Absolutes in Dog Training and Reflections on an Unusual Year

10 steps to dog training success!

The 5 things you MUST train your dog to do!

The things you must NEVER do with your dog!

We see these kinds of headlines all over the place in relation to our dogs. So many rules and advice that, if we don’t follow them, means we’re the worst kind of dog owners/guardians ever. Even that, the owners vs guardians title dilemma can cause bitter argument (for my part I’m not that bothered what you call yourself – professor of the world or emperor of canine kind if that floats your boat, just so long as you treat the dogs in your care as they should be treated). The thing is that dogs don't come with a training rule book!

If they did, they wouldn't read it! 😂

I’m not going to deny that there are musts and must nots when it comes to our lives with dogs. All dogs must have a good recall, or be on a longline outside of enclosed spaces or if there are other people and dogs around that the dog may run towards uninvited. Dogs must not be permitted to upset other dogs and humans through lack of training or attention paid by the humans in charge of them. We all know that accidents can happen and a dog may get away from their people and go for a bit of a wild run, but there are also the people who rarely if ever bother to recall their dogs or even keep much of a watch on them. These are the people that others of us dread seeing in our local parks or fields. )If you are having issues with recall, there is a fantastic workshop called Rock Solid Recall at Canine Principles.)

My list of must nots when it comes to dogs is very simple. We must not do anything that causes them pain or fear, or allow others to do so either.

Musts are also fairly simple. We must look after the dogs (or any animal) for whom we take responsibility. There are some valid reasons why rehoming may be necessary, and in these cases the rehoming must be done responsibly, to ensure that the dog will receive the care and perhaps rehabilitation that they need. We must let them be dogs – dogs get dirty, they roll in disgusting substances, they bark right in your ear in the car at the squirrel that looked at them sideways from the tree beside the road. We must keep them safe, healthy and happy.

In short: be kind and keep everyone safe and happy (safety is where the recall comes in). Those are my absolutes. Beyond that, we do what works for us and our dogs. Want your dog to sleep on your bed? Fine. Finn will jump on my bed while I’m going through my nightly routine, and curl up right in the middle of it. When I’m ready, I ask him to get down, he waits for me to settle then jumps up and settles himself against my side for his bedtime chest scratch.

Want your dog to snooze on the sofa? Again, fine! It doesn’t magically make your dog the king of the house, just gives him a comfy spot to sleep next to you. If you’re worried about upholstery, buy throws!

Want to do trick training with your dog? As long as the dog is happy and seems to enjoy doing it and is not stressed, and the tricks aren’t going to result in injury, have fun learning how to do all sorts of things together.

Dogs’ lives are all too short. Getting caught up in too many rules interferes with the time that you have to enjoy that once in a lifetime bond that comes with every once in a lifetime dog. The best part of it is when we realise every dog is a once in a lifetime dog. They will all leave you with something, a little part of themselves that could only have come from that one dog. Every dog that enters our lives leaves an impression on our hearts.

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It's been a very strange year, for all of us. I've probably been touched less than most due to the fact I work for myself at home anyway and I've never been a social butterfly, but nevertheless it has felt very strange at times. There's been so much bad and so many negatives to 2020, and I can't deny there has been an impact - my last post here was at the end of October, which is shameful neglect of this blog! There have been a couple of reasons, things that have kept my mind elsewhere but some of it is just... 2020. It's impacted on so many people's productivity and ability to think straight. It's not a year many will want to look back on much.

Professionally, the year has been a good one for me, with a bit of branching out into creating video workshops, including two for Canine Principles (Overcoming Impostor Syndrome and Understanding Reactive Dogs). I also wrote and released an impostor syndrome book, 'Conquering Confidence'. As with most of my writing now it's aimed at canine professionals, but the information and advice inside works for any industry.

I am deep in the process of producing my next book, with the text largely finished and onto the fiddly job of editing for typos, grammar and any little bits I may have missed so far to round the whole book out. It is perhaps the book I would have written when I wrote 'Fight or Fright?' if I had known anywhere near as much than as I know now! Although I have to admit to being quite glad that 'Fight' is a separate book, as it very much has a place to act as an empathetic guide to the overwhelmed dog guardian who is feeling very isolated due to what is going on with their dogs. Once more in 'Understanding Reactive Dogs' I am writing about reactive dogs, although this book contains much more detail on the science behind reactivity and behaviour modification. I'm working towards releasing this book early next year so will be providing updates when the time is closer, but for now, here's the cover:

Onto my proudest achievement of the year: I am honoured to have been invited to join the tutoring team at Canine Principles. I accepted immediately and have been 'in situ' for a few weeks now. The prospect of guiding students through some of the journey that I have been on is an amazing one. I'm covering a few courses but, most exciting for me, one of them is the Canine Reactive Behaviour Advanced Certificate, the very first course that I saw and signed up for. I've worked my way through a significant portion of their course catalogue, and haven't found a single course I wouldn't recommend.

So what about next year? To be honest, after the mess that 2020 has thrown at us, some of which we are going to be living with for some time yet, I'm not much into stating resolutions or plans or aims. What I do know is that I'm going to continue studying, I will keep learning, I will keep writing, and I will keep doing everything I can to help reactive dogs and their humans.