Hi everybody, welcome to the Canine Connection
podcast. Today, Lori and I are going to talk
about making training hard for our dogs, which
doesn't sound very nice, but I talk about this
for a couple of reasons. One of them is, you
know, I've been reading another book, big surprise.
And of course this, this is the universe, right?
Or maybe it's just that people that the trend
is now shifting, right? And people are understanding
that part, because I also saw a post from Andrew
Huberman, who's a neuroscientist. If you've never
looked at his podcast, they're amazing. He takes
complex topics and simplifies it so that anyone
can understand it and it's just amazing information
and he recently got a puppy and so it's so great
because he's like got this puppy on the treadmill
and he's like talking now about training and
learning and how the brain learns right And so
multiple things, stuff that I've been reading,
things that he said, other things I've seen.
And in addition to just what I'm experiencing
in life, in training, with my training partner,
with some of my students, is dogs thrive when
we challenge them. Dogs are a thousand times
smarter than we ever give them credit for. We
have this horrible tendency of like spoon feeding
them, like constantly micromanaging them, helping
them, doing it. Oh God, like just get out of
the way and let them think. The second they make
a mistake, I wouldn't even call it a mistake
because if a dog is learning, let's say it heads
in the wrong direction, we panic and intervene.
Like we're just. constantly in there, in there,
and in there, like helicopter parents, even like
more micromanaging than that. And so we're doing
a bunch of things. One is we're not even giving
them an opportunity to show us like what they
can do. Two, we're creating learned helplessness.
We're teaching them, just don't do anything.
I'm going to show you how to do it. Like, well,
that's not going to go well down the road. Right.
And the evidence and the research is showing
that errors are a normal part and a necessary
and an important part and a valuable part of
learning. And so for constantly like trying to
go, oh, God, oh, God, oh, God. And like, I got
to do something. I got to do something. You're
interfering with the dog's natural. learning
process so I'm having people do wacky things
like take their tiny little puppy when I mean
young eight nine ten weeks old stop training
it in your basement or in your empty training
building bring it to class send it to the mat
student's dog runs like goes to the mat She rewards
it, sends it again. The dog wanders off. Now,
I'm not saying let it get into trouble or into
danger. It wasn't in danger. Just wandered away
from the mat, right? Got distracted. It's a baby.
Looks around in the environment and all of a
sudden, it's the most fascinating thing ever.
It snaps its head back, looks at the rug and
goes, I'm supposed to go to the rug. Runs to
the rug. Yes. after that next couple reps ran
to the rug and back so the dog learned with absolutely
zero handler interference and when it learned
once it made that once it drew that conclusion
all on its own it knew what to do like it wasn't
like it kind of sort of learned it like it knew
what to do right Yeah. And that's like the thing
people are fearful of most is just letting them
figure it out. But I think people shift to, well,
I don't want, I don't want them to make a mistake.
I don't want them to practice that. Like practice
what? Like they don't even know what they're
fucking doing anyway. Like there's no practicing.
And even if you did sort of start training, putting
some foundation on it, like you still need to
let them sort things out and try to puzzle it
out when it gets hard, when there's other choices
and distractions out there. Um, it, I always
say to my, like, I'm, I'm always saying this
to my students. Like it is okay to let the wheels
fall off the bus. Like don't, it's fine. It's
okay. Like it happens to us as human beings in
life. Don't tell me that shit hasn't gone backwards
or sideways for you. And then you figure it out
and then you feel like a million bucks because
you figured it out without help. It's the same
thing for the. the dogs and it's the same thing
for the puppies and yeah they are like expect
them to not go in the right direction on the
first try or the second try or the third try
like that can happen but let them have a chance
let them have a chance like a hundred percent
yeah I remember one time I was doing articles
with Zesty and I don't know he just kept grabbing
the wrong article I didn't know why I couldn't
figure it out and I and I couldn't fix it So
I just left it. I just let it be wrong. I got
up the next day. I still didn't know why or whatever.
