Before reading my story on friends and theory-of- mind, click on the TGO Photo Club page in the left column, Dave Cesari has a story on the Sharp-shinned Hawk.

My Story : Animals are my friends.

Yep, that is what I said – Do not take from that statement that I prefer animal friends to human friends – It is far from that.  Without my human friends there would be no life for me.

But, having animal friends is like traveling to the ski slopes.  It is an activity enjoyed. Owning, feeding, cleaning, petting, and training my animal friends is an activity that has been central to my whole life. Due to brittle bones of old age, I have given up skiing, but I have not given up on animals. I will continue to own and train animals.

See the difference between human and animal friends.  I do not own and will not train  my human friends – Rather, my human friends and I have a mutual sharing of mind and soul which defines our lives together.

Maybe animals are a little like our human babies which fully depend on us for care and learning.

Babies, like animals, have not yet picked up the “theory of mind” – which is the theory that “Not all knowledge is universal”,

If you hide a toy from a 2-year-old and they see you hide it, they assume everyone knows where the toy is and they assume it will always be there – they do not think about you removing it when they are not looking.  By three years of age, our babies realize that just because they know something it does not mean everyone else knows it.  From that realization, they begin to form judgements and opinions. At that stage my children began to become my human friends, sharing mind and soul.

My animal friends, on the other hand,  never reached that state.  We do not share mind and soul. We enjoy a lopsided relationship where I own them,  keep them safe and happy, and train them to do as I say.  I have enjoyed that relationship with chickens, rabbits, cats, dogs, cows, horses, ponies, sheep, emus  llamas, parakeets, gerbils, turtles, snakes, lizards, or others I can not remember.

Three of my dogs friends – each with its native DNA excelled at and loved being trained to work. -Newfy, Sooka, and Dynamite.

I was thinking back over the years, instead of taking a skiing trip to the Rocky’s or what other activity that I did not do – I spent hours each day training animals.

Perla, my horse friend for example, learned that a finger pointed at her chest told her she must back up, or a wave of two arms told her to get up on the box in the field, and the list goes on. 

At six, I was training chickens to enter the coop when I walked into their yard at dusk so that they would be protected from raccoons and weasels that would be out seeking dinner that night.

House, Barns, and Chicken Coop, where at 6 years old ,I was given responsibilities caring for and training chickens.

Mostly I like working with dogs – I think they almost approach “theory of mind”. I had great working dogs that learned to compete in the Show-Ring and won top awards, they knew how to control cattle in the field, they knew how to pull wagons loaded with my children and their friends, and they could pick out a nut that I rubbed my hand scent on and then threw it into thousands of nuts under the Live Oak tree on my ranch in Texas. The instruction to Laverne, the  Papillon, was “Get the nut you nut.” She would return with it and I would laugh, clap hands. jump up and down – she was glad she could make me so happy and would beg to do it again.

All of this training sure gave me a sense of success – made me happy. The biggest success I had was to have happy animals. Even without the theory-of-mind, I am convinced that animals have emotions. I am sure  my cows, horses, and dogs truly enjoyed our training sessions – they laughed with me and they loved to know “Yea, I got it”.  As they returned to their pasture, entered the barn, or sat on the front porch they were happier for their “Yea, I got it” sessions.

Here the training is not showing the horse how to enter the trailer – it knows how to do that – it is training the horse to trust you – trust you that there is not a bear in there ready to eat her..

Here I think the horse is happy to see me laugh – I think animals truly love to hear their “owner” laugh and set a happy tone.

Oh my, I got it. He wants me to get on this box. If that makes him happy – I will do it.

Sure hope two feet are enough for him.

For herd members, touching is comfort.

In training a horse – First is trust, second is happiness, and third is the act of herd member touching.

Here are some benefits of a well trained animal:

Do not hurt the turtle. Dyna knows that is what I want and the turtle is safe from hassle.

Wait there while I open the gate.

Give the young girl a ride.

No one gets hurt during a hoof trimming session.

Riding in a parade gives spectators joy

Now, I practice digital art with PhotoShop. I train PhotoShop to do what I want – I think training animals is easier – but I will show you some PhotoShop art I made:

Texas ranch armadillo

“To Greener Pastures” – Not sure where this idea came from.

Pretty Kitty – Owned by Heather, one of my human friends.

Oh my, as you swing through life – think of all your friends – human and animal – and say thanks for them all!