27/08/2026
A thought for your Friday.
So the other day I took Gus to his first ever mantrailing practise session. It wentā¦
well, we finished anyways.
Actually managed to find a person too!
(And then we found a lot of rabbits and got distracted, but whatever)
Anyways.
It made me think. (Yeah I do that sometimes! Sometimes a bit too much, actually, but thatās a story for another time.)
The whole āyay weāre going greatā followed by āoh boy, this is a disasterā made me think about dogs and training in general. Like, how easy it is to get stuck thinking itās meant to be a straight line, some sort of home run to success from the word go. And then, the disappointment when that doesnāt happen. Or the feeling of āmeh, what was the point of that?ā when you donāt see immediate results. And the instant thought of āyeah, nah maybe this isnāt for me after allā¦ā
Iām sure you know what Iām talking about, right?
Anyway, I was thinking about that and wondered why it is that we so often get stuck thinking that just because itās a dog, and because we understand how reinforcement works, that somehow things are meant to be justā¦easy.
As if change is a simple mathematical formula.
āI say X, you do X, I give you good things and then weāre sortedā.
So instead,Iāve started thinking about a bit like weight gain.
Slow and steady and sneaky as hell.
Because I think we often forget how many reps dogs get of a certain behaviour before we even notice that itās a problem that is is going to cause us some level of stress and frustration later on. And also, likewise for the good times. Like, āI do a fun thing once so now, somehow, Iām going to be an ace at it and enjoy it immensely every single time from hereonā.
So instead of expecting immediate happiness and joy (or thinking itās a total waste of time) when something doesnāt go the right way the first time, I think it might be helpful to think about it as fairly insignificant and not all that important on its own, and instead focus on how this little piece fits in to the bigger picture.
A bit like a puzzle.
Itās okay to have one or two, or even fourteen pieces, that are wonky or not fitting quite right, if youāre doing a 1000-piece puzzle. Because in the end, with some time and patience, youāll still end up with a fairly nice-looking picture.
And if itās still a complete mess in the end, take a step back and pretend itās an impressionist piece of art. Indistinguishable blobs of colour up front, a pretty picture at a distance.
So now Iām curious.
When was the last time you tried something new with your dog? What was the new thing, and how long did it take you to start enjoying it fully and to get good at it, or at least semi-decent?