And I tried again and he did it right. So that
whole, like, you know, Oh, I have to like, it's
the end of the world. It's completely broken.
I have to, I can't stop training until this is
right. Let me simp. Like now look, I'm not saying,
again, right, like, let the dog struggle to the
point of no return. But, like, we don't even
give them a chance to, like, muddle through.
The biggest one is a great example is that, like,
when I have students start their puppies or adult
dogs even who have never done scent articles,
we start them on the tins. And I'm like. just
do nothing. Like don't do anything. Just let
them figure it out. Don't be all quick to jump
in. And they, and I'm watching, I'm watching
the person and they're standing there. They cannot
control themselves. They start inching toward
the pile. The second the puppy doesn't hit the
right tin, they're starting to walk it. I'm like,
no, no, right. Even if the puppy hits the right
tin and like walks away, they're like so apt
to like jump in and help or like freaked out.
And I'm like, just wait. I don't know what it
is. It's like this like total, I don't know,
fear of failure. Well, you did make a really
good point that I want to reemphasize. It's that
whole we we don't want them to learn the incorrect
behavior or practice the incorrect behavior.
But your point was outstanding. They are not
practicing. They are learning. And there's a
huge difference. Yeah. Right. Between learning
and practicing. When you learn, it gets messy.
Right. Like, if only people could just apply
their own experience to the dog's experience.
Like, it's messy when you're learning. And it's
okay to be messy, right? You're not practicing
the wrong behavior over and over. Now, if the
puppy... left you know that example i gave earlier
where it wandered away from the mat if it just
like wandered away and never came back all right
i'd have to modify something a little bit i wouldn't
like go completely off the rails but i would
modify something right but or if every time i
sent the puppy it wandered away and then eventually
came back, I would modify something. But the
puppy is learning. And I do the same thing with
an adult dog, right? Like it's learning. So let
it kind of like, you know, get a little weird.
And then, oh, look, it figured it out. Like,
I can't tell you how many times like this has
happened where like hold is a perfect example,
right? Like you have an object, you want to teach
your dog to hold it. So initially you want your
dog to just put their mouth on it. So the dog
will open its mouth briefly, briefly, split second,
put their mouth on the object you're working
on. It could be a dog. It could be anything.
It doesn't really matter. Right. And then they
click and feed. Okay. Except. they click and
feed that for like 50 reps. And then they're
like, I can't get duration. Yeah. Because you
never, because when they wait, cause I do it,
like you do it two, three times. Now I'm waiting
for duration. Well that now that I'm waiting
for duration, it gets a little messy. And then
this is where people mess up. Right. So now the
dog puts their mouth on it. Let's go. Well, that's
not what I wanted. I want duration. Right. So
I don't say anything. I just wait. Dog pokes
it with its nose. Nope, that's not what I want.
I just wait. Dog maybe looks away or goes to
walk away. I go, nope, come back here. Now people
start freaking out, right? Nope, I just wait.
Dog like pushes the dumbbell. I just wait. Now
when I'm doing with someone, same thing like
you said, I'm going, wait, wait. Don't do anything.
Wait. And you can see the person getting so uncomfortable.
And just when they're about ready to look at
me and go, I can't take it anymore. The dog puts
their mouth on the dumbbell and holds it there
for several seconds, which is what we wanted.
Bingo. Right. People just can't wait that long.
They can't tell it, but he's walking away, but
he's doing this, but he's poking. So immediately
they go back to dog, barely puts their mouth
on it. Click. Well, and now you're teaching the
dog just barely put your mouth on it. Right.
So all because you can't wait. But that's what
like you're the dog is just processing like its
brain is going, hmm, what are the possible answers?
Is this the answer? No, that didn't work. Yeah.
