New Year, time for training!
It’s a great idea to get your dog trained, because you never know what life may throw at you
With festive eating and drinking gently winding down, there is nothing better than shaking off those cobwebs with a good winter walk with the dog. If you are fortunate to go for walks in a nearby local park – and lucky with the weather – you may have noticed how beautiful winter can be: trees and snow turn everything into a Narnia winter wonderland. Most dogs love frolicking in the snow and it’s always such a pleasure to see them enjoying themselves. I realise not all dogs enjoy these conditions – particularly if they are of mature years – just like us, really! And when the pavements and roads are icy death-traps, just walking to your car or taking your dog with you to post a letter becomes more of a challenge.
I recently had a training client who wanted their dog to learn some recall. OK, I said, what’s your dog like getting to the park with you in the first place? Turns out, he pulls like a train. So, before we look at the fun stuff in the park, we need to look at you guys moving as ONE unit, whether on or off the lead. If your dog isn’t noticing you when he is on the lead, why would you expect him to pay any attention to you when he has all that freedom when you do get to the park? So we need to rewind and look at walking along and crossing that busy road first. You get the picture. I could see how crestfallen my client looked – he hadn’t reckoned on doing “boring” (trust me, it isn’t) leash work, but reluctantly he agreed.
Well, we recently had a very cold, prolonged spell of wintry weather, and the road and pavements around here were ice rinks. And this same owner was so grateful that we got his best friend loose-lead walking before the Arctic stuff happened to hit us. He otherwise would have been pulled over onto the ice in no time. The moral of this is not to get your dog trained for this specific thing, like wintry conditions, but something more holistic. It’s a great idea to get your dog trained, because you never know what life may throw at you, and because with a trained dog you can get on with your life so much easier. Simple!
Now some people love the idea of it. Some of those will go as far as contacting a dog trainer or training school. That gets mentally ticked, and then they move on. We all do it, it’s called procrastination! We feel so much better about getting that cheaper insurance quote – vowing to do something about it next week, then completely forgetting about it until that pesky renewal kicked in. Some will even go as far as buying a book or watching YouTube. Sorted! And well done you. It may well be sorted. In which case, move on.
But the thing is, it’s not always sorted, is it. You see, you and your dog are individuals, both with unique character traits, mindsets, and ways of doing things. No book or video, however good – and there are also some very poor examples out there – is going to capture this and your particular quirks or situation. You can’t replace the unique dynamic of trainer, owner, dog. This is where one-to-one or 1-2-1 or personal – whatever you want to call it – dog training comes into its own. This is because
trainer, owner and dog learn from each other in a constant feedback loop
It’s all about feedback, in fact. I’m learning from you both at the same time you are learning from me. A technique that might work for one dog – and the breed here is irrelevant, because remember your dog is an individual – might be a disaster for another dog. So we adapt and learn. Next session we are all empowered to hone those skills just that little bit better.
With the start of a new year, the old cliché (because it’s true) kicks in: we take a breath, evaluate where we are and where we need to go, so to speak. And dog training should be high on that list. Investing a little time and money for a few weeks or months will yield a lifetime payback and reward: life with your dog can be so much more enjoyable. And yes, safer too!
