Train 'Em Topics! - The Why in Dog Training and Why It Matters:

           This post is derived from a photo I shared on my Facebook page a while back. I was going to make a cute comment about the photo which was a little kid standing next to a very large dog and it had its arm around the dog. There also was a quote from Orhan Pamuk which said "Dogs do speak, but only to those who listen."

     I had a moment in an agility class once that involved Ocean. He is much more environmentally sensitive than Lars is. He notices things that Lars typically doesn't give two hoots about. Sometimes those things bother him and that's something I've become more aware of. Anyway, Ocean doesn't usually have start line stay issues in the classes I have taken with him. But for the last run

Good Wait, Ocean...

that night, I left him and headed out to where I wanted to lead out...when I got there, he was standing in place. He wasn't moving...but just standing. I went back and re-set him back in the sit and told him to wait. I did my lead out again and when I turned to look back at Ocean,  he was standing again. This was something that was different than what he had done before...when he does break his start line, he will start running. But, he was standing with a look on his face...and he was uncomfortable with something. It was like he was trying hard to stay but he was very uncertain. I looked up and just a couple feet behind O was another handler and dog playing a vigorous game of tug. I hadn't noticed them until I saw O's expression. Typically people standing behind a dog holding a stay can create a good bit of pressure and with some dogs, that can be unnerving enough to the point they break the stay. That pressure can be increased adding movement to that position behind the dog. The pressure that people is creating can be magnified the further and further the dog's handler moves away. A dog of Ocean's age (he has a year and a half old at the and experience, it doesn't surprise me he did what he did. I have not proofed a stay with Ocean with that much pressure (or much pressure at all at this stage of the game.) That is something we need to work on, especially as he does more and more obedience. But, I want to gradually expose him to increased pressure during a wait/stay  in a way that he is successful and confident when dealing with it. A dog of Lars' age and experience, I would expect them to stay despite a person and dog playing tug behind them.     So, I returned back to Ocean and set him back in a sit. I asked the lady who had been playing with her dog, if she could just hold off playing until Ocean left the start line. She was more than happy to do that and placed her dog in a sit. Ocean held his start line perfectly with them just standing right behind him. That sort of pressure was okay and the play was too much. Ocean was trying to tell me that and I listened.

     Dog do tell us stuff all the time in their behavior...but we as trainers should really listen to the message they might be trying to tell us. I distinctly remember thinking "Why is he doing that?" as I stood on the other side of a tire jump and a bar jump at class looking at my young dog standing when he should have been sitting. But, I'm the kind of trainer who likes to know the "Why." If I don't know the "why" behind incorrect behavior, then I can't really fix it.

    There are trainers who are in the mind set of "just fix it" and not bothering to know why is their dog doing what they are doing. There are trainers who don't like dealing with problems and will attempt to put a training band-aid on where they have weak spots in their performance and even their relationship with their dogs. Figuring out why your dog is behaving or performing incorrectly will get you to understand your dog on a deeper level. Sometimes, the problem doesn't lie with our dogs. Sometimes the problem lies with us and we need to put our handling under a microscope. Maybe we're not cueing the dog correctly, maybe we're not clean with our handling, or maybe we're not showing up the way we expect our dogs to show up in our training.

    I know they appreciate that you are listening to them. I saw that when I left Ocean for the third time with no one playing behind him. He was relieved that the pressure was gone and he could do his job. I know now it is a weak spot in our training and I have a game plan on how to address it.  If I had gone in and read him the riot act about not staying put, that wouldn't have been fair to him because we haven't proofed something like that. He's the kind of dog that if I had gone in and really corrected him for not being able to handle that sort of pressure...I would have put a huge dent our relationship and eroded that trust I'm trying to build between us. Ocean is more my husband's dog than he is mine and That was one of those times where "Oh, just fix it..." would have blown up in my face.

    Trying to figure out "the why" can be hard and it may not be a quick fix...but it will be worth it in your relationship with your dog and your performance in the long run.