Dog-Ninja or all-rounder?
Strive for excellence but celebrate Normal
I once attended a training class when the participants were invited to share a technique they could ably demonstrate with their dog (no pressure then, but it was strictly voluntary!).
Now, it is customary and good practice for a trainer to explain the benefits of a particular behaviour we want our dogs to learn before we all get down to the nitty-gritty of actually doing the stuff. It helps with motivation. You can visualise the real-world situation and the help a certain technique can offer both of you. Especially during the early phases of learning something new, when both dogs and owners alike can appear a little bemused at what’s being asked of them. You know – when your dog gives you that look. Dog: Why are you asking me to do this stuff? Owner: Beats me!
Back to the class, and one brave gentleman came forward and volunteered to show us a technique where your dog walks through the gap in your legs as you are slowly pacing forward. Clever stuff, and probably far beyond the capabilities of the rest of us, and certainly for the owner with the 60kg Newfoundland. Maybe you guys can sit this one out! But hey, it’s a bit of fun.
And that is exactly what it was. Our collective failure to comically avoid tripping over our trusty pooches was a great way to end the class (mercifully without injury), but for me I took home two important things (and no, my dog being able to weave in and out of my moving legs sadly was not one of them).
First, a good trainer should only be teaching you things that are achievable, building one step at a time on a previously known tool in the kit. And things that are relevant to your life with your dog. That includes show and agility exercises, like the one described here, which is absolutely fine in the right context, and certainly fine just for a bit of fun like we did here. (So no criticism of our brave volunteer.) But it is an important thing to keep in mind. If you want to teach your dog to settle and lie down by your feet when you sit down in the pub, your dog needs to have nailed a Down before that. And so on.
Second, and this is what disturbed me just a little, was the reason given for this exercise. A good trick/fun game, an essential tool for agility work etc. would be top of my list for why we would be doing the weave. But the first (therefore key) reason given for doing it was to get one over your neighbour when they show you their Fido can Sit on command. It was not meant to be a joke. He meant it. Oh yeah? Watch this!
It got me thinking about why we own dogs. Even the expression “ownership” implies a possession. Fair enough, “companion” is not a real verb, but the question still stands, and the answers are as long as my dog’s tail. Deep down, have some of us chosen a four-legged companion simply to be a trick ninja, a fashion symbol or a macho extension? Maybe. For those of us who have, can you take a step back and genuinely say your dog has a fulfilled, happy life? If you can, then that’s okay. But if you can’t, or if you don’t know, because your dog doesn’t know any differently, then embrace being Normal. Join in the fun with the rest of us, laughing in the training class, simply learning to live with your dog in harmony.
