by Erin Lossehelin

Created on: May 19, 2010

To first pose the statement "what animals can teach us" may seem to be a silly statement. First you consider the act of teaching and learning in general. Perhaps to most of us, teaching and learning occurs within a classroom setting or at home. Those that teach us are usually those we call teachers, or parents; they are the individuals that possess the knowledge and experience that we ourselves lack. Through their teaching we gain and learn from them and grow as individuals.

So to think of an animal teaching us, what does this phrase entail? That animals are teachers too and that we look up to them as we would to teachers and parents? This still may be a phrase to laugh or joke at, picturing your family dog, Rover, being above you, but in many cases; this may be so. The difference is that an animal is not going to look down upon you in the process of teaching, an animal is not going to judge you for your mistakes as you learn and animals are going to have their own style of teaching, much different than a classroom or home set up.

What we have to learn from animals varies from species to species and person to person. An obvious lesson that many will learn by their animal companions is the sense of responsibility. Even if the animal does not directly ask you to clean it's cage or feed them everyday, there is something about having that animal friend depending on you that makes you more aware of their needs too. This in turn becomes a triggering mechanism that makes us more responsible or more aware of the needs of others, or more importantly in this case, of our pet. But pets can offer so much more than responsibility lessons.

Over the last number of years, I've had the opportunity to watch therapeutic horses and their riders interact. These riders are children who on their own are wheelchair bound, they are blind, or they have some other form of disability. But on the backs of these horses, horses that are older and trained for these children, these kids ride. The riders learn to tack up their horse, they groom them and then they ride for an hour. Children who can barely walk are trotting on a horse, weaving cones, and racing with other riders. These children and families can come in with their frustrations from life, but these horses teach them something very important. They teach them to hope, to persevere and to never ever give up because nothing is impossible.

And that is just one story out of so many that I have heard. Besides the touching stories, animals

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