Yeah. How about that? Nope. That now sometimes
when they go, when it appears like they're leaving
or all those things you want to label it, the
dog's just processing. Yeah. Right. It's just
like me yesterday trying to fix the dryer and
I like couldn't figure something out. I'm like,
I'm just going to go upstairs for a second. Yeah.
Right. Yeah. And then I come back and I'm like,
oh, right. I can do this now. Right. So it's
the same thing. Like they're just. taking a minute
to process like give them just it's okay just
wait it out like and hundreds of times there
have been scenarios where the person just was
not gonna wait long enough and I'm standing and
I make them wait and then the dog has a breakthrough
and then the dog's really proud and the handler's
like beyond delighted and surprised right and
I'm like see Yeah. Yeah. And that's like that
whole thing, like with, you know, making it harder,
like I'm harping on this all the time. Like,
again, like the second I got it at that interval,
I'm progressing. Like I'm moving on. I'm making
it harder. Like I'm. And I think you, people
have to consciously be aware of that in their
training that you, like, the goal is, like, you
have your end goal of what you want that end
picture to look like, your behavior, your finished
product to look like. Like, and even as puppies,
like, I'm on a... I'm on a time frame. Like it's
not like the clock's ticking, but eventually
like I need to get to that place however long
it takes. So I don't want to sit there forever.
And if I've got understanding at that millisecond
piece, like if we freeze frame it and the dog
has it at that second, I'm moving on. Like I'm
progressing. People have a really hard time with
that, I think, because. Then it goes like it's
like that circling back that vicious cycle like,
oh, God, well, now I have to do it again. And
the dog might make a mistake if I push it. Like,
yeah, that's still a learning process all the
way up to fluency. Right. Because I always say
that to people like it's OK. Like if you if the
dog can't get it, you progress, you went too
fast or too far. You can always go back, but
you don't want to stay there. Right. You need
to be OK with moving, making it harder, moving
on progression. Well, it's that whole reinforcement
thing for humans. Right. Like like today. And
because I'm aware. So I took my dogs to Lowe's
and I trained them. And Zesty was like lights
out. Right. First time in a long time. So he
was like, awesome. And I'm in there and I'm like,
okay, you're done. And I felt this urge to do
more. Even when I put him back in the car, I
was like, I know why I want to do more because
that felt so good. I want to feel more of that.
But that's me. That's a me problem, right? That's
a me enjoying wanting more ice cream. But it's
not the best training strategy. It's actually
the worst training strategy is drilling. And
this was part of in the book, too, where it's
like this book I read. And it's about, you know,
just doing reps, reps, reps, reps, reps feels
good. And it feels like you're making progress
in the. short term, but in the long term, the
retention tends to be poor. The retention is
better if you do less reps. And even if you stop
your reps before they're good. So for example,
if I'm training my dog like a drop and he made
a little progress on the drop, but it's not where
I need it to be, but I stop anyway. and then
pick it up another time that that's way they
dogs have better learning long -term that way.
Then if I say, Oh, I'm going to do another one
and another one, it's almost, it's better, but
it's another one. And so whether I'm doing it
because I'm trying to get a better outcome on
that task in the session, or I'm doing it because
it feels good to see my dog get it right. over
and over, in both cases, it is not the best training
strategy. Right. Right. Which is easy for us
to do. Very easy for us to do. Or we get into
that, like, it feels good. Or we're like, I need
to make sure this is this is actually solid.
Like, yeah. And I was like, well, wait, can you
do it on the fourth? Like, let's make sure you
can do it 10 times solid. And then it's like.
And they can't. And what happens, and I see this
all the time, this is why I have a rule of threes
with my students. You are not allowed to do more
than three correct reps ever. And I'm really
big on one and done, right? Like I'm huge on
one and done. But like, if you absolutely like
are having like a seizure, don't do more than
three. What I've done is hard. Like it's hard
for me too. I'll be like, oh my God, that was
perfect. I guess I should move on to something
else. Like it's so hard. But if you think about
it, well, a couple of things happen. One is it's
almost for some dogs like Zaina, it becomes like
a punisher because she did it perfectly. And
then she's like, I can see her rolling her eyes.
