Often times when people bring a dog to training, they expect immediate results. A common refrain is, “wow, 3 weeks of board and train is a very long time”. Can my dog learn how to open doors, sit on command, stop chewing on everything, lunging at people, peeing in the house, jumping on guests, walk without pulling, come when called, stop destroying the garden etc…? The want list is usually long, very long. The expectations are high and patience usually runs low, since we humans often don’t equate a dog’s learning curve to our own but tend to equalize our love for them with the amount of time we spent together. Living for 21 days without our dogs may seem like a lifetime. However considering that dogs live an average of 10 to 12 years and we humans get an average of 70 years, then 3 weeks truly is not a long time. In addition, it is worth remembering that even if we humans do become great at something in 21 days, we won’t master it without a lot of repetition and commitment that will have to be continued for long after those initial three weeks of behavior modification. It is worth remembering all that when deciding on a program to better the behavior of oneself and one’s dog. The initial 21 days of any training program is essentially the creation of new pathways of behavior. The creation of new grooves of behavior if you will. The training (or learning) does not end there. Any training that starts at three weeks is just that, a start. A foundation that will need to be mastered and eventually built upon. When thinking about how to best welcome your dog back home from training and making them successful, think about how long it takes us to change a behavior, make it into a habit and then eventually it becoming part of our routine. It is a process, sometimes a difficult one. The more support one has, the higher the chances are of that new behavior becoming the norm. With that in mind, here are a few tips for being successful with your pup after they come back from training.
1) Be proactive
You missed them and want to show your pup how much you love them by allowing them to do everything they used to do. After all, they look so happy to be home. However, try thinking about this in a different way. Your dog has just spent the past few weeks in an environment that was very regulated and regimented. That is what training means after all. That allowed them to blossom into the best version of themselves. What is the probability that the said version will stick around, if we humans, go back to the same exact behavior that created our problems in the first place? Why do we think that we will have to change nothing in the way we behave towards our dogs but they have to change the way they act simply because they spent 3 weeks in boot camp? Is that fair? Be the person your dog thinks you are by following the guidelines set by the trainer. Do the exercises, be proactive. But more importantly, be present. Understand that even when we (humans) are working on something the changes and achievements are not necessarily linear. Sometimes we take three steps forward and are great for a few days, and then, all of a sudden we go back to our routine and realize we just took five steps back. That is normal. Understanding this is a marathon, not a sprint will help you be successful. Some days you will do great. Others will make you want to quit or keep working harder in order to achieve your goal. That is our choice. But we can keep going for the dog. Can’t we?
2) Be consistent
Humans are creatures of habit. Without even realizing it, we train our dogs with our routine and by what we allow them to do. Your dog’s behavior is a reflection of what was allowed in their environment plus what was learned from trial and error. With that in mind, be consistent in working on the changes you wish to see. If your dog is a bolter, be consistent in teaching them what it means to simply be laying on a spot of your choosing and not allowing them to get up every five seconds. Maybe that will be hard for YOU, being consistent and working in order have your dog be successful in something that you don’t necessarily enjoy doing. But exercises like these (when consistently done) allow both human and dog to create new grooves of behavior. It allows for a break in the pattern and new pathways being formed. That is when the real change comes in. It takes time and commitment; but anything truly worth having takes that as well.
3) Be present
The hardest thing for humans to do nowadays is to be truly present in the moment they are living. Our lives have become so busy, that we often do things almost in auto pilot. Working with our dogs is an incredible opportunity for us to practice being here – now. Set a small intention at the start of every working session. Stay present with that intention while you work with your dog. Practice staying focused on what is and is not going on. Are you breathing, are you calm, are you confident? What are you bringing into the conversation. Be careful not to make the intention an expectation. Create a space where both you and your dog can learn from and with each other. The time it takes to achieve it, is the time it takes. But if we learn to be present and consistent, to be a coach seeking to better the relationship between us and our dog then that is what they will learn. If we are calm, present, breathing and going about our intention with grace, then that is what they will imitate. If that takes 3 weeks great. If it takes three years, also great. We have a lifetime to keep practicing what they have learned in the three weeks they spent in training. That is what makes our lives with dogs so amazing, if we are consistent with our changes, so will they.
