The Irony....

I just spent the last 10 days or so traveling and teaching various aspects of dog training. Mostly tracking, a lot of work with dogs with poor impulse control and reactivity plus a little bit of obedience. All the dogs were great and I had so much fun with both them and their owners. The ones lacking self control or are reactive however hold a special place in my heart. I guess it is because I see a little bit of Calix in all of them and can see that they don't want to make the wrong choices. They just often have no idea what the right ones are and/or how to make them happen. They just need someone to be very clear to them about what their options are plus someone needs to control the environment so that the only beneficial choice is the right one. Then it is as if they breath a sigh of relief that someone finally gets them. I find the best way to fix things is to give the dog more control rather than less.

This often doesn't take long however it does require some patience. I was thinking about the irony of what I do for a living vs. my personality. I mostly tell people to be patient....I can hear my parents laughing out loud right now.... However on thinking further I realize that I do not find it hard to be patient when training dogs. Overall I don't consider myself a patient person, certainly something that I find a challenge when it comes to people. With dog training however I find it easy to see small subtle approximations of the behavior that I am trying to create. So I don't feel like I am waiting for a change in a vacuum but rather taking tiny steps towards the final product. All too often people wait for the BIG change when the little tiny changes are right in front of them, just waiting to be reinforced.

I thank everyone who make my trips to Virginia and South Carolina so enjoyable.  My new rule however, thanks to Carol, is that I am going to start requiring someone at all my clinics to bring along a cute snuggley adorable puppy. You know like those rock stars who insist on m&m's of a certain color? Well that's in my contract now. :-)



Abbey schmoozing with Dawn



Carol did manage to get some tracking in too....




Perfect tracking weather....