-breeder, and anti-animal welfare in support of imaginary rights.

I dread having to go into a veterinary office where they have not known me for years—I feel like I am walking into a fight before I even get to the door. And nearly every experienced animal owner I know feels the same and fears the day their good-old-vet retires and they are forced to try to find a younger vet who seems interested in working with owners…

There are lots of reasons, some valid and some not, why this shift has occurred. But in my opinion, this disconnect between vets and animal owners is at the root of a great deal of the unhappiness that is causing vets and techs to feel unvalued and take their own lives, and while I think some remediation may derive from encouraging pet owners to be kind and understanding, I think a significant portion of the resolution must come from the veterinary profession making some fundamental changes that will rebuild the sense of connection, trust, and alignment between animal owners and veterinarians.

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 August 29, 2021  Posted by at 8:21 pm Tagged with: , , ,

Seek the suck!

May 282021
 

There are many trite inspirational sayings and anecdotes about embracing challenge and struggle in life, for it is in these moments that growth occurs. (One of my favorites is the story of how a reporter asked Muhammed Ali how many sit-ups he performed, and he answered that he had no idea, because he did not start counting until they started to really hurt, for those were the only ones that mattered…) Often, these platitudes sound great in theory, but in the moments when they really matter they seem hollow.

One of the great lessons in animal training is, perhaps, that it is precisely the imperfections that ARE the point:

Veillan and I were struggling a bit—he did not understand what I was asking and was getting frustrated, and I was trying to figure out how to communicate more clearly, and we worked through it, and my instinct was to feel proud and happy that we had overcome the bad spot and could now move on to the good, and it suddenly struck me that the moment we had just completed WAS the good. The stuff before and after was pleasant enough, but it was in the little struggle that I grew, that Veillan grew, that our trust, confidence, bond, language, understanding, and affection grew. That moment was the great gift of animal training, the great gift of life. I got out of bed seeking that moment, not seeking to avoid or even overcome it. Recognizing challenging moments in this way perhaps helps us to genuinely release frustration and impatience—these are not failures or negatives—and relax and enjoy the preciousness of the moments that matter most.

This may all sound rather obvious and remedial to many, but for me it was a bit of an epiphany—I have always been good at embracing the suck in the sense that I was good at coming to terms that it was a necessary step towards where I wanted to be; but I am not sure I have previously recognized that perhaps the suck is not a step; but rather the goal…

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 May 28, 2021  Posted by at 7:04 pm Tagged with: , , , ,

Emotional States as Training Goals

Aug 182020
 

For most of the last twenty-five years, if you had asked me to define my training style, I probably would have identified myself as a “joy trainer.” My central defining characteristic as a trainer has been to find and develop joy in playing the game; to determine ways to ensure that doing whatever behavior I wanted was the most fun option imaginable, and that the animal was demonstrably, actively engaged and enthused about the process and the outcome. Over the course of training thousands of dogs, cats, antelope, raccoon, skunk, lemur, crows, chickens, lions, tigers, bears, snakes, and nearly everything else to fairly high levels for hundreds of films, commercials, ads, and TV shows, this technique has served me very well, not only in terms of achieving superb results, but also in terms of having extremely happy animals that LOVE to train and that continue working over long lifespans, and also feeling very good about myself and the lives of my animals.

In that vein, I have often written about the importance, early in training any animal, of determining precisely what that individual finds genuinely rewarding, and understanding the patterns and specifics of reinforcement—when should you use which treats, when play which games, when use which types of praise or petting. What motivations and drives that animal possesses and how best to utilize them.

But over the past few years, Veillan, an energetic Lusitano x Arab colt, has helped me to realize that my thinking about joy, drive, and reinforcement was too narrow. When I started training Veillan, I found myself struggling a bit to figure out how to incorporate play and joy into his training. Sure, he had periods of exuberant play, but they tended to be brief and difficult for me to instigate, and trying to play with him while also being safe and not allowing him to rehearse behaviors that would be dangerous and undesirable later in life was challenging.  

(It is worth pointing out that my horse experience has been comparatively limited: I rode camp horses as a kid, and briefly participated in an equestrian program in eighth grade, but really had not ridden much. Over the years when we needed to work horses, I always demurred to Lauren who is a lifelong equestrienne. Of course, I started out reading many books, watching, hundreds of DVDs, attending countless clinics, seminars, and lectures, and the vast majority of the principles of training are sufficiently parallel to all other animals that in relatively short order I felt reasonably competent—I knew how and when to release pressure to reinforce a desired behavior, I understood about waiting for relaxation, I was getting pretty good results, my horses were calm and happy and working pretty well, but I had not really figured out how to bring “joy training” to my horses, and none of the horse training experts I consulted seemed particularly focused on joy or exuberance in their horses.)

