You're a team

[obbanner]

At the AKC Rally National Championship, a handler made a comment that made me think how I got to the point that she made the comment.

I just crated AJ in a quiet back room and was standing by his crate thinking about our run. A handler who I didn't know said she loves watching us work. Some people train their dogs, and other people and their dogs become a team, and she can tell the difference.

That got me thinking about my forty year journey. My first dog Inky was trained using force training. The dog did what I wanted exactly or got a correction. Praise was rare. It sounds harsh in the current environment, but I didn't see anything wrong with it because that's the way my parents raised me. Inky responded to force training and I thought that was the way to train dogs. (I cringe when I think of what I did to that poor dog.)

My second dog, OB, melted down when I used force training. The person who taught me was a USMC dog handler in Vietnam, then a K9 cop. In the Corps and the Cops, if a dog doesn't work out, they get rid of the dog. That was not an option for me, so I started looking around for another trainer. I met a trainer who believed in positive training. I learned to use the carrot much more than the stick.

By the time I got my fifth dog, I thought I was doing pretty good using treats and praise while making him do the exercises perfectly.

But the thing that really changed me was herding. My teacher and trial judges constantly were telling me to shut up and let my dog work. In Obedience, I had a picture in my mind of the perfectly performed exercise. I carried over to herding the picture of a perfectly performed flock movement.

Life isn't like that. My AHA! moment is I don't like being micromanaged, and my dogs don't either. In herding, I started keeping my mouth shut and watched my Sheltie figure out what had to be done. She watched the flock and seemed to know when a situation was developing that needed her attention and when to just hang back. In my old mindset, I would have had her running all over the place.

I found that was an enjoyable way to do Obedience. AJ doesn't have to constantly look adoringly into my face, but as long as he has developed situational awareness, he does the job. The turn doesn't have to be exactly as I imagine, but if he does it naturally and stays in position, we don't get that half point ding.

One of the things I enjoy about dog training is solving problems. I seem to be having fewer of them.

I suspect this advice will not get you an OTCH. It will give you a dog that will enjoy working with you and give you very many happy memories.

 

[JanS]

Very well stated and I very much believe in teamwork with your dog.

 

[Ravenbird]

Love reading this - training has changed and dogs have changed and methods and options have changed. My '90's Doberman was trained pretty much Koehler method, just a choke chain and pops. Never abuse. She never pulled, never challenged me, never did anything wrong. She had two puppy Ob classes at 6 months and 8 months and at the end of her last class we did long downs OUT OF SIGHT. All the handlers went out of the room and the teacher timed them for 3 minutes and was there to intervene if a puppy got out of control. 2 creeped and crawled but all the rest, including mine passed. That 90's-born dog of mine never showed or trialed but with that kind of obedience before a year old, I thought I was a pretty good trainer. It was not what I did, it was that my dog lived to do what I taught her, and her biggest pleasure was wanting to please. My biggest failure was thinking it was my training rather than an exceptional dog. What Asha taught me is that what worked on the dogs before may or may not work with her. I had to learn to drop things that "always" worked and admit that "no, it obviously doesn't always work" now try something different, you have a different dog. Really really really find the shoe that fits, rather than squeezing the foot into a shoe that is too big or too small. So many times the dog teaches us about life & lessons rather than the other way around. Keep up the good work @obbanner !