To be Better . . .

This post dovetails off of my last one.  I am continuing with the theme of being true to myself.

Following Bandit's awesome one-on-one training at the building, we went up together to attend class on Tuesday evening.  We have jumped back into Intermediate Basic class.  We started it last fall, but were unable to finish due to my work schedule.

I went in determined to be true to myself as a trainer.  I went in absolutely set on being courteous and cooperative, but to stick to what I knew was in the best interest of my dog.  I was not disappointed in the results.

One key in all of this is that our instructor knows that I plan to work "outside the box" and she is perfectly fine with it.  She knows that I will get from point A to point B even if I take a detour to point Q!  Having an instructor with that kind of confidence in my ability to train my dog means a lot!  Because she is supportive of my training choices, I always try to give her a heads up when I am going to do something different, and that works out well.

So, when we went in, I plopped Bandit's mat on the sidelines and had him on it, and was feeding him as the other dogs went out onto the floor.  The fact that he was left on the sidelines while the other dogs were on the floor was not lost on Bandit!  I could see that he wanted to be out there, and he figured out right quick that the way to get out there was to settle down and focus on me.  Huge success.  Within minutes, he was grabbing the treat that I tossed after releasing him, and he was planted right back on the mat in seconds!  We were out on the floor before the first exercise even started!  It had been my plan to remove him to the mat (with high reinforcement) any time he got too distracted to work on the floor.  This was not intended to be a punishment, but a way to teach him how to get his head back together when he gets involved in watching other dogs, sniffing the floor, etc.

I did not have to remove him once.  Not once!  I was extremely proud of him!

He did everything I asked of him.  Occasionally he would be distracted by another dog, or by the floor, but he snapped right back to me every time!

He did eye contact in front, he did exercises in heel position, he did a sit-stay as a I walked around him, and a down-stay!  The heeling exercise was individual, and he rocked it!  I used the visual target of food in my hand to keep him in position and he did very well!

And we had fun - both of us.  We found joy in our work together, and that will be the yardstick by which I will measure my work with Bandit.

For such a long time I have felt that I have lost something as a trainer.  For some reason that I could not identify, it seemed there was a block between what I wanted to accomplish with my dogs and actually getting the job done.  I felt like I was spinning my wheels no matter how hard I tried.

Now I know that at least part of it came from the fact that I no longer thought that the way I have learned to approach training was good enough.  I honestly don't know where that idea came from.  I don't know why I had adopted different expectations.  Expectations that clearly don't work for me.

The good thing is - it doesn't matter why.

What matters is that I now recognize that I got off on the wrong track and that I need to get back to where I had been before!  I need to be cognizant of putting my dog's needs first.  I need to do this with my dog, and to recognize him as a contributing partner in our work together.  I need to stick to one criteria at a time, celebrate every success, and be content with getting there when we get there!

And I know that if I do this, I can be better!  And the best in Bandit will shine forth in everything we do.