With 2016 comes resolutions and resolutionʼs first cousin, goal setting. My goal is to inspire you to set some training goals of your own. I own an agility school, and many of my students and I compete locally, nationally, and internationally. To meet the requirements of particular events each year, we must create a plan to achieve our training goals. Iʼm proud to say that reaching our goals happens way more often than not, and that is no accident. There are many contributing factors, but the biggest single factor is that in the pursuit of our goals, we are doing what we love to do. We are highly motivated. Itʼs the difference between a resolution like “Take more fun trips” and “Clean the cat box every day.” Goals that are fun to achieve are going to prevail over those that cause suffering, right?
Want It or Need It?
So for those of you who have training your dog on the brain, is that because you need to or you want to? OK, sure, at a point, it becomes both, but what Iʼm asking is: Are you thinking, with a smile on your face, “Fifi is such a responsive dog that loves to work with me so much. Iʼm really going to enjoy carving out some extra time to do more training in 2016.” Or is it more like , “Fido is such a chore . He is so willful and stubborn. The thought of taking on yet another training project and failing fills me with dread.”
If you own a Fifi, lucky you: The sky is the limit, training will happen because it is fun, and all you need to do is design the path to your goal. If you own a Fido, however, your goals are born more from having to do something about an unruly beast that isnʼt going to be easy.
Itʼs hard to have fun when things are difficult to achieve and doubly hard when it is difficult for both you and your dog. Training has to made easy. That applies to whether you are training your dog to do a simple trick or teaching him critical behaviors required to navigate life. Having a path to follow is key.
Designing a Path
The training path you design will get you to your goals—or get you lost. Missing steps will get you lost. Explore what your dog and you really need. If you have an unresponsive, independent dog, training might be frustrating, unless you learn what to do to make your dog responsive first. Your first step toward your training goal is to educate yourself on how to build a better bond with this type of dog. The same is true of a fearful or reserved dog: Your first step is to understand how to help this dog be comfortable enough to be able to learn at all. Perhaps you have a very responsive, energetic dog, but he is responsive to everything in life, except you. Your first step will be to learn everything you can about teaching this type of dog impulse control. Perhaps this means your goal for 2016 will be to learn how to be a better dog trainer. Iʼve been training animals since I was 5 years old, and that is still at the top of my goal list every year.
After learning how to get through to the type of dog you want to train, the next step is to determine what behaviors to train. If you want to do agility, for example, you might think you would need to train the dog to jump and climb over things. You and the dog would have fun, and your dog would be learning something valuable, like itʼs fun for him to play with his trainer. But you would find, when you got to agility class, that you actually needed other behaviors even more than jumping and climbing. For example, in agility—and many other classes—dogs often need to wait their turn in a crate while the other dogs are working. Dogs that have learned to love their crates will have an easier time relaxing while very stimulating things are happening around them. You and your dog may benefit more by spending your initial training time teaching your dog how to love his crate.
Other behaviors that are critical to success are the recall, also known as the ability to come when called; and the sit or down-stay. I donʼt mean success just on the agility course; having control over your dog is critical to being able to hike on trails or play at the beach and keep your pooch from an ill fate.
Having a rock-solid stay and recall command could be the perfect training goal for your first quarter of 2016. I suggest this, as I can think of no dog activity or sport that does not require it.
Maybe your dog has already learned how to stay and come, but how good is he at it? Staying while dinner is being prepared and coming back to you for a ball is an excellent start on these two projects. The question is, could your dog improve at all on these behaviors? Does the fact that he will stay until you release him to his dinner bowl every night mean he knows how to stay at the beach while other dogs are chasing balls? Since he will come when you call him in from the backyard, does he then know how to “listen” and respond you when he is playing with other dogs at the park? Have you ever seen someone elseʼs dog do a stay or come to them in a scenario that your dog might not have? If you know your dogʼs stay or recall could be better, you now have an instant training goal for 2016 that will speed-track you on the path to all kinds of other future goals. Just apply time and effort.
Remember, training not only can be but must be enjoyable for you both. To facilitate that goal, keep your training goals within your and your dogʼs current capabilities. If he canʼt come to you when there is a tempting piece of kibble within his reach, he wonʼt be able to come to you if there is a tempting piece of steak. One goal at a time, per training project, please. If he wonʼt come at the park when there are not other people or dogs around, work on getting that piece of the puzzle before trying to get him to come to you when the park is crowded. If you keep each goal within reach, you will have success; improvement will occur, creating more opportunities to challenge your training capabilities.
Your goal of becoming a better dog trainer will happen. I believe it is your obligation to understand your dog, not his or her obligation to understand you. Dogs learn what they are taught and only that. It doesnʼt always matter what you intended to teach, only what was actually learned by the dog. They do not “blow people off” or plan to embarrass you; they just do what is successful to them at the time. Training dogs is full of incredibly wonderful challenges; learning how to embrace the challenges can be, well, a challenge. The Bay Area is full of very talented trainers and behaviorists ready to help you be the trainer your dog deserves.
Sandy Rogers is a world champion and four-time national champion in the sport of agility. She has represented the United States three times at world events, medaling four times. Her agility school, Ace Dog Sports in San Francisco, caters to the handler competing at the local, national, and international level as well as the casual enthusiast. The school’s new program, Low Key agility, is designed for those folks who would like to dabble in agility before making a large time commitment to the sport.
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