You are the Best Person to Train Your Dog

 

Michael Baugh CDBC

A client once taught me a very tough lesson. She said, “I have a lot of people in my life telling me what I do wrong. I don’t need another one.” She was talking about me. The truth stung. But it helped me change the way I teach people with their dogs.

The truth I discovered is that most people get it right. With some gentle coaching, they train their dogs well. One of the great things about positive reinforcement training is there is room for mistakes. You’ll never shatter your dog emotionally with too many treats or too much praise. Even if you only train your dog “well enough,” it’s still good enough.

Here are some reminders for success.

Praise and treat. Be on the lookout for what your dog is doing right. Reinforce that. Some of us use a marker word or a click sound as a signal to our dog that a treat is on the way. Great. Practice that.

Set your dog up to succeed. Avoid triggers and distractions, especially in the early stages of training.

Keep a positive attitude. Remember, the stories you tell yourself about your dog have a way of coming true. Keep them upbeat. You and your dog are doing great.

Be your dog’s advocate. Don’t let anyone shame you, even your trainer. You are the very best person to train your dog. No one knows them better than you.

Dog training is all about the relationship. It is communication. Celebrate that, even while you are learning. You’re not doing it wrong. In fact, you are getting better every day.

 

Michael Baugh teaches dog training in Houston, TX. He specializes in aggressive dog behavior.

Dog Training as Meditation

Meditation pauses the story in your mind long enough for you to remember that your mind is always telling you a story. – Cory Allen

Michael Baugh CDBC

Meditation is focusing on one thing, to the exclusion of all others. Focusing on one’s breathing, for instance, calms the mind. Inhale. Exhale. Count the breaths. The story in our mind stops. If you’ve tried it, you already know it takes some concentration. The mind is persistent. Thoughts zip in and out. And the story we tell ourselves isn’t always kind. Taking a break and quieting the chatter feels good. It’s good for us, too.

My dog Charlie and I go on mediation walks. He sniffs. I focus on my breathing and the present moment. The past is little more than fading and ever-changing thoughts. Our future is just wishes and worries. The only real time is right now. I love that. It’s hard to wrap my brain around, too.

Now.

Here.

This moment.

We tell ourselves stories about our dogs. I enjoy telling stories about how cool Charlie is. Sometimes (often) we tell ourselves stories about how bad our dogs are. We observe our dog’s misbehavior. But it doesn’t stop there. Our minds weave tales about their intentions, what the dog is thinking and feeling. Maybe we get some of it right. Probably we get most of it wrong. It’s fiction, part of the stories we are always telling ourselves – faded, changing, unreliable worries and wishes.

Pause the story long enough to notice it’s always running.

I try not to talk about training Charlie. It’s not something I do to him. I train with Charlie. We are a team. Training helps me focus on one thing, to the exclusion of all others. I focus on Charlie, what he is doing, how my actions reflect in his. We communicate, not psychically but physically, visually, in real-time. Right here and now.

Training is like a meditation. We can sit and meditate. I walk and meditate. When Charlie and I train, that is mediation, too. The story stops long enough for me to notice it. The story about Charlie being slow or stubborn turns off. He’s none of those things. We are learning together, right now, in this moment. The past is over. The future is a wish. Perhaps now we are building a future. We don’t know. We hope. We are learning how to cooperate with each other.

My story about Charlie is not necessarily who he is. It’s my mind’s story. Not his. I pause it for as long as I can. And when it starts again, better that I choose to tell myself a story about Charlie (and myself) that helps us feel good.

Such beautiful lives, his and mine. Take Note. Take a breath and smile.

 

Michael Baugh teaches dog training in Houston TX. He specializes in aggressive dog training.

Change (The Nature of Dog Behavior)

Michael Baugh CDBC CPDT-KSA

Our dogs’ behavior changes. That’s good news, and it is bad news. Behavior changes in ways we want it to. Think: training. Our dogs’ behavior changes in ways we don’t want it to as well. Think: why is he suddenly barking at visitors?

Our dogs are always learning from us, from others, and from their environment. Changing behavior is inevitable. It is part of nature, like gravity and the rising sun.

One of my favorite authors, Octavia Butler, wrote: “The only lasting truth is change. God is change.” (Parable of the Sower). That might not set well with some of my readers. So, think of it metaphorically. Change is the one constant, from animals to plants to the landscape itself. Everything changes. For believers, it would be hard to ignore the hand of God in all that. For nonbelievers, it is awe-inspiring nonetheless.

Change, specifically the promise of changing behavior, inspires my work with you and your dogs. Of course, change is frightening sometimes. (Why is this happening? It hasn’t happened before.) I choose to look at change with wonder. (Look at what is happening now. This is new. How cool.)

“All that you touch, you change. All that you change changes you.” That’s Octavia Butler, too. We influence change because we are part of this living world. We certainly influence changes in our dogs’ behavior. I see that every day in my work and in my own home. It’s a marvel if you think about it.

My dog Charlie is a champ at coming when called and he loves lying on his mat. He’s also taking on air travel, long road trips, and hikes up desert rocks (no small challenge for a three-legged dog).

On the surface, it looks like nothing more than cues and treats. That’s part of dog training, yes. But zoom out. Change begets change. The little ways we set up our dogs’ world can have huge positive effects. How can we change the settings we create for them? What slight changes can we make in our own behavior to make learning easier for our dogs? Where can we change things to ensure our dogs’ success?

Join me this new year in embracing change. Some of it is scary. I get it. Much of it, most certainly the behavior change work we do with our dogs, is waiting with joy and surprise. Teach. Love. Teach again. Love some more. Marvel at the change. Our dogs are changing. We, too, are changing.

“God is Change — Seed to tree, tree to forest; Rain to river, river to sea; Grubs to bees, bees to swarm. From one, many; from many, one; Forever uniting, growing, dissolving — forever changing. The universe is God’s self-portrait.” Octavia Butler.

 

Michael Baugh specializes in aggressive dog training in Houston, Texas.