Like, really? Again? Yeah. For other dogs, they
start to second guess. Right. And the work actually
degrades. And now you have to say to the dog,
that's not right. And you kind of wiped out all
those beautiful wraps the dog just did. Yeah.
So that's one scenario. The other thing is they
start second guessing. So they start like doing
weird things. Right. Where they're like. And
the other thing is just mental fatigue. Right.
Like. When I'm learning a motor skill, like the
last time I went shooting, there comes a point
where I can feel my accuracy starts to go downhill.
And as soon as that happens, I stop. Because
I just exhausted the good reps I had in my nervous
and motor system. So if I keep going... Now I
am rehearsing what I don't want. So what is the
point? Right? Like, I don't care if I have more
rental time. I don't care. Like, I'm done. It's
good. I'm done. Yeah. But we should be like,
I don't know why we don't flip our brains going
like, wow, that was amazing. I did it once and
I don't have to do it again. Like, we don't go
there. Yeah. Well, this book, it showed that
even when they did these studies and then showed
the students the results of the studies and explained
it to them, et cetera, et cetera, they still
had this tendency to want to drill anyway. So
it's a weird human tendency, which. We just need
to be aware of, right? Like if we're aware of
it and we need to be willing to try it because
what I found with Zest when he was young was
if he's trying to figure something out and then
he kind of gets it, then I just stop, right?
Because if I kept going, it would always get
like really ugly. So I said, all right, I'm just
going to stop. Like he just kind of did it. Maybe
sort of whatever. I'm just going to stop. Come
back the next day. He could do it. Yeah. And
that happened several times. And then I went,
okay, got it. Like I am, he is, he does better
with just leave it, move on to something else,
leave that, move on to something else and then
let him sleep on it. And then come back and he's
got it. And a lot of dogs are like that, but
we just never even try it. We are given the chance.
Yeah. To see if it works or not. Definitely.
You know, I think, too, like, another thing is,
like, I feel like when we really let the dogs
try to puzzle stuff out without us spoon -feeding
all that, like, you really do learn a bunch about
who your dog is, you know, through that process.
You really, like, how they learn best. I think
that's a big thing because you're watching them
actually. learn and figure it out in that moment.
You're actually like, I mean, hopefully you're
observing that, you know, and seeing what kind
of learner they really are. Do they get frustrated?
Like what's their frustration threshold or tolerance
or, you know? do they need, do they do things
like, like that was a big thing with salty. Like
when he couldn't get something, he would just
walk away and I'd be like, Holy shit. Like, where's
he going? But he would come back. And it was
like the first time I was the first couple of
times I'm like, Oh Jesus. But that's what he
needed to do. Like he would just leave, do a
circle, come back. Like it was his thinking process,
you know? So you're like really paying attention,
like you just said with Zest, like you figured
that out when he was young by just letting him
figure stuff out. Well, it's like you just said,
it's being willing to be an observer, number
one. Right. Which means you're not interfering.
You're just kind of interpreting what you're
watching, watching it and just going like, huh,
like. That's interesting. I wonder why he did
that without interfering. Right. And then after
a while, you're like, oh, I can see why that's
happening. But if you're interfering, then you're
never going to get that information. Or if you're
having this like, well, I'm observing it, but
why is he doing it? I can't believe he let me.
Like and you're getting all in your head. Right.
You're not being an object. objective observer.
It's actually now like one of my favorite things
to do is really just watch the dogs try to figure
stuff out. I think it's so fascinating because
I think they all do things differently and they
all go about things differently and it's just
fun to watch them. Because they, to me, like
they are, I feel like they're natural problem
solvers. Like they're opportunists to begin with.
And I think that we just don't give them that
chance enough. I just find it, I think it's,
I know you do too. It's just incredible to watch
them. Well, and solving problems creates confidence.
