Don't Blame the Dog
Lately we have really crappy weather and it's giving me a lot of time for thinking. Thinking about what and how to train is important, too - although I prefer to be practical.
Anyway, walking with my dogs today I was thinking a lot about all the questions I get from people claiming that their dogs are "messing with them". I completely understand what they mean by it, mind you I have a beagle. But I am strongly convinced that "messing with somebody" is a human trait and animals are far less complicated. They do what feels good to THEM and avoid behaviours that don't feel good. I really think it's that easy.
A reason why something feels good can sometimes be complicated, I agree. I see a lot of people walking their dogs with a phone in their hands and the only time they pay attention to their dog is when the dog does something "forbidden" - that's when they scream, therefore rewarding the dog with social contact. So with my dogs I am trying to focus a lot on understanding what feels good to them in everyday life and of course bring the same things to agility, obedience and other things that we train. I always say that my biggest accomplishment in dog training is Xsara's second competition on some regional hunting fair where they had a goulash cooking competition next to the ring. The fact that she found more value in staying on course with me than the alternative was so impressive to me, and that's when I understood that all the work I had put in my little puppy-from-hell from day one was completely worth it. I gained a true friend for life!
Which brings me to second part, why are dogs "messing" with us? Often the problem is in poor communication, poor training or both, as they go hand in hand. If my young dog misses a weaves entry I see it as my mistake because I didn't train it enough and I increased difficulty too soon. So why can't the same be applied to recalls, ignoring "food" on the ground and other behaviours in normal life? Believing that dogs choose to do what feels good and can only reliably perform behaviours that they fully understand makes much more sense to me than believing that they find any type of enjoyment in "messing" with their people.
All of this is just my reflection on a rainy Saturday afternoon. But well, I am really thankful to all dogs in my life who are teaching me so much about how to communicate to them which behaviours I like, how to train these behaviours in different circumstances and all the possible ways I might be rewarding them. Understanding what is rewarding for them is such useful information for me and I think our relationship is stronger because of it. So I hope they will keep "messing" with me, challenging me and teaching me how to be a better teacher :)
