It’s the little things...

I started teaching a Competition Puppy class last night. Six people with visions of grandeur, all with future OTCH dogs on the ends of their leashes.

We started with “little things”...how to play, rewarding their dog’s name, basic position changes and voluntary attention. It made me think. In life, they say the little things make a difference. And they do. What good are the “big things”, if the “little things” aren’t that great?

Think of the “little things” as your building blocks. It’s what you are basing your dog’s future on. Doesn’t it make sense to have the foundation as solid as possible? I saw a few eyes glaze over last night, when I started explaining how important the dog’s name is. It needs to be taught. It needs to be rewarded. Sure, it sounds easy...most people probably thought to themselves “my puppy already knows his name”. But, does your dog come running when they hear their name called? If your answer is “no”, then you have a problem. And, honestly, it doesn’t matter if your dog is 12 weeks old or 2 years old, if they don’t respond on their name, that’s a problem. Is that a “little” problem or a “big” problem? If you ask me, that’s a HUGE problem. For one, it can be a matter of your dog’s life if they are loose and run after something, crossing a road in the process.

Keep this in mind as you are training exercises. People have a tendency to focus on the big picture, while losing sight of the “little” things which build the foundation of the exercise.

Let’s use directed jumping as an example - “big” things include the dog going straight to his go-out spot, taking the correct jump, etc., while little things may include attitude, precision and handler response. When I started training my first dog, I looked at the big picture. Heck, I was thrilled if he just got to where he was going!! I completely forgot about the little things and looked solely at the principles of the exercise. Why worry about the little things?

Why? Because my dog is always learning. I’m either teaching him to do something correctly or I’m teaching  him to do something incorrectly. Say I’m working a green dog on articles. When he brings me back the correct article, I let him sit anywhere in front of me, while I tell him how smart he is for finding the right one...all while my dog is sitting at a 45 degree angle to front. How does my dog know this isn’t the way a front is performed? He doesn’t. I just told him how smart he was!

I’m not saying that the little things don’t sometimes take a step back when working on something, because they do, but the final product should always be at the forefront. Keep the ‘perfect picture’ in your mind and work towards it unwaveringly. Is this hard? Absolutely! But it’s worth it in the end.

So, while you work to get a handle on the “big things”, it still pays to focus on the little things.

Happy training!