Well, it teaches the dog how to learn. It teaches
the dog how to push through adversity. Right.
It teaches the dog resilience. They have to learn
to deal with frustration. Right. And that's not
a bad thing. That's important. It's an important
skill. Like, no, don't just give up. Don't just
bail. Don't just stand there and wait for me
to solve your problem. Like, figure it out. Yeah,
you're a little frustrated. It's OK. You're not
going to die. You're going to figure it out.
And they get better and better and better at
it. Um, those are really important skills. People
want dogs that are resilient in the ring. How
do I get a confident dog? How do I get a resilient
dog? Well, a stop micromanaging them, let them
solve some problems, like make it challenging.
If you make it too easy and the dog never struggles,
the dog's never going to learn how to push through
and how to solve the problem. a lot of which
I wish I had done this years ago. I don't know
why, because that's just, it wasn't how it was
done, right? Traditionally, you teach your dog
behaviors in isolation, like in your training
building, in your house, wherever you normally
train, low distraction level, teach the dog the
skills. Teach it there until the dog really knows
the skill. Then later down the road, add challenges
to it. Well, if you think about it, that makes
absolutely no sense on two levels. One, you're
teaching the dog context. In this context, a
pristine environment, you do these behaviors
when I give you these cues. Then you completely
change the context. You'll completely change
the picture. And you're like, now do these same
behaviors here. And the dog's like, wait, I don't
even know where I am. I don't even know what's
happening. I don't even know what I'm doing.
Right. Right. So you're, so that's a lot harder
for them. And like, again, you're teaching them
in a clean environment. So maybe you're shaping,
maybe you're making it, but it's still not that
hard. So what we've been doing is. right out
of the gate right I don't care if there's noise
I don't care if there's other so like um my poor
Zio not poor Zio I mean he lived a good life
but he's gone now poor me because I miss him
but my old dog like when my training partner
would train her puppy he was out and he was doing
his like old dog retrieves and you know because
he still wanted to work so I would work him and
she would train her puppy on purpose. So she,
her puppy got used to, oh, dog runs around, dumbbell
flies, person saying down, sit, stand, motion,
like stuff happens, right? If we had put tennis
balls out as a distraction, the tennis balls
were out, right? If the puppy ran and looked
at a tennis ball, who cared? Eventually it learned.
Sometimes there's tennis balls out. Sometimes
there's toys out. Sometimes there's weird little
creatures that like the hip hop duck that does
hip hop and goes around and like stuff is always
happening. And the most fascinating thing happened
is this dog all on its own went, oh. When stuff
happens, I pay better attention. I really need
to focus in on mom. So the dog started to say,
oh, when this distraction comes, I need to give
my mother more engagement. All on its own, it
figured that out. This dog is so bomb -proof,
like in terms of environmental stuff, like so
bomb -proof. because it just it's been like that
from day one like that's just how this dog was
trained and that's how the dog continues to be
trained another thing with this dog is it makes
a mistake in training right and we're just like
nope that's not the right behavior it goes okay
comes back it figures out how to do it right
it doesn't fall apart Doesn't have a nervous
breakdown. It's not like, oh, God, I messed up.
It's like, oh, I made a mistake. No, I get it.
A mistake just means do a different behavior.
Right. Definitely. Yeah, that dog is really awesome.
I mean, that dog actually came when we had our
first NOC training party at my building. I mean,
it was fucking crazy. Like, we had multiple,
multiple rings. Like, little tiny rings going
with things going in every ring all the time.
And that dog participated as a full exhibitor
and did really, really well. She's not even two
yet, I don't think, right? No. And she did everything
well. Like, really well. with the rest of us
it was really it was really cool yeah and it's
because that's how that dog got trained from
day one and we like would purposefully like she
would send the dog to the go out and I would
walk in front of the go out. I'd have my dog
in front of the, like all the proofing stuff
we do with adult dogs that we didn't do it in
a sense of like, again, you have to use discretion,
like where we completely overwhelmed the dog.
