“…we don’t try to seek to change people, we try to figure out what they need to change about their situations in order to improve their lives.” Fundamentally simple yet incredibly powerful. I adopted a child 30 years ago and at the time, nature vs nature in adoption was raging. I was egotistical enough to believed that nurture was more powerful than nature aka genetics. Nope, it is not. Thousands of truthful, adoptive parents would say the same. We definitely provided the most loving environment to help shape behavior but if you get a kid with learning or personality disorders, no amount of nurturing will make that kid not have those disorders. Good parents (like good dog owners) get the needed professional help, put in the time and effort and help that child (or rescue dog) become the best version of him or herself. Same darn thing with horses. I used to rescue horses before dogs. With my first horse I gave a song and dance about it’s awful history/neglect and my instructor said, “it doesn’t matter what happened in the past, you look at the horse in front of you now and work with what you have.” I raised Lipizzaners back when and you better believe genetics mattered. If a stallion, with correct confirmation, couldn’t perform at the highest levels at the Spanish Riding School, he didn’t breed their mares…instead he was sold to Americans who didn’t know any better 😂😂😂 we were so ignorant back then and most of us weren’t good enough trainers to even know the difference. Finally the Spanish Riding School began an annual inspection of our breeding stock while educating us during the process, what a difference that made to future quality.
Thank you for the information. I saw a difference in my first child that was noticeable in her mom. Organization and neatness. At 16 months old in a new apt. her first time there, she knocked over a record brush I had standing on end on the floor. She picked it up and put it right before continuing on.
“…we don’t try to seek to change people, we try to figure out what they need to change about their situations in order to improve their lives.” Fundamentally simple yet incredibly powerful. I adopted a child 30 years ago and at the time, nature vs nature in adoption was raging. I was egotistical enough to believed that nurture was more powerful than nature aka genetics. Nope, it is not. Thousands of truthful, adoptive parents would say the same. We definitely provided the most loving environment to help shape behavior but if you get a kid with learning or personality disorders, no amount of nurturing will make that kid not have those disorders. Good parents (like good dog owners) get the needed professional help, put in the time and effort and help that child (or rescue dog) become the best version of him or herself. Same darn thing with horses. I used to rescue horses before dogs. With my first horse I gave a song and dance about it’s awful history/neglect and my instructor said, “it doesn’t matter what happened in the past, you look at the horse in front of you now and work with what you have.” I raised Lipizzaners back when and you better believe genetics mattered. If a stallion, with correct confirmation, couldn’t perform at the highest levels at the Spanish Riding School, he didn’t breed their mares…instead he was sold to Americans who didn’t know any better 😂😂😂 we were so ignorant back then and most of us weren’t good enough trainers to even know the difference. Finally the Spanish Riding School began an annual inspection of our breeding stock while educating us during the process, what a difference that made to future quality.
Thank you for the information. I saw a difference in my first child that was noticeable in her mom. Organization and neatness. At 16 months old in a new apt. her first time there, she knocked over a record brush I had standing on end on the floor. She picked it up and put it right before continuing on.