Hey everyone! Just wanted to share my recent puppy success. How my personal approach has improved, and I believe helping Toby be a better puppy. I chalk this up to the wonderful people educating about positive training. We were practicing off leash time on the way home from a walk - something we do at the same spot every time. Most of the time we all run home from this spot so he usually runs with us. It's not new to be off leash (he does most of his training off leash) and this is a safe spot, however he randomly went into the street. (Our street has construction on the next block up so we don't see much traffic any more) I was surprised and called out to him. I knew not to chase but walked calmly to him and was just saying his name (to keep his focus), not doing the come command we've been practicing in case he decided not to do that too. He didn't run or do anything else unexpected. He waited for me. I put the leash on, treated for all this good stuff I saw, and decided today was an off day and we walked the rest of the way home on leash. The old me would have been verbally telling how I felt (angry, what a dumb thing to do, bad dog, etc) and probably thrown in some leash jerks and whatnot. But nope...just calmly walked home (we were only 3 houses away from our house). I can see how my old self would have been conditioning him to "oh, when i go back on leash I get punished. Ok, let's run away next time." So.....so far ok?? Did I do ok? Should I do something different? Next one: Toby found my phone power chord and chewed it. His first "destroyed" object. ((Pretty good for having lived with us 6 weeks now!)) I sat on the bed and showed him. He wanted to chew it more. I laughed because he has no idea. He's a baby with no clue he ruined something. So I just left it out of reach to show the husband later and threw it away that evening. The old me would have attempted to scold and instill guilt into him. Now I know/understand that that would have just broken down his trust with me as his human mama (confusion for why I was yelling/scolding at him, etc). And overall, I feel so much calmer as a person knowing better how a dog thinks - delayed reward or consequence is futile. Dogs do not think as humans think (analytical). He made a few mistakes...but he doesn't know that. And I need to keep my house safer and keep working on his training. Your take-away: keep up the work on spreading positive training. People like me need it. And dogs lives are better for it. I hope all this helps you understand where I'm coming from. Still a newbie, but trying my best. "Punishments" don't happen to him at all. "Consequences" are more natural (puppy nipping results in no more interaction, pulling on the leash results in us stopping in our tracks). So now we think more in the positive. I reward what I like and ignore what I don't like/redirect when necessary (here, chew this instead of the couch). Thanks for reading! Hope it all make sense.
Nice post and very well written. When 'the penny drops' it all starts to make sense. Last week Pippa picked up one of my wife's brand new leather shoes and proudly trotted off into her bed with it. She had a nibble and did some damage which didn't put my wife in a good mood for the day. It was hard for her to not get mad and shout at the puppy but it was her (our) fault for leaving brand new shoes on the floor in reach of the crocopup! Of course I wasn't about to state the obvious in this situation . I feel that most of the situations where Pippa has done something 'wrong' could have been avoided if I had acted and behaved differently. It's a learning curve and as long as you feel like progress is being made then you're on the right path.
Yes it's been a lot of work diligent watching and protecting Toby from doing wrong and protecting our stuff. It's hard because we're a family of 6....4 of whom are kids. I'm so thankful Toby loves his sleep. Haha, so gives me lots of opportunities to clean up quick what my kids get out.
Awesome read, it is wonderful to read the story of someone who is so self-aware. I remember you saying that Toby had a youtube channel. Does he have an Instagram account too? Apologies if I have asked before.
Great stuff. Toby will be a much happier and well trained dog because you and your positive training. Keep up the brilliant work xx
No, sorry, I've never started an instagram account before. Facebook for me and YouTube for him is hard enough to keep up! Thank you everyone for your kind words!