Yeah. Stuff was just always there. And it just
learned that that's just the way it is. Yeah.
Yeah. And that's the thing, like. I know like
my breeder of Ever and Salty, Kate, who we've
had on our podcast, like, I mean, training sessions
too, like she runs a really busy business, you
know? And a lot of times like with her, when
she's raising up her puppies and stuff, like.
Um, she just doesn't have windows that fit perfectly
for having like ideal training environment or
whatever. So her puppies are always like just
whenever, whatever's happening in the kennel
or whatever's happening in the building or whatever's
happening, like with daycare drop off, like those,
the puppies are out and they're doing their stuff.
Like, and she's working them through all that
because a, she doesn't really have the flexibility
and. The advantage of just picking and choosing
her times because she's so busy and the puppies
like that's just and that's sort of how like
that when I got salty, it was kind of the same
way I had gotten the business in the building
and I was showing two dogs or in training all
the dogs and life got freaking create like chaotic
and I I didn't have like opportune moments all
the time like. when you guys all came to train
at the building like I took him out and trained
him like dumbbells are flying and like I love
that now like that's definitely I definitely
see that he's like that's beneficial for him
since we started doing that and that's definitely
what I'm going to be doing for the rest of all
my you know next future puppies for sure yeah
like And my, like when my puppy comes, it's gone.
I mean, I always did train it. Like when I had
my rehab, right, it was connected to the kennels.
Puppies just train there. Dogs are barking, stuff's
going on. But at some point I did do more, you
know, oh no, have to teach this first. Like,
no, I'm going to be training this dog at the
stores, in the parking lot. It's going to be
going. You know, when, like with my training
partners, when we set stuff up, then when it's
a puppy's turn, that same, I'm not putting this
stuff away. I'm not going to be like, clean up
the toy. No, it's all going to stay out. I'm
going to tell my training partners, move around.
I'm going to say, you know, take a dog out and
train that dog while I'm training this dog. Like
this dog is just going to learn that. you know,
you can learn and you can, again, it's just another
form of solving problems. And it's just making,
you know, making the dog more resilient. And
I feel like if the dog just learns, like, that's
how it is, then that's just how it is. And then
one day down the road, when it sees ring picture,
it's not going to be like, holy heck, like, what
the hell is this? Right. And I think that's a
big thing too, is like, you know, like you said,
like the way that things were done in the past
was, you know, we train everything in isolation.
We train all the things where there's no distractions.
And then at some point in the dog's career, like
as we're getting close to like possibly thinking
about showing the dog where, oh shit, we got
to generalize everything. Like now that years
have gone by, let's totally dramatically change
the picture on the dog. Yes. And now let's make
it hard. Which, you know, OK, if you didn't do
it when they were young, you still got you still
have to go do that. You still have to make it
challenging. Right. Like proofing. I mean, that's
huge. But if we can do it earlier, even better
or earlier, like today I was doing we were in
my garage and I was doing this nose work thing
where there's boxes and there's. I'm just laughing
because I have labs right so now at the next
level they have to you put a box out that's got
like food in it oh good lord help me right so
like and it could be so today my my friend brought
cat food apparently cat food's very exciting
so um So ignore the box with the cat food, find
the box with the odor, right? So anyway, Zest
is in there doing a search and her dog was laying
down and her dog like got up and just started
wandering around. And she's like, oh my God.
I said, leave her out there. I don't care that
she's walking around the pile. Zesty can figure
it out. Like he should not care that this other
dog is walking through the pile. Is that going
to happen in a trial? No, but. I don't care.