One day I found myself thinking about something well-known by everyone, and absurdly obvious—that horses are paradigmatically prey animals, and that most of the animals I have trained are predators. In predators, excitation is a powerful positive. Chasing, fighting, killing, eating—good! In prey animals, excitation is generally less positive—being chased, fighting, being killed, being eaten—bad! A central goal for any prey animal is to avoid unnecessarily expending calories or risking injury, so exuberant play is problematic. If you watch young predators, they spend huge amounts of time joyfully playing and rehearsing excitation. If you watch young prey animals, they do play and evince joy, but FAR less. In contemplating this, I realized that I was overlaying onto my animals my assumption that “joy” represented the highest ideal. Perhaps, I suddenly realized, different individuals perceived different emotional states as having more or less value than I assumed…

Most of the horses I have known crave above nearly everything else what I will—imprecisely—call “tranquility.” Tranquility is a complex notion. It includes relaxation, calmness, contentedness, safety, harmony, peace, clarity, certainty, confidence, comfort, balance, and connectedness to friends, self, and environment,. A horse is happiest when all these things come together, although different horses may weight the individual components differently, and to a large degree spends its entire life trying to return to tranquility, to remove whatever factors are interfering with that return. Certainly, play and fun can be used, to great effect, in horse training, but they must be used in service of helping the animal achieve its emotional holy grail.

I started thinking about different dogs who had worked primarily in different drives, and realizing that not only were their drives different, their ideal energy states were different. Loki was happiest in a very relaxed state, Slate finds relaxation almost unpleasant and wants to be vibrating, Flint enjoyed an almost violent tension. Even though they each had play drive and retrieve drive, the emotional tone of their play was very different. As I contemplated each of the animals I have trained, I found myself more and more recognizing that each of them had an ideal energy state, and that training them worked best when I could match my energy, intentions, and actions to that tone, and mindfully help them achieve that state.

One of the central tasks for any animal trainer is to find ways to help each animal recognize that performing the desired behavior is the path to maximizing whatever energetic and emotional state brings that individual the most bliss.

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 August 18, 2020  Posted by at 9:16 pm Tagged with: , , , , ,

Education Protects Against the Vagaries of Life

May 112019
 

I have written many times about how and why education is critical to the life of an animal. How it builds confidence, develops intelligence, strengthens bonds, etc.. How learning begets more learning, and understanding begets comfort, relaxation, and joy. I go on and on about this from the animals’ perspective because it is one of my deepest passions and areas of expertise.

Recently, however, I have had a series of experiences that made me want to share one distinct reason for teaching your pets a wide variety of skills that may not seem essential in the moment: things change.

Several people I have known have recently undergone huge life events that changed most of the details of their existence. They got old, injured, evicted, fired, whatever, and suddenly they had to pivot and build a new life, and their less-skilled pets became a huge impediment. If your pet is adaptable, flexible, and able to survive in a wide variety of circumstances, they will thrive, and be happy, no matter where you may end up. Even if you end up dead, or having to rehome your pet, the likelihood of an educated pet finding a good home and having a great life is far greater than if your pet is stressed, noisy, destructive, contentious, aggressive, has very specific needs, etc. Do not get me wrong—there are some pets that will never be “easy” no matter how much effort you put in, and I am not saying that owners of difficult pets are in any way “less” than owners of easy pets! I am merely saying that the more you can do to actualize any animal’s potential to be a good citizen and a delight, the more you will have increased that animal’s ability to find success and happiness in this dynamic world…

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 May 11, 2019  Posted by at 8:03 pm Tagged with: , , ,

Love, loss, and vulnerability

Apr 232019
 

One of the great gifts animals give us is helping us learn to be vulnerable, and to love without reservation or fear of loss.

I was chatting with a friend who had not had a pet in many years, and he explained to me that he had owned a dog, it had died, and he had been devastated and decided he would never again set himself up for that sort of pain.

For me, the lesson is just the opposite: each animal I have loved has grown my capacity to love with abandon—to know that there is an end coming and that the loss will be profound, but to leap in anyway, to savor every moment, pour everything I have into every second I get to share with another, and to build memories that will endure.  I do not know what comes after, but in life our connections are transient, fragile, effervescent; but they make us complete. They fill up our hearts and make it all worthwhile.

