Are the rules changing or going in circles?

There are new rules again. That's the way it is. So many things constantly change and here we are in 2009 facing what is called change. Personally I think we politically changed back to a regime once or twice removed - but, whatever.

It can be good if we maintain wholesome ethics and keep common sense and wisdom intact no matter what.

Actually, I have a tendency to resist any drastic change that sounds like Robin Hood mentality.

However, there are some changes that can certainly be beneficial - so off the political no-win circle.

Take training methods. I've owned horses or have been around them most of my life. Training methods have drastically changed through the years in the horse industry but it all depends on how you plan to use a horse. There is always a basic school of thought with training methods, some which can be tweaked to net results in a shorter amount of time. Personally, I like to stick to the basics in the early stages of any type of training system. I have always done the barebones ground work with my horses and then sent them to a trainer where I watched and learned the methods the trainer used. That's only using common sense. Stick with the plan and don't confuse the horse.

There was a time when urging a horse to a canter (or lope) mean giving a light touch on the outside rein to make the horse lead forward with the inside front leg. It's called taking the proper lead. You want your horse to put the front inside leg out first when making a circle.

Well, the last time I had a horse trained the concept was dead opposite. The new method dictated that a slight inside rein turn the horse's head to the inside would encourage the animal to jump out on the inside lead. Sound confusing? It was for me. Now try to teach this old dog the new trick. Well, I overcame the mental block as this new-to-me-concept has been working for years. The old timers rapped the horses around their inside leg and that concept worked for generations, I'm told. So, I guess we made the circle and they did know what they were doing after all. Both methods did seem to get positive results.

Now I'm watching dog trainers in action using a method that is foreign to me.

And, guess what? I'm learning there is more than one way to train a dog, too.

You will always have those basic commands that dictate to the dog what action to take.

When I watched this new method used in a special youth dog training program at Haven Humane Society last summer I thought to myself, whoa. Is this going to work?

Clicker training has been around for years, but has become popular in recent years. It is used to train animal movie stars, marine park mammals, human athletes and those born autistic.

During the summer camp classes, the children's clickers clicked, once in a while in unison, but each dog seemed to know when it was meant as a reward for their positive response to the command the child gave.

It seems the younger generation takes readily to the changes that come down the pike. But, if I still maintain, that common sense and wisdom go a long, long way.

I had one grandson who did this camp with another method of dog training and his younger brother used the clicker training. I asked both how the training methods worked on the dogs they trained. They both agreed they had good results with the different methods.

One of the dog trainers at Haven told me a story about clicker training - a story that the average person would find amazing if not hard to believe.

It involved training seagulls to locate marine biologist divers beneath the water. When divers released a rubber ring that floated to the ocean surface, seagulls that had been trained with clickers would retrieve the ring and bring it to a nearby boat.

One seagull had taken his training so serious it almost baffled marine biologists.

While retrieving a ring attached to a dummy diver, a seagull took to the air with ring in beak. On his flight to deliver the ring to the boat, a huge eagle flew in to take on the seagull, hitting the bird with such an impact the seagull fell to the water.

The seagull continued to cling to the ring and managed to become airborne again. The eagle still wanting the seagull flew in again and hit its prey with such force both went tumbling into the ocean. In the process, one of the eagle's claws pierced through the seagull, fortunately missing any vital organs. The seagull struggled in the water and fought its way back into the air delivering the ring to the boat, where the bird's handlers were stunned at what they had witnessed. Who would deny any positive results using clicker training after seeing such a feat accomplished with such determination? Not me.