Hi Everyone!
First- to those that are reading, thanks for coming along for the ride! This is not something I thought I would ever do, but why not share my dog training and other experiences with all of you.
Yesterdays training adventure was a perfect way to start the blog. During training, you can learn the most from guess who? The DOG! The dog will give you the answers of what you have (or don't have) and where you need BALANCE.
Through out your dogs training, you will need to find a balance. You may work hard to get one desired behavior and then find out that the behavior is so strong, you need to re assess and re balance. What do I mean? Here's a great example about balance from some recent training I've been doing with Tugger.
For a bout 2 months my focus has been building more speed from Tugger. Don't get me wrong, the little bugger is FAST, but not in all scenarios. I was looking to build speed off the startline with a long lead out or when transitioning from collection back to extension. Part of building drive in him was building his value for toys and Tugging. Jolly balls with Tug ropes is my new found love. That was my ticket!
I won't give you all the secrets, but lots of fun games of chasing me and racing to the toys was part of my training routine in addition to lots and lots of fun short sessions of tugging.
I knew it would not happen over night, but at the last show when Tug blasted at me off the line and the mamma saw her life flash before her eyes, I thought wooohoo! He's got it!
Fast forward to this week. Playing a new game with Tugger where you play a great round of tug and then drop the toy and run away. My goal was to run Tug back to get the toy and actually have him re instate the game of tug with me. To my surprise- He ignored me completely and hung out with his toy! He didn't even consider the game of chase. This time I thought not "woohoo He's got it!" but "ooooh, He's got it!" Balance! What I got out of that training session was not frustration or anger that my dog completely ignored me, but that now I need to find a happy place and good balance with value for the toy and the mamma. I also found it very rewarding that the short training sessions I have done has made an large impact on his behavior. Again, now its just about balance.
Tomorrow- Learn when to "bang head here". I'm still recovering from that one, so one more day before I share one of the biggest training lessons I've learned to date!
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