I was recently given the opportunity to give an extremely brief presentation on the type of work I do. It was optional for me to bring an animal. Of course I chose to do so. It’s one thing to talk about the work I do, and it’s another and so powerful to see the work in action. I chose to take Milo, the micro-mini pig that comes here to the Center for training.
Milo has only been in one presentation I have given and that was about a month ago to a group of sixty people and that was here at the Center. Milo is very familiar with everything here at the Center. Before this presentation on Tuesday night, Milo has never been in a presentation off-site. The pressure was on. Well, it was on for me and I did my hardest to make sure any nervousness was not transferred through me to Milo.
The night before the presentation I began our training. We tried a few different things. Some behaviors were taking more time to train than I had. We settled on a few behaviors and practiced them, their sequence, and what I was going to say the day of the presentation.
That evening we were on. The event was in a hotel conference room. I brought Milo into the hotel and practiced a few behaviors in the hallway prior to the event. He was hesitant on one of the behaviors and then I observed him stop giving another I had trained. Not what I wanted to see but more important, I didn’t want to push him past his comfort level. It wasn’t worth it and I definitely didn’t want that feeling paired with his first presentation.
A few minutes before our presentation we practiced again before we walked in. He was spot on. The doors opened and I asked Milo to step up and in my arms he went while I carried him in the conference room. I gave my presentation fairly smoothly and the best part of all, Milo did every behavior I requested of him without hesitation. I was so proud of him and I was extremely happy as I thanked everyone and walked off the stage with Milo. When I walked out of the conference room, I was on cloud nine. This was a new environment for him and this was a group of people I was nervous about presenting. Milo and I were a team on that stage. He complemented me and hopefully he found that I complemented him. We won the competition that evening.
An hour later we were in the car and on our way home. His crate was right behind the driver’s seat. He was grunting his comfort grunts. I laughed and glanced back at him. His head was poking out of his blanket and looking at me. I put my fingers in his crate as I drove and he rested his head in my hand. What an award that was to me. No competition could give me a better prize than that.
I walked him in the house and he followed willingly and without hesitation. That night I chose to pick him up and set him on
my chest as I lied on the couch. His feet tucked under his tiny body and that is where he fell asleep. What a connection we made with each other that evening. That is the connection made through the type of training I do and behavior I study. Whether we won the competition that night or not, I won regardless. Thank you Milo. Thank you for that experience.
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