Just going to make him concentrate even that
much harder. So like he's new to the nose work
thing, but I don't care. I'm doing that. He doesn't
even have his NW one yet. His he's not in a child
till the end of the month. This is not an NW
one thing. This is a harder thing. So what I'm
making it harder. He's going to, and he's, you
know, they both, my dogs, they can figure it
out. And even my training partner with her dog,
like she's like, Oh, this is the first time I'm
doing it. So we did this yesterday. She's like,
I'm going to, I looked at her. I go, I'm like,
Riley, you don't have to make it that easy. She
could figure it out. And she did. The dog did.
The dog figured it out really fast. And I said,
see, you were making it too easy. She's like,
yeah, I know. I realized that now. Like it's
this weird thing where we're always. making it
too easy now again I'm not saying overwhelm your
dog or set your dog up for massive failure and
overwhelm yeah but right you almost that our
natural inclination is making it too simple And
then even when the dog were like, are the dogs
easily doing it, doing multiple. I looked around.
I'm like, you're doing another rep this simple.
I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. Here, let me put
some more down. And she's like, oh, she did it.
Yeah, no. Yeah, she did. Like, it's so fascinating
to me. Like, if it was too hard, we would have
just made it easier. Right. Well, that's the
thing. You can always go back and make it easier.
Modify. For sure. Yeah. And that's the whole
thing. Like, it's not like if it's too hard,
we ruined the dog permanently. Right. Yeah. We
just made it too hard. Yeah. And just, again,
like, let's just reiterate, like, we're not throwing
them totally under the bus and putting them in
situations that are possibly going to. I don't
know how to even say it, like just... Completely
stress them out or scare them or overwhelm them.
Yeah, like you don't want to scare them and make
them... Yeah, like you just have to be a little
bit mindful of that for when you're starting
to do that. But, you know, just... I think you
just... People definitely need to start... being
a little bit more like open to letting the dogs
and puppies figure it out more for sure. Like
it's okay if it's going to, it will go like for
sure. Unless you have that genius puppy who's
going to like just figure it all out like a brainiac,
the first whatever, but you're going to have
fallout. Definitely. It's okay. Totally okay.
Yeah. And I think that's, that's the piece people
have to. They just have to be OK with the mess.
I mean, I find it fascinating that humans as
trainers struggle like they constantly make mistakes.
They constantly like get frustrated. You know.
But it's like weird how they can't see that,
but then eventually they get better. Right. Because
that's the process. And they can't but yet they
can't see that like that's OK for the dog. Right.
Like for the dog, they're like constantly in
a in a panic. So I think you have to remember,
A, the science says, you know, that making it
hard is actually very beneficial, especially
for long term learning, making it challenging.
Right. That mistakes. are within reason are again
they're beneficial they're in a really productive
part of learning like there's nothing wrong with
that um and that like you said like if we're
not like constantly pushing them pushing them
then we just get stuck and stagnate and then
the dogs get like bored or frustrated We're like,
oh, we don't know what to do. Well, that's because
you're afraid because you're afraid that when
you push it and it falls apart a little bit,
you're panicking. Stop panicking. Stop panicking
and also stop caring what other people think.
That's another one, too, because that's a big
one. Your dog makes a mistake and everyone's
like, oh, my God. Oh, my God. Chill out. I know.
yeah well and it's like and I it's kind of similar
what you said earlier like I'll hear people say
like um or I'll have a student she's like well
I don't want my dog to do that in the ring I'm
like dude your dog's a year old I don't think
we need to be worrying about this right now like
literally right like come on it'll be fine worse
it's like that whole learning piece right like
It's the dog is learning. It's OK. It does. It's
not supposed to come out of the womb and do it
perfectly. It's not supposed to do it perfectly
in a year or in two years. Like it's just it's
part of the process. Like it'll get there. It's
going to get there at some point. But, you know,
if you're constantly micromanaging. You're going
to have a huge, huge problem on your hands because
the dog is going to learn that when I'm not sure,
when I'm conflicted, when I'm worried, when it's
hard, all of these things happen when a dog is
competing. I'm just going to stand here and do
nothing. And my mom or dad are going to bail
me out. Well, good luck with that when you're
in the ring. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so let it
be. When I have my proofing class, which I don't
call proofing anymore because, you know, the
old way of proofing is you set the dog up to
be wrong and then you tell them they're bad.
