10th May 2025
Trusted co-operation is exactly what it says on the tin…but where do you start?
Trust first.
Then asking for co-operation through teaching, and this means breaking things down into small steps, and then working with the personality of the specific animal.
This session with Lara showed us that she is a quick learner, and she is not frightened of trying new things, but when she can do it she then wants to go away and process, or move on to something else. Too much repetition is not going to work. For Lara, repeating too often means “you are not seeing me”.
After Lara we also did a similar session with Sam (not in the video). For him though it is different. For him the slower the better, allowing him to ‘be okay’ with every step which means lots of repetition. It also means making sure of your process with him, as he struggles with change.
Like people, every animal responds differently to learning, and to change, and trusted co-operation goes both ways. An animal will co-operate readily with you, if you co-operate with them, by allowing them to do what they need to do to learn.