Photo: RNZ/Sally Round
Ordinary farm animals can do extraordinary things under the care and guidance of former drug dog handler Bex Tasker.
In a few rolling paddocks overlooking Matakana Island in Bay of Plenty, her young human trainees are also building up their skills working with the sheep, chickens, rabbits and horses.
Tasker trained as a vet nurse and with guide dogs before working for Customs handling dogs to sniff out drugs. Five years ago, she started working with young people through her animal training business Positively Together.
Photo: RNZ/Sally Round
She not only trains the animals, including Kaimanawa horses from the wild, she also teaches 7- to 16-year-olds how to coax animals to build on their natural behaviour, using positive reinfor
Continue Reading on RNZ
This preview shows approximately 15% of the article. Read the full story on the publisher's website to support quality journalism.