Do you lack discipline?

[janedoe]

Have you ever started laughing while training your dog because she is so darn cute? I will never be a professional trainer. There's a good chance that this is why Fran is so good at agility and Zo just isn't. Fran doesn't like women particularly so our relationship is much more practical. Zo just turns on the charm and wants to play and makes me laugh. I have so little discipline on this. Anyone else?

[Snowshoe]

LOL, I'm fairly tough that way and one day when I volunteered some dog help to a neighbour his reply was he couldn't be mean like that to his dog like I was to mine. Yeah, well, my dog isn't running loose, jumping on people (the problem at the time) stealing food off my own table and is not the reason some people won't walk their dog down our street. I did not find it funny at all to have 120 pounds of dog jumping on me, but the owner did.

[POPTOP]

Yep, been known to break out laughing at antics in class. Archie is so serious in class I seldom laugh at him but the other dogs can crack me up.

I don't call it "mean" but firm. He needs to know when I ask him to do something, he needs to do it. It would be nice if he loosened up a little though.

[Labradorks]

There's nothing wrong with having fun when you train.

Many competitive obedience folks must always be in 100% control of their dogs and that's what I thought obedience HAD to be about when I first started. That attitude is what made me stop training Sam for competitive obedience. I felt I could not be consistent enough at the time so I gave up because I felt like I could not train enough to be in complete control of him. He is also goofy, social and playful by nature and LOVES to play with other dogs, and I took that to mean that he wasn't serious enough for the sport. Boy, was I dumb in thinking that!

I started off the same way with Linus, too, and I am thankful that I changed my attitude when he was young. He's been a great teacher in that way. Dogs that are quick learners and very controllable are often pushed too far, too fast when they are young, and I did that with him. My expectations of a 9, 10, 11, 12 month old dog were unfair. I have learned that with too much control, you do not have creativity resulting in a dog that is afraid to be wrong. They get stuck easily and typically perform poorly under stress. If you have a dog with too much creativity, you then lack any control (not to be confused with a dog that stresses up -- this is typically more like the border collie). There is a happy medium.

So, I reward my dog for trying even when he is wrong and I just try again and I don't freak out over mistakes or creative techniques in the learning phase. I video myself enough to know that my cues are not always 100% spot on, especially with the exercises that are new to me, too, so I'm not about to put all of the blame on my dog, anyway. The first screw-up is a mistake and after that, it's a training issue. I simply take a step back in my training, perhaps trying something new. I know for a fact my dog is not manipulating me, pushing or otherwise defying my commands because I trust my partner and if my dog understands what I want he will do it. It's my job to make sure he gets it.

And, because of that, my dog has stopped stressing and I started having fun. He's more fun to train, no longer gets "stuck" and we have made more headway in our training in the past year since I changed my attitude than I ever expected PLUS he does everything with enthusiasm. It's really brought out his lovely personality and allowed him to have a style, for lack of a better word. He's loosened up and while he wants to be right, he no longer acts like it's a life or death situation. It's also allowed a relationship between us that I've never had with another dog.

I should also mention that this way of training has not deteriorated any exercises or day-to-day behavior. They are still wonderfully behaved in public and in the house. Just last weekend I was out on a hike and they saw a deer, went to chase her, I called them, they skidded to a stop and turned around and came back. Sam is not quite as reliable as Linus, even at five years old, but he is still pretty great.

[Jeff]

There is a lot of time Hemi makes me laugh while training. We usually end of making a good time of it. We get back on track though usually. Sometimes he is funny without even knowing he is and when I can't help but start laughing he is like come on dad be serious which make me laugh even harder.