But where we start adding challenges to behaviors,
which actually makes the behavior stronger and
makes the dog more confident if it's done correctly.
At first, first week or two, I'm always like,
make it harder, make it harder. It's okay. Your
dog can do it. People are like hesitant. They're
like cautious. They're very afraid. They're like,
I don't know. By the end of week, by week four,
five, six, they're going to town. I'm like, oh
my God. I'm getting all kinds of great ideas
from my students. I'm like, oh, I need to try
that. Oh, I need to try that too. Because now
they're having fun. And now they're seeing, oh,
my dog can do it. Oh, my dog can figure it out.
And now they're like, oh, this is so cool. And
they're like all in. But I always have that like
initial thing at the beginning. Where they're
like, huh, huh, huh. And I'm like, it's fine.
Right. It's okay. It'll be okay. You know, huh,
but he went, you know, I threw the dumbbell and
he ran to the toy. Uh -huh. He did. They all
do. Right. That's what they do. Right. And then
guess what? They figure it out. And then they
realize they're not supposed to run to the toy.
They're supposed to get the dumbbell. Right.
Right. But. Just give them a chance. Yeah. Totally.
Give them a chance. Give them a chance. Make
it challenging. Let them have that amazing, amazing
feeling. Yeah. Figuring it out. That we all get,
right? When we struggle and then. figure something
out and that frustration's part of it like you
should have seen me the other night I was just
telling my friend this morning I was fixing the
dryer so my washer and dryer both broke like
within a day of each other so I fixed the washer
okay that wasn't it was okay so now that I tackled
the dryer and I I'm like, all I have to do is
put the stupid like front panel back on. Except,
of course, it wasn't that easy. Like, I really
just needed another pair of pants and I didn't
have another pair of pants. It was hot. I'm in
the basement. There's no air conditioning down
there. I'm pouring sweat. My hands are all slippery.
I keep dropping the door. I'm like, fuck. I'm
like cursing. I'm like. So mad. Right. And then
I'm like, all right. And then I'm like, I am
getting this door on if it's the last. But there's
also this part of me this whole time, like my
hands are getting cut up. Right. Or I'm like.
The reason I didn't just bail or wait a day or
two till somebody was around and asked them to
help me was because I've been here before. I've
done things like this. I've been in situations
where I got stuck and I got frustrated. And I
know that if I just keep at it, if I just take
a deep breath, dry my hands, take a walk away
for a minute, come back, I'll get it. I'll get
it done. And that's because I have a history
of that. And that's resilience, right? That's
what we want in our dogs. We want our dogs to
be in a situation where they go, and then they
go, wait, there's some part of them that goes,
I know what to do here. If I push, it will work,
right? If I push, why? Because I've done this
before. I've done this many times. I've been
in a situation where it was hard, where I wasn't
sure, where I got frustrated, but I just tried
one more time and then it worked. And then I
got the right answer. And that's what we're building.
That's what we're teaching them so that when
they are in that situation. They will push through.
Because they're like. I know how to do this.
Right. And maybe they'll curse. Like Zaina. Zaina
will probably be like. Or maybe not. Maybe they'll
be more like Zesty. And they'll just do it. Whatever.
But in essence. That's what we're teaching them.
Right. Push through. Push through. Don't give
up. Yeah, so get those dogs out there. Get them
out in the environment. Stop training in your
house or your room. Put different stuff in that.
If you're in the room by yourself, just put different
things on the floor, different things, different
sounds. Make it different. Make it hard. Don't
baby them. Right. And then I think they're going
to shock you. Definitely. All right. Okay. That
was good. Thanks, everybody. Thanks. Bye. Bye.