Setting Goals...

by Jim Poor Photography

I figured I should start my training blog just as I would start any of my clients' journeys into dog training - with a goal. For most of my clients, it is a behavior problem they want to resolve. In Soda's case, a goal often begins with a title. Our current goal is to finish all of his P1 titles as well as giving a decent performance in rally at AMA Nationals. Our back-burner goal is to work on our utility skills. Those are very broad goals. The objective of this blog is to follow the training it takes to get to these large achievements with our smaller, day-to-day training plan goals. 

Today's adventure was a problem-solving session for Soda's articles. Soda's articles seemingly broke down with the pressure of a "judge" looming over him. We have been working with people and even the "scary coat and hat over the ring gate." I noted a lack of progress with my systematic addition of people pressure. Today I removed the people and set him up with a couple of scenarios to see what I had. 

1. A relatively tight grouping of all articles. Hesitation on the first send, with 2nd command success. 

2. All of the articles in a pile, so he actually has to sift through the pile to find his article. Success.

3. A looser grouping. Hesitation and he hurriedly grabbed any article to get out of there. 

My conclusion was he is worried about working a spread out grouping of articles because his "timer" goes off. His body language was clearly worry. 

I played a scent game in the house and he was not worried about the game. 

Training goal for articles: Teach Soda to take his time and work the whole pile. Include various distractions and looming people. 

I started with 3 metal articles on a variety of spreads. Soda is less likely to grab a metal article than leather. I used verbal encouragement for the first 2 attempts, but cut it out quickly. I kept the distance of the send short. We worked up to 5 metal and 2 leather. 

Plan for next 2-3 session: Repeat the same, starting with no more than 3 articles, adding 1 more article at the end of each session. Re-evaluate at the end. 

Things to Note!

Watching your dog's body language often clues you in on your problems. 

Removing levels of difficulties 1 by 1 can help determine the problem. When I got the same response despite removing what I thought was Soda's problem (people pressure), I knew I had another underlying issue. 

Failure can build strength in your training. Soda is learning that if he fails with his articles, he must continue to work with me. He can trust that I will help him succeed. This skill has been priceless to us in agility. Yes, you can teach your dog how to fail and come back.