Malcolm Reynolds had his first halter breaking session the other day. I have been on D1 to get working on him, but she has still been scooping him up when she wants to move him.
When I first got it on him he was M.A.D.! He started running around on his knees and trying to rub it off on the ground and then he would pull and finally as a last ditch effort he leaped about 3 feet into the air and rammed into the end of the lead rope!! Good thing his is still a little dinky twit.

The pony (his mother) was watching the whole proceedings and kept touching his butt with her nose. "It is alright son." Made no difference he was still mad.
I sat for about 15 minutes holding the rope till he settled down and then turned him loose. So much for lesson one.
I think it is important to halter break all of your animals. It makes moving them easier, you can tie them to administer vet treatments and (this is what sold my D1 on the idea) if an animal is taught to stand tied and they ever get hung up in a fence or a tree, they tend to just stand and wait instead of panic and thrash about until they are injured. Since Mal WILL be keeping his horns he needs this lesson.
I also wanted to mention to the earlier comments about spinning dog fur, you CAN spin and make yarn from it, but it is more difficult to work with than wool since the hairs are straighter. A friend of mine is an accomplished spinner. She has made several dog hair only articles. She warns however that when wet they tend to smell like wet dog!
Another great use for all of that dog hair we sweep up is to put it into the garden with the mulch. It helps keep rabbits and other marauders away.
