I wonder if the animal trainer is by natures a lonely breed, seeking out greater companionship with ahimals than what is available with humans. . . WHy do I, after all, train my rabbits? In some ways, I suppose you could compare it to the story of the mountain climber climbing mountains, saying of his sport that he did because the mountain was simply "there". My rabbits are simply here, and we are in this crazed vortex of time. I try to get close to them -- to anyone -- and I spend my time training them and offering them treats. WHy do I train, probably because I was trained too as a child and I understand that as love. I wonder why kathy took such offense to my training the rabbits. I was trained as an athlete as a child and I consider training to be love. I don't think you just let people be and call it love necessarily.
Anyway, I am not exactly sure why I train the rabbits. I know I saw the vide of the rabbit jumping and was enamored of it. I wanted my rabbits to do that. It was just automatic. As automatic as seeing gymnastics and wanting to do it. There is somehthing in animal training very akin to gymnasitcs, the beauty of the moving form of the athlete's body. My little girsl are athletes, and I take great care of them accordingly.
I posted a video today on YouTube. Nothing spectacular, just Dorcas walking on her hind legs and going through the tunnel, both pretty easy tricks, any bunny trainer would tell you. And I realize that it's easier to train her off harness than on. THat's a real secret. Anyway, you can see it at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZW2g7ayP-w
I don't imagine anyone will watch it. I dream of one of my videos having thousands of hits. I imagine that you have to have some bad videos before you finally get some good video footage. That's the same way with training. You will have some shitty training days. But eventually you will master the art.
