Your Dog’s Pace

 

Your Dog's Pace

When we're in a learning environment, it's important to set ourselves up for success. This includes the environment, your dog, and yourself.

We, humans, need the skills to be clear and consistent. This is made by understanding fundamental elements such as your dog's body language, how to communicate with your dog, and applying the correct timing and reinforcement.

Learning at the dog's pace allows them, the learner, to be comfortable. A stressful environment does not allow for learning as the dog is focused more on what they perceive as a stressor.

When teaching a new skill, it's best to teach it in a very low-distraction environment. An environment that the dog is familiar with, such as your own living room. By starting off with minimal distractions we can focus on the task at hand... learning.

As your dog starts to understand the behavior you have been teaching them we can SLOWLY increase the difficulty. This could be in the form of an environmental change, an example of moving from the living room to an alternative room, or maybe your backyard.

We can also increase the difficulty within the same environment. Take the skill of a down (and staying there). Once your dog understands and performs it without much thought, we can add some difficulty. We could for example, slowly walk around the room, around the dog, toss some toys around, and eventually leave the room for varying amounts of time.

Rushing the learning process does not lead to quicker results. Quick results come from clear and consistent behaviors.

I always love to teach: "If your dog is failing, it's our fault, not theirs.". What I mean is that we have increased our criteria (our expectations) too quickly. We need to reconsider the previous steps and their understanding!

The same approach applies when working with unwanted behaviors, such as over-the-top reactions towards whatever "triggers" your dog, such as people, other dogs, cars, bikes, kids, etc.

If your dog is over the top, the environment we have set is too challenging. I like the analogy of a pie. We cut the pie into pieces, and each piece equals a step toward our final goal. Think about how we can cut those pieces even smaller and smaller, setting the dog up for success.

Work WITH your dog, not against them!

Be a friend, not an owner.