Click and Speak

Domů
česko
Keblice
Click and Speak

A place to record my life as an owner of a horse and cat, and a worker in Animal Assisted Pedagogy and Social Work.

Or, what I have been learning training an orphan horse. A combination of training methods, based on science and best practices, most notable R+ but also informed by input from experienced trainers in multiple disciplines. Most notably, how I used sign language and positive reinforcement to train my horse to "speak."

10/06/2026

Things Padfoot used to like:
Food
His space and quiet
His few people

Things Padfoot now loves:
Mommy
Playing fetch
Walks
"Hunting" mice
Training
Car rides
Exploring in the woods
Nosework training
Sniffing games
Chasing pheasants
Tracking wildlife paths through fields and woods
Cuddles
Cookies
Meeting new people
Running around on a tracking lead
Guarding the garden
Treat balls that he rolls around to get part of his meals
His blanket
Chewing coffeewood sticks
Belly pets
Food
Naps in the sunshine
Sitting outside in the fresh air
Making doggie friends (well... he loves that sometimes)
Yelling at birds, hedgehogs, and village cats (🤬🤬🤬)
Metallica
When Mommy sings to him
Recall training outside the garden
Helping with chores (e.g. taking out the trash and recycling with me)
Hearing "I love you" and "you're a good dog"

A good reminder when I am tempted to get discouraged about how far we have to go in our training journey together- he already loves his life and has a much better quality of life than he probably ever had. So no matter what, we have been successful at something 🥰

01/06/2026

You gave me reasons to get back up from rock bottom.
You inspire me with your resilience, your bravery, your refusal to back down from a fight.

You are determined to love, to enjoy your life, to trust that things are good now, and you don't need to listen to your trauma brain. In this you show me how to do the same.

We are learning together how to be better supports for each other, and how to fight for better tomorrow's.

As I said in the story today: including your chronic illnesses, you have cheated death three times. They told me you probably wouldn't make it past your fifth birthday, and for a little while there, I thought that might be the case.

Yet here I am again, as I have said so many times with you: well, what the hell do I know? Because here we are today celebrating your sixth birthday, and I could not tire you out with training, or walking, or playing ball, or stop you from smiling (or barking at the birds. FFS. That's our new challenge, isnt it 🤦🏻‍♀️)

Happy birthday, Padfoot. We will keep moving forward, celebrating every inch of progress, and learning how to love each other better. You are a very very good boy and don't you forget it!

13/05/2026

It has been 3 months since I got sick, and one month since I was cleared to start slowly returning to life. I still feel like I'm functioning at about 25% capacity, with the bare minimum still wiping me out. But what is keeping me going and getting my strength back (at a glacial pace) is still these three:

- getting Aston Martin back to work to address his topline strength and suppleness
- getting Paddy more enrichment and socialization as we practice training in different environments
- getting Kryptonite back to therapy work, and giving him mental stimulation at home

It is tiring as anything, but I feel myself incrementally improving all the time. And that is a win on its own 🏆✌🏻

10/05/2026

Three of my greatest accomplishments are the glowups of these three boys who have my heart now and forever - Bear, Padfoot, and Audeamus (Aston Martin).

Many people call me obsessed, and other more colorful things, for how I care for my critters. Several people have even told me I should not care as much as I do, that I apparently put animal welfare and my personal zoo, in too high of a place in my heart and life.

Well.

Not unrelatedly, every single person who has said that to me has deeply betrayed me on completely unrelated terms and circumstances, some of them so badly I have cut them out of my life, or at least severely limit contact. In the end, they had no idea what was best for me.

But though I still grieve those losses, I can be even more certain in my own intuition. It doesn't matter what other people think or do. I was put on this earth to love, to nurture, to care for, and to go for the misfits, the outsiders, the lost causes, the cautionary tails (see what I did there?) to fix the broken things.

I didnt do any of it alone, but I did do it myself, and the proof is in the pudding. It may not be a cure for cancer, but to these three innocent souls, their lives were saved and turned around. Lucky me to watch them shine 😊

08/04/2026

Nicer weather means more enrichment opportunities! Even with two of us on bedrest and two of us unable to coexist without Mommy's supervision, we are still making it work - grazing, sniffari walks, playing jungle kitty, lots of brushing, lots of snuggles, and looking for little glimmers of joy where we can get them 🥰

10/01/2026

The Two extremes of feelings about the snow expressed by my children 🐶🐴❄️

05/01/2026

I'm a foreigner. I speak three languages fluently (more or less), three more on a basic level, and two more on a Neanderthal level. So a question I often get is "what language does Aston/Kryptonite/Paddy speak?"

My first instinct is to lecture about body language, and behavior, and scent, and how that question is anthropomorphising and leads to misunderstanding and mistreatment and bad training... but that's not what people are asking, really.

So I answer: "he speaks horse/cat/dog, reacts to my non-verbal and other environmental cues, and when I talk, he probably in his head is doing his version of "nod and smile 🙂‍↕️" I speak with them however I express myself best. But I am always trying to learn how to read them and understand them better."

Today, I was listening to an audio book in spanish on the way to the stable. So I was speaking Spanish with Aston. In case you were wondering how the ride went, here is a quote:

"Vale, pues vamos con calma, eh? Con calma, digo... ESO NO ES CALMA PENDEJO!"

Spanish proste cayó better.

16/11/2025

For a long time now, I've been sensing I need to slow down. Even more. No, still more. Even still more. The first memo about this that I actually listened to seemed to come from Aston Martin himself.

My mental health has been kicking my ass 😆 getting the bare minimum done at work, and for Paddy and Kryptonite, is wiping me out and overwhelming me. Giving up more time to train Aston as intensively as I would like has not been really feasible.

He still comes running to see me, even if we are just playing My Pretty Pony, or giving yummies for existence, or just going for a slow ride at the walk in the woods. He seems to know that it's his turn to carry me now.

I'm trying to remember that this is just a season, and it's OK to not be super explosive and productive every month of your life.

Here's to grace, and to taking things one day at a time, and to being grateful for even the smallest of wins.

16/11/2025

Almost a whole month of good days with a very good boi! We are making a million tiny steps in the right direction for getting over vet visit trauma, fear of being touched and handled, fear of being closed in (even in arms), and fearing invasions of personal space. What has been helping:

-microdosing affection, activity, and stimulation, while offering LOTS of time in a safe, dark, quiet space for sleeping
-thinslicing and putting criteria super low (at least trying to, hashtag type A trainer problems)
-learning as much as I can, and getting feedback from experts and experienced friends around me
-being brave enough to at least start, even if I do it badly

Thanks to for the trust, .thepitbull .katerina.junghansova for all the training feedback and for answering all my questions. May karma richly reward you 🩵

30/10/2025

One week of Paddy 🥰 we are being super careful that his body and psyche can adjust to being in a home, which sounds nice but is a pretty big change for the caramel cockroach 😅 this week he has been sweet, calm, and has shown no reactivity or aggression at all. We are taking it one day at a time, and taking nothing (not even good behavior) for granted 😉

Thanks and

Adresa

Keblice
41201

Internetová stránka

http://www.anipetrak.cz/, https://clickcvak.blogspot.com/

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