Monday, March 31, 2014

Sometimes you have to fake it...

Everyone is in a position at some point, where they are not 100% confident in what they are training. Maybe it’s a new skill or a new exercise. Maybe it is an unusual reaction from your dog that you weren’t prepared for. Maybe you are trying different methods to work through a particular problem.

I often see people being cautious about how they handle and train their dogs. They are worried about doing something wrong, so their commands are wishy-washy, without spelling out exactly how they want their dog to perform.

How would you feel if you were sitting in your doctor’s office and your doctor came into the room to discuss what was wrong with you. Instead of him spelling out EXACTLY what the problem was, he beat around the bush. “Maybe" you have this or “maybe” you have that. We can “maybe” try this medicine, but “maybe” this would be better. You wouldn’t have much faith in your doctor, would you?

Your dog is the same way. They want (and NEED) specific and clear instructions. They need you to apply things confidently and with purpose.

It is better to do the wrong thing with confidence, than the right thing with trepidation.

You are not going to mess up your dog, or your training, if you don’t handle something correctly; as long as you handle it with confidence. As a disclaimer (because there is always one person in the bunch)....this obviously does not mean that you should “confidently” rip your dog’s head off if they perform an exercise incorrectly, this can cause lasting problems. But, most people train with cookies and/or toys. You are NOT going to do any lasting damage with a cookie.

I’d rather have my dog make a confident, wrong decision than an unconfident, correct one. Much, much easier to fix and build on.

So, if you get into a situation where you aren’t quite sure what to do, fake it. You always hear that dogs live in the moment, and I agree with this. You can always retrain something. You can always start over. But, if you start making your dog guess what you want, you are creating indecision and confusion. Neither of which is a good thing for the competition ring.

Train hard. Play harder.
Shannon

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Stop training

Once and awhile you need to stop working and leave trainer “mode”. It is easy to stay sucked into the role of always working on your dog, always perfecting, always practicing. But, sometimes, once and awhile, it is good to stop and check where you are at on the different pendulums of training. These pendulums may be different for everyone, though some are common themes between teams.

One side of my pendulum is drive, energy and exuberance. The other side is precision and detail. Can you have both? Absolutely, but they need to be balanced. Too much focus on precision and detail can result in lower energy and flatness. Most dogs do not like being drilled on details over and over again. Things like fronts and finishes are extremely important, especially in advanced classes, but drilling them is not always effective. Drilling fronts with my German Shepherd would have dramatically reduced her speed coming into front position, something we struggled with towards the end of her show career. Does that mean we didn’t work on them? Absolutely not. But only a few a session. She had to have more drive building, more encouragement, more energy.

My Springer on the other hand, exudes energy. He needs to be reminded that precision is critical. He works on fronts and rear end awareness almost every single day. He needs to be reminded that, while animated heeling is beautiful, he is also required to stay straight, sit quickly and not lose attention. Sometimes, however, I fall too far on one side of the pendulum and get out of sync. I’m working too hard on precision and I lose sight of the overall picture. All of a sudden, my dog's heeling has flattened out and I’ve lost the “look” that I want. Once I bring his pendulum back into balance, I’ve got what I want.

I’m fortunate to have some fabulous training friends that I meet with at least monthly to work through issues. However, I train by myself the majority of the time. This works for me because I like to take my time, working through my problems and trying different approaches to solve them. If I trained with a group every day, I would not accomplish near as much with my dog and our training would suffer. However, I can tell when we need to be reinvigorated by a training group. Sometimes, it just takes a weekend dog show to put the balance back. But, sometimes, it takes a few hours of talking and working through problems with like-minded friends.

It is natural for the pendulums to be continually swinging back and forth. But, the more you practice evaluating where you and your dog are at on “your” pendulums, the easier you will find it to stay in balance. And, when you find that “sweet spot”, there is nothing better. :)

Train hard. Play harder.
Shannon

Friday, March 7, 2014

Smile!

What is the most important thing you need to do when training your dog?

Smile at your dog!!!

Get up and go to a mirror. Make a mean, angry face at yourself. What happens? Your posture changes. Your shoulders become rigid, your body tenses and your breathing changes. Now smile at yourself and notice what happens. Everything softens...your face, your shoulders, your breathing...your entire body relaxes.

If you were your dog, what person would you rather be next to?

Even when I need to stop my dog to fix a behavior, I’m smiling. I’m talking to them in a silly voice, telling them how goofy they are for messing up. Does my dog know he messed up? Absolutely. My hands are on his collar, putting him in the correct position, bouncing him to his go-out spot, or taking him to his jump. But, while I’m “correcting” my dog, he also understands that it is merely a mistake, nothing to worry or obsess about. He doesn’t shut down and he doesn’t start to stress about what I’m doing.

Does this mean that I never show my dog true displeasure? No. If I need to make a point with a stern voice and a firmer correction, I will do it. But, this is normally reserved for the times that my dog decides that working is not an option. Maybe he decides that the grass is more interesting than the article pile or he decides that he’d rather sniff the person standing in the corner, rather than pick up his glove. It is up to you and your ability to read your dog that determines how you should handle any given situation.

Smiling is also shown to relieve stress, improve your mood, lower blood pressure and release good endorphins. How many of us couldn’t use all four of those things on show day?  Train like you show...that’s the rule, right? So, when you prepare to walk into the ring, stop, take a big breath (and let it out!) and smile at your dog. Let him jump up on you while you tell him how smart he is. Then, when you are called into the ring, smile at the judge. You will set a good impression, telling the judge that you are confident and ready to show them what your dog can do.

Train hard. Play harder.
Shannon