Black hats and fear

The sensitivity of animals to their environment is hardly a new observation - from animals in Indonesia and Thailand turning for higher ground ahead of the disasterous tsunami in '04 to my own childhood dog that would dive into an opened kitchen cabinet during a thunderstorm, it's pretty well common knowledge by now. However, the question of why animals are so attuned is still open, but Temple Grandin gives it her best in Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior. Grandin is herself autistic, and draws numerous parallels between her own experience and how animals perceive the world around them. While the book would benefit from more extensive footnoting as it's sometimes hard to see Grandin's evidence for her conclusions, her ideas about how to work with animals rather than against them are definitely worthwhile. Understanding how animals think about their world and then using that information to train and handle them properly is far more effective than anthropomorphizing them to the point where you can't get through at all. Grandin theorizes that whereas animals and autistic people tend to think in pictures, normal people tend to think in words. Making these twain meet requires us verbal creatures to make more use of the visual in training and understanding our animal companions.

Probably my favorite part of this book is the heavy emphasis Grandin puts on understanding animal fear. Almost every animal I've ever met is afraid of something, but when fear gets out of control your normally placid pooch can go from zero to apeshit in about .02 seconds flat. Training should be about managing and calming fear, not creating it through aggressive methods. Treats and patience reap far greater rewards than any choke collar ever could.