In today’s episode, you’ll meet two guests. The first one is the Norwegian dog trainer Turid Rugaas. A name that was so frequently mentioned by my international podcast guests when we talked about horses, that I wanted to get to know her better. And as it turns out, Turid is not just a dog person. She is also a certified riding instructor, but she did not fit into the old fashion riding school system, and her focus shifted from equines to canines. And she really made her mark in 1997 when she published the book On Talking Terms with Dogs where she identified around 30 calming signals dogs use to communicate, And in 2017 she was awarded the King’s Badge of Honour, by HM king Harald V|I of Norway for her life-long contribution in the field of canine behaviour.
The very same year my secod guest Rachael Draiisma – or Rachel as she is called internationally – published her book Language signs and calming signals of horses. Rachel is a Dutch horse lover who has trained dogs professionally for about 20 years. She met Turid through Turid’s International Dog Trainers Education and they soon discovered that they shared a passionate interest for both calming signals and horses, which was not just the start of a life-long friendship, but also Rachel’s study on which her book is based.
When I meet them online, Rachael was visiting Turid in Norway. The internet connection is not brilliant, but the content sure is.