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 April 23, 2019  Posted by at 6:10 pm Tagged with: , , , ,

Emotional Baggage

Apr 092019
 

This is somewhat embarrassing to share, but I thought it might be worthwhile:

A little over a year ago, my father suffered a severe stroke, and I spent several months with him in hospitals and rehab, and then drove him across the country to live with me and Lauren. He is a wonderful man whom we both love dearly, but at this point he suffers from severe apraxia, aphasia, and anosognosia, and taking care of him is very challenging, he needs nearly constant assistance and monitoring, and is somewhat moody and bored and understandably angry. None of which I say for sympathy; but rather, to explain that my mood has been somewhat “off” recently. I have been a bit less resilient, tolerant, and beneficent than usual.

What is interesting is not that that my training has not been as good for the past year as it was before, which seems pretty obvious, but my sense of why:

I am not doing anything different. My techniques are the same, my timing is the same, I am not snapping at my animals or correcting them more. My training is fine, but my energy is not as good.

Renowned horseman Tom Dorrance once said,

“First you go with the horse, then the horse goes with you, then you go together.”

This can be understood on many levels, but the one I have been contemplating lately is energetic—we must be able to control our energies and emotions enough that we can bring ourselves into resonance with our animals before we can begin to ask them to modulate their energies with us. Sure, we can “hide” our feelings and muddle through, but animals are masters at discerning underlying feelings, and so we are far more effective when our intentions, emotions, and energies are aligned with our outward communications.

One of the great gifts of working with animals, if we look for and embrace it, is that we learn to be present. We learn to be profoundly mindful and to listen with all of our being to all of another. We learn to have a plan, but to release our expectations of how we shall implement that plan. We learn to be patient, and to let frustration pass over us without taking root. We learn that tiny little changes add up to everything, and that effort and attitude mean far more than performance. We learn to play and smile. We learn that pride and ego and rigidity interfere with effective communication. We learn to breathe and meditate, and to prepare ourselves. We learn to be aware of the sacredness that exists when we ask another to be completely with us, to share our lives, our dreams, and our adventures; to risk with us… We may set out to teach something to our animal, but if we are willing and available, we will likely learn at least as much as they.

One truth that amazes me daily is how deeply cooperative most animals are. If we can effectively explain what we want, and can get ourselves out of the way, most of the time our animals are happy to comply, even when it makes no real sense. But in order for this magic to happen, we must create a space in which they are not afraid, not stressed, not confused; a moment in which they want to be with us, present, engaged, relaxed, focused, enthused, happy. We create this space by being all those things ourselves first, and then inviting them to join us.

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 April 9, 2019  Posted by at 4:29 pm Tagged with: , ,

Anthropomorphism

Feb 282019
 

Since Konrad Lorenz, or perhaps even earlier, anthropomorphism has been viewed as a cardinal sin of ethology. And in the past few decades, this attitude has become ever more prevalent among knowledgeable pet trainers and owners.

In many ways this is absolutely correct: we should never presumptively attribute human thoughts, emotions, and motives to animals.

However, it does not follow that it is wrong to attribute any thoughts, emotions, and motivations. In fact, every bit as fallacious as attributing certain emotions to animals is presumptively denying emotions to animals. (BTW, while it is seriously out of date, Darwin’s “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals” remains well worth reading.)

It absolutely is beneficial and desirable to attempt to understand the emotions, motivations, and perspectives of any animal with whom you have a relationship. Personally, I would argue that this is one of the very best and highest gifts we receive from spending time with animals, so long as a few conditions are met:

  1. Do not assume or imagine that any other animal sees the world the same way you do. Your job is to constantly try to understand the animal’s perspective. Think about their evolution, their desires, their senses, their physical abilities, their experiences, and do your very best to imagine how the world looks and seems from that perspective.
  2. Maintain a consciousness of what you “know” versus what you “believe.”  Very rarely can you know much about an animal’s emotions or motivations—you are far likelier to know their behaviors and their behavioral trends. From these, you can carefully hypothesize or speculate as to their emotions, and can often formulate a fairly solid and predictive sense of how they “feel.”

While anthropomorphism is problematic, far more sinister is its close cousin: sentimentalism. There are few things more destructive to real understanding of animals than infantilizing them, treating them like human babies or Disney characters, imbuing them with human morality or lovey-dovey treacle. Overfeeding a pet because they really want treats and you really want them to love you is not kindness. Giving them autonomous legal status or imaginary rights is deluded and self-serving. Expecting them not to do certain things because they ought to innately “know better” is absurd. Animals are amazing, not as vessels for our fantasies, but on their own authentic merits. The deepest, most loving and real relationship you can have with an animal is one based on honesty and truth–based on genuinely seeing them as who and what they are, and building bridges between that and yourself.

