I like to tell my clients that I am not, by any means, the
end all, be all of dog training. I also like to tell them that Karen Pryor, Ian
Dunbar, Patricia McConnell, Victoria Stillwell, and Cesar Millan are also not
the end all be all (Please don't think I'm conflating my ability with theirs). That’s because learning to train dogs is an adaptive and
never ending process of figuring out what works and what does not. When I came
home on Tuesday night after spending some time at a coffee shop and writing
lesson plans, I discovered what does not work for my dog.
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| Tragedy strikes |
As you can see in the picture, I was surprised that my
2-month-old pair of Nikes had been chewed. Not even close to the end of their
life, yet they met such a tragic demise. And fueled by this tragedy, I was
irate. I saw the shoe, took a deep breath, held it, and went for a walk around
the block. After the walk I was still angry. I had nothing to say to anyone in
the house. I told the dogs “kennel” in a calm, relaxed (as possible) tone and
began cleaning the kitchen. Pots and pans were piled up and I could bang them
around a bit (it was late so not too much banging). An hour and a half later,
the kitchen was clean and I had the clarity to sit down and think.
“All this over a pair of shoes?” is what I’m sure you’re
asking, it’s certainly what my roommates asked. This was not the first time
Shimmer had chewed a pair of my shoes. In fact, it added to the grand total of
around $350 worth of shoes in the 3 years of her life. On top of my
predisposition to never buying new things for myself, the tensions were high.
The first question I ask myself after something like this is “why did this
happen?”
Why? Well, I can try to blame it on my roommates who all
left without putting her in the kennel. That would make me feel better but it
wouldn’t be entirely honest.
I could blame it on my ability to train dogs, but I don’t
have the money for the equipment to monitor my dog while I’m away from home. I
mean, I’m a dog trainer, not a super star.
I could blame it on Shimmer’s anxiety spurred by her poor
vision and general lack of confidence. But, again, that’s not the whole picture
and is thus not honest to say.
I could even blame it on my lack of due diligence in just
thinking to put her in the kennel in the first place. But in this instance, I
thought she was being watched.
Slip ups like this happen and they happen for many reasons,
some may or may not be in your control. I had to think about what is in my
control when this slip up happened. My roommates are not in my control (I don’t
have them trained as well I should). My dog’s anxiety is not in my control as
much as I would like it to be.
So what do I learn from this? I have a feeling someone is
going to suggest leaving a treat filled toy for her while I’m gone. A wise
suggestion in most cases, but adapting that to all dogs, especially Shimmer, is
not effective. She eats Kongs and other treat-stuffed toys. This, naturally,
causes GI issues.
What I learned from this is that slip ups happen. For no
reason or for every reason. And they happen semi-regularly. It’s the response
to these slip ups that matters the most, not the why. It’s a hard concept for
me to get around, not understanding the why because with a why, there is a
clear answer to how to solve the problem in the future.
I’ve trained Shimmer not to pick up food or socks or shoes.
I’ve trained her to know what toys are hers and what is her space. What I’ve
done here is taken away her decision making power. The context of her training
changes completely when I’m not there. So how do I get her to think
independently? First I’m going to try a protocol of leaving her alone in the
house, outside of her kennel, for ten minutes at a time every day. I’ll take a
walk or a drive somewhere. Then I’m going to gradually increase the time. And
if that doesn’t work, I’ll stop and ask why what I did failed and try a new
procedure with her.
The take away here is that a slip up should never be looked
at from the perspective of “my dog did bad so he is bad.” In your dog’s eyes,
he hasn’t done anything wrong and punishment of that wrongdoing would be
ludicrous. Like with Shimmer’s training, your dog’s training changes context
every time you ask him to do a command. Shimmer can turn lights off, but if I
go to someone’s house she won’t do it. It can even be as simple as your dog not
performing a down stay out on a walk, but he’ll do it all the time at home.
While not as major as chewing the house, this slip up, like Shimmer’s, is due
entirely to how the context of training changes.
A slip up should be looked at from a perspective of “how can
I prevent that behavior in the future?” We all make mistakes at work and in
other aspects of life. It’s unfair for you to beat yourself up about a mistake
with your dog. Mistakes can be mended and fixed and solved. It’s all about
context and in order to make your training slip up proof, you must practice all
contexts of commands.
Just remember, he’s family, make sure you treat him as such.
If you’d like to join in on the discussion, leave a comment
here or on Facebook. You can even email me with at michael@concentricdog.com
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