Awareness of self

It’s important to be aware of what we are doing physically and where we are emotionally when working on training our pets or working on their behaviour problems.

Dogs particularly can pick up on some small nuance you weren’t expecting when you’re training a new behaviour. For example Winston was always slow with his sits (it’s a long way down), so I started putting my hand on my hip while I waited – inadvertently, the hand signal for sit became my hand on my hip, and he wouldn’t do it otherwise. We had to retrain sit to remove this association. Similarly a training colleague was unable to get their dog to drop without physical guidance. It turned out they were putting their hands on the dog’s shoulders as they said ‘drop’, becoming the physical signal.

Our emotional state can impact training in a similar way. If you are nervous your voice may quiver or your approach may be tentative. If you are frustrated your dog will get frustrated too, and possibly offer all kinds of behaviours (except what you’re asking for) to try lighten the mood.

I’m not a huge one for talking about ‘energy’ as such. It is why when training I talk about being ‘strong not tense’, remind you to breathe, and watch & listen intently. It’s totally human to not realise we’re repeating commands, using conflicting hand placements, nagging the dog, or getting frustrated.

If your dog stops responding, starts acting out, or shuts down, stop and ask yourself what’s happening. Your dog could also be in a mood, don’t get me wrong here. More often than not though, you will find there’s something going on with *you* that means you need to either reset or abort the session altogether. Hot tip: playing a game can be a good reset, as it reminds you both how to have fun together.

There’s no shame in it. Acknowledging today, this hour, this minute, is not ideal and moving on will work for you more than trying to push through.

Set your pet, your training, and yourself up for success. Call me, I can help.