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 February 28, 2019  Posted by at 4:22 am Tagged with: ,

A Note to Parents

Mar 112018
 

Several times recently parents have proudly told me—usually while their child was mauling an animal—that “any animal that survives” their child will be supremely tame. I find this assertion problematic on several levels, most significantly that it mischaracterizes in disturbing ways the process of building trust in an animal. It implies that flooding, through lack of awareness, leads to very tame animals; which, sometimes, can be true, but in most cases those were nice animals that would have been very tame anyway and have gotten through “despite” course handling, not because of it. And often animals handled this way do not become genuinely tame, confident, and trusting; but rather shut down, stressed,  and a bit helpless.

I have very little experience with human children, so I will not focus on that side of the equation except to suggest that as a parent I might want to work on my child not overwhelming animals or dragging on leashes or ignoring animal language and emotion—not only can it be quite dangerous for the children and detrimental for the animals, but also I would think one of the best things about having animals around a child would be the opportunity to work on sensitivity, empathy, and thoughtful awareness.

I do have considerable experience working with a huge range of animals, so I can meaningfully share that to me, building trust and rapport with an animal is almost always a supremely subtle process that requires considerable gentleness and incredible awareness. It is about teaching them that they are safe, that they can control their world, that they can play and communicate and set boundaries. There are moments to retreat, moments to reward, moments to soothe, moments to push forward… There are times to make eye contact, times to look away, times to act indifferent, times to be solicitous, times to leave them alone. There are times to model enthusiasm and raise your own energy, and times to create a calm and safe space for the animals. There is body language and tone of voice and precise observation.

I imagine some children are naturally more gifted than others, but virtually all children will need extensive help learning how to safely and effectively interact with animals. Please, do not justify or excuse your child’s heavy-handed behavior by pretending that it is beneficial, but rather talk to them about how to listen and observe and be gentle and kind…

 

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 March 11, 2018  Posted by at 4:36 am Tagged with: , , ,

Why I will not go see “Noah”

Mar 282014
 

IMG_1524

The story of Noah is one of the earliest and most poignant tales of the vital interconnectedness between man and animals: a story about how every animal on the planet survived solely because man brought them in and protected them from God and Nature…

IIMG_0432n retelling this story, Paramount decided to use virtually no live animals in the film, relying upon computer generated imagery to portray the animals.

I have no problem with CGI—in many cases it can do things live animals cannot; although I might hesitate to watch a movie in which all the animals were CGI, as I find such portrayals have less heart and are less interesting. And I would likely avoid any film released in partnership with HSUS. But neither of these is the issue I want to discuss herein:

Paramount and HSUS have suggested that by not utilizing live animals, they did those animals a service—they prevented them from being forced to work on this project. This assertion I vehemently dispute.  They did these animals a grave disservice—not only did they deprive them of the joy they would have experienced during production, but they prevented them from earning considerable money that would have made their lives, and the lives of other animals, better.

gamblelakebakerI have been privileged to spend hundreds of days on sets with thousands of animals of nearly every species imaginable.  I have collaborated with many of the trainers and companies in North America. And almost without exception I have observed happy, healthy animals having a great time. From the animals’ perspective, they get to spend several weeks going somewhere interesting and comfortable, and playing a great game in which they get lots of treats and praise. They shove each other in the morning trying to get into the vehicle to go to set, and they wag and smile the whole time they are there. No question, there have been some much-publicized exceptions in which accidents or horrid people have caused harm to animals, and I have no doubt there are some unscrupulous animal trainers still in the industry that should not be used, but there are few industries with as much oversight and better track records than modern animal training. If any one of you doubts that the animals love this undertaking, try an experiment—cut up a few hot dogs, grab a few toys, and take your dog into the back yard and spend ten minutes playing with him and teaching him a new trick.  Then tell me whether the animal seemed miserable and exploited, or ecstatic and delighted. Almost every animal loves the game of learning and performing tricks, and those who prefer other activities are not “forced” as they simply would not be successful in film-work.

