Can you train your pet to be creative?

Creativity might seem to us humans as something ingrained and maybe even inherent to our own species at the exclusion of others, but clicker trainers know it can be nourished and taught. How? It’s actually pretty simple. All you need is your clicker, a box or other objects, and some great treats.

Click and treat if your dog does anything with the box like: walk towards it, nose it, lick it, sniff it, etc.

Now wait and click and treat any other behavior they do. That’s it! Things can get pretty creative after a while though.

Canner’s favorite “box” is this tire.

Nose touch

Two feet on

One foot

Stand beside it!

Rest the head

But why train an animal to be more creative?

Well, for one thing it’s a load of fun. But you also get to nurture a relationship with them where they are exploring their own ideas. It can be a very powerful exercise into seeing just how much is going in their minds.

And if you have a reactive animal, an animal is often afraid of things, nurturing their creativity can do a lot to help. Creativity is opposite of fear. To be creative, you have to feel safe and reflective. An animal in fight or flight mode relies on instinctual drives. The run, the bite, they buck, they freeze. They display very limited behaviors but they often do them forcefully, explosively.

For Canner, that state of mind was a way of life. By encouraging creativity, I also opened up his world. He found more ways to play with the tire than he had before. In the past, tires were simply things to run away from and avoid. Now, he’s figuring out how to hug them.

To date, Canner has thought to do these things with the tire(all of his own accord): whack it with both front hooves, sniff it, bite it, lick it, rest his head on it, stand beside it, stand over it, lean on it, rest his hoof on it, rest his hoof on it while I clean his hoof, run both sides of his nose on it, huff on it, stick his head under it.

He’s not to 101, but he’s on his way!

Here’s some great tutorials on 101 things to do with a box!

 SuzAnne Miller is the owner of Dunrovin Ranch. A fourth-generation Montanan, SuzAnne grew  up roaming the mountains and fishing the streams of western Montana. Her love of nature,  animals, science, and education prompted her to create the world’s first cyber ranch where live  web cameras bring Dunrovin’s wildlife and ranch life to internet users across the globe. 

You can find her blog at: http://dunrovinranchmontana.com/blog/

Have you ever wondered why you never get as many “bites” as the outdoorsman in your life? It seems no matter how hard you try, how much you wiggle your worm, or how much concentrate, that you simply cannot compete with the sheer number of bites your outdoorsman gets. The other strange problem is that I seem to not even see all of the bites and HUGE fish that I am missing, even though I am staring at my line like a rabid coyote on a fluffy bunny. The crazy thing is that the outdoorsman just happens to see all of the bites that I am missing as well as those that he is missing. By the end of the day, I really am not sure how he hasn’t lost his voice from all of his fanatical screaming. It really is no wonder that the fish are scared to bite our hooks. They probably can hear him hooting for miles. After a while, I start to wonder. Is there really a fish? Wasssss there ever really a fish? Am I legally blind and do not know it?
 

At first, I was told that my problem was that I needed to get these particular “magic sunglasses”. So I marched my happy butt down to Bob Wards and bought myself some of these polarized “magic sunglasses”. Yes, I can see the fish under the water much better, but I still do not seem to see the HUGE fish that just came and bit my line and then of course, according to the outdoorsman, I “missed”.
 

I am comforted to know that I am not the only one in the outdoorsman’s life that misses 90% of the fish that supposedly bite my hook. All of his buddies crack a brewsky as soon as they wet they line, so that they too can endure the fanatical fish screaming that they know will ensue shortly. Now, don’t get me wrong, the outdoorsman is not being mean, but he is simply innnnnsannnnely passionate about catching every fish in the water. He is almost like a cartoon character that has had way too much coffee and is jumping at the mere utterance of the word “fish”. He is so excited about every fish, big or small, that he simply cannot contain himself. He will cast until his shoulder aches, he will yell in glee until his voice cracks like a prepubescent boy, and he will have a hell of a time doing it.
 

When our boat happens to cross paths with another boat, I am fairly sure that they think that there is a murder occurring. Nope, it is just the outdoorsman, gone fish crazy. I must admit, sometimes, it’s a bit embarrassing when he is “cat-calling” in a creepy perv voice to the fish. Yikes! I’m not really sure if he is trying to seduce or catch the fish.
 

