Finnegan is one of our best boys for many things. He’s clever, has an excellent sense of humour, is extremely athletic and loves to learn new things. He’s a driving horse extraordinaire, single, tandem, pair, and four in hand. He does obstacles, jumps, showmanship, taught himself to do a trick, and has been in the Calgary Stampede parade many times. He’s trustworthy, gives every human exactly what they can handle, loves to be involved in whatever is happening, and completely irreplaceable around here.
Finnegan HATES needles.
He’s flat out dangerous when vaccination time comes around. Once, he knocked my Grandma over, while simultaneously causing me to put the needle through my own finger instead. Another time, he broke my Grandad’s arm.
Luckily, I finally learned about using food rewards in training, and spent some time with him practicing the skills involved, and making it very clear to him that he will earn a treat for every step along the way, and two years in a row his vaccine has been uneventful, and this year I really think he thought “huh, maybe I’ve been over reacting because that wasn’t bad at all” lol here’s hoping!
Making the switch to reward based training has made such a difference in so many ways, and that’s why I wanted to highlight this sort of training in my new book, Positively Different. If I can help others learn that there is a better, easier, more fun way to do things, then I’ll be so happy to have spread the word!