Some will point out that as an animal trainer I have a fiscal incentive and a perspective that make it unlikely for me to be objective. In truth, I made a much better income in my prior career than I do as an animal trainer–I do this because I love animals.  I love spending my days with them, bringing them joy, sharing them with the world in film.  I do this because I experience every day that animals can have lives with humans that are very bit as rich and full as any they could have in the wild. The idyllic wild is a myth–it never really existed and it certainly does not today.  If most species are going to survive this century, they are going to do so within man’s ark, with our devotion and affection.

Animal trainers spend nearly all the money they earn on their animals. It might be nice if we lived in a world in which work was IMG_4279not required, and we could all just lounge around, but we do not.  Each of us works to survive, the lucky among us having a great deal of fun doing so.  Every wild animal “works” very hard almost every minute of their generally short lives to find food and stay alive.  Movie animals generally perform a few hours per year, have a great time and never even know they are “working.” In exchange they get pampered lives that are far longer and more comfortable than almost any other life on the planet.  They are kept safe and healthy.  They have optimal nutrition and clean water. They are given enrichment, companionship, games, medicine.  They are kept free from parasites. They are loved and cherished and their every desire fulfilled. There are very few humans or animals on the planet that have it as good as movie animals.

ShayslideThis life of safety, comfort, and joy is financed by the film industry.  When productions elect to not use live animals, it is just like their electing not to hire any other department—it means loss of opportunity and income for those animals.

Paramount and Darren Aronofsky have every right to not use animals in their movie. But let’s be honest—choosing not to have animals in your production does not benefit animals, it harms them.

 

BeachMay2009027A

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 March 28, 2014  Posted by at 5:17 pm Tagged with: , , , , ,

A Letter to Breeders

Feb 122013
 

Dear Dog, and other animal,Untitled-3 Breeders,

Over the past few years, dog breeders have been included in much controversy, and I want to take a minute to address all “serious” dog breeders directly:

Thank you!  Thank you! Thank you!  You have so deeply enriched and improved my life, and the lives of nearly every person I know, and I want to encourage and implore each and every one of you to keep breeding and know that your efforts are well recognized and understood by many of us, even if that truth is sometimes lost in the clamor…

Johnny014Dog breeders are often vilified by Animal Rights zealots, by well-meaning but woefully misguided members of the public who have been persuaded that breeders are causing overpopulation and filling justsheepshelters, by rescuers and shelter workers whose views of the world have become so skewed by the war they are waging that they have lost all perspective, and by those in the media who prefer drama to truth.

Breeders are the solution, not the problem. You are the true heroes stewarding the present and the future of dogs.  You are the ones creating healthy, well-structured animals with great temperaments and excellent early socialization. You are the ones funding health research. You are the ones devoting your lives and resources to the betterment of the species. You are the ones who put in twenty hour days giving your puppies everything and then wake up three times during the night to check on them. You are the ones whose dogs are virtually never in shelters because you do such a good job screening and placing and taking back dogs. You are the ones who have virtually eliminated overpopulation within your realm and in fact created a shortage of good dogs such that it often takes years of waiting before a puppy is available.

Clip0039That another, completely unrelated, group of idiots allows their dogs to keep reproducing for no good reason and filling shelters; that a few profit-driven miscreants breed countless dogs in horrid conditions; that rescues and shelters keep placing horrific dogs in homes so that they bounce back and keep the system full; that naivety motivates the unnatural and unsustainable notion of no-kill, that by nature dogs produce more puppies than are needed and so some excess and attrition are unavoidable—these things are not your fault!

napYes, there are issues that breeders need to improve—breeding towards extremes, prioritizing the wrong goals, breeding too young, over-breeding certain lines, placing excessive value on breed purity, hostility towards differing opinions, elitist attitudes, undervaluing balance—and I hope breeders will continue to improve.  And yes, there are some awful breeders out there.  But all in all, it is you who have created the wonderful dogs of today, and you who will create the wonderful dogs of tomorrow, and my gratitude for that is nearly boundless. And while there are some lovely accidentally bred dogs in shelters (I have a few!), and some awful dogs being produced by breeders, at the end of the day the quality of dogs generally being produced by careful breeders is leaps and bounds higher than what is generally available in shelters.

All thhosee mindless anti-breeder rhetoric is nothing more than misleading hate-mongering that points the blame in the wrong direction: if breeders, and the public, buy into this mindless propaganda, we will lose all the good dogs in a few years, with virtually no reduction in the number of poorly bred dogs filling the shelters.

So please, keep up the good work and know how much you and your hard work are appreciated. And above all, know that the fabulous creatures you produce are dearly loved and valued.

Clip0034

blueboy

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 February 12, 2013  Posted by at 9:17 pm
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