Now, I love to fish, love the adrenaline rush, and love kicking the outdoorsman’s butt in the fishing competitions that he insists on having, but…. A few weeks ago, we got to go on the Smith River float. The outdoorsman was so excited to go fish the Smith, that he was literally insane. The night before we were set to head over to the Smith, the outdoorsman kept poking at me until I woke up and then would start panting, making some crazy beaver face, and ranting about fishing. Needless to say, it was a sleepless night with lots of whacks upside his head with a pillow.
 

In the end I have decided to embrace the 50 heart attacks he gives me by yelling, “You got one!” How do I do this? I do it right back and boy, oh, boy…It is FUN. I put on my “magic glasses” and yell at ever water ripple that happens to bump his line. I am losing my voice from yelling, “Fish ONNNNN!” He falls for it every time. Sucker!
 

Kristen Berube lives a crazy, laugh-filled life with her outdoorsman husband Remi and their three camo-clad children in Missoula, Montana. A graduate of Montana State University and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, she loves being a mom and enjoys hiking, fishing, and camping. “Confessions of a Camo Queen: Living with an Outdoorsman” is her first book. 

It is available for purchase at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1560376287/ref=tsm_1_fb_lk

This time of year brings such inspiration when it comes to eating. By this time we are done with soups and stews. Totally over baked dishes and comfort food. So ready for something new, something fresh. Just when I think I’ll never feel inspired to cook another dinner, the spinach and kale pop up in the garden. Bringing hope back into the kitchen. Then come the strawberries...bright red peaking out from under the green. Excitement starts because I know this is only the beginning. Oh, I how Iove this time of year for a million reasons. In the top five is definitely eating real food that we grow.
 

I am not the gardener in our family, but luckily my husband is. He starts our tomatoes as seeds and gently moves the tiny plants to the dirt once the danger of frost is over. Tending to them and the other baby plants with such care. He grows it and then I cook it. We wait patiently as the summer goes...going through different crops as they come. Harvesting and eating what is fresh that week. The greens will slowly make way for the abundance of zucchini and then towards the end of summer the final reward is always red, ripe tomatoes. There is nothing, nothing like a garden tomato. Zucchini time is one of my favorites. Perhaps not the rest of my family, I think they get sick of me incorporating it into every single meal. Not wanting to waste a bit of it I shred the excess to freeze and store to get through the winter months when we are craving a bit of garden flavor. It also helps to have gardening family and friends. Fortunately I have both. Everyone growing different things, trading and sharing the abundance of what we’ve grown. Taking anything offered simply because I know it was grown with love. I do not enjoy swiss chard, but if my sister gives us some I will take it and I will like it whether I want to or not. I’ll throw it in a soup because it sure beats buying some store bought greens that traveled miles to get here.
 

In Bozeman we get more than what grows in our own gardens. The farmers markets are a weekly treat where the possibilities of fresh vegetables show up at the very first one. There are two great markets here in Bozeman but I am partial to the one at Bogert. Maybe because it reminds me of childhood and getting a kitten there once upon a time. Maybe because it is such a nice way to spend a summer evening. Strolling through the vendors...picking up some potatoes and onions, finding a yummy dessert for the kids, smelling the deliciousness coming from the food carts and listening to the noise of happy shoppers and local music. Running into friends and letting the kids splash in the creek. Even better is once in awhile finding vendors with fruit...cherries and maybe even peaches...coming from the other side of the divide where fruit grows more easily. Flathead cherry samples getting handed out making it impossible to leave without a bag or two.
 

We got a sneak peek of garden season this year with a rainy day spring trip out to 7 Spruce Farm, a hydroponic tomato farm north of town and a sight to behold. Tim Gallagher constructed a 3,000 SF greenhouse and filled it with 600 tomato plants in hopes of harvesting them year round to the local community. Walking from the cool outside day and into the warm, humid greenhouse felt a bit like stepping off the airplane in Florida. For this heat loving girl, it made me want to pull up a chair, get comfortable and stay awhile. We got to walk around this tomato wonderland with Mr. Gallagher and hear how he dreamed something up and made it happen. We left with a couple pounds of tomatoes we bought from their farm stand and immediately went home for tomato sandwiches. Amazing. A taste of summer and what is to come. Keep your eyes open at the Co­op and some restaurants around town that are using these tomatoes...you will not be disappointed.
 

Things are just getting started, happy eating my friends.

 Angela Jamison is a native Montanan and she grew up in beautiful Bozeman. I'm the  mother of two girls and write a blog about our life here and taking in the simple pleasures  of family and food.