(I wrote a blog post pretty similar to this one a couple weeks ago, but there’s a reason the whole ‘47-courses problem‘ keeps popping up!)
Late last night my phone buzzed. It was a text from a longtime Agility Challenge Member and friend. Her young dog was “not listening” to her, and she wanted to know if I knew of an online course she could take.
Then she listed the online courses she’d already bought and had access to, and it was a pretty decent list.
So my first question back was: “what do you mean when you say ‘not listening’?”
“Blowing me off”, she said. Recalls, downs, that kind of thing.
My next question: “okay, and what’s the consequence when the dog doesn’t do it?”
“There isn’t one”, she said.
And there it is.
Think about what that looks like from the dog’s side. She’s given the dog 1,000s of reinforcements over time for a few pretty important behaviors, like the down. Then, one day, she asks for a down. A recall. The dog doesn’t lie down. And then… nothing happens. Nothing changes. As far as the dog can tell, “down” is now merely a suggestion, and declining it is a perfectly reasonable option.
That dog isn’t being stubborn, and isn’t being bad. They’re reading the situation correctly, based on the information they’ve been given. Half the information, really. They’ve been taught what happens when they get it right. Nobody’s told them what happens when they don’t.
And you can’t buy your way out of that one. Another course isn’t going to solve it or provide clarity to the situation.
So that’s what I told her. She didn’t need to spend another dime. She almost certainly had everything she needed, sitting in the courses she already had access to. What she needed was to go back to the earlier work she’d already done with her dog, and actually FINISH it.
I did suggest that she take a look at the ‘Diamond Dogs: Loose Leash Walking & A More Resilient Dog‘ Course at The Agility Challenge website; a course she already has access to that details how to layer negative reinforcement over the top of behaviors already constructed with positive reinforcement; that wouldn’t cost her a dime and it’s a short course that takes little time to go through.
Here’s the part I loved, though. She’d pretty much come to that conclusion on her own before she ever texted me. She just needed somebody to say it out loud. I also told her I had an email on this exact topic planned. So… hi! Great minds think alike!
If it worked, you’d have graduated by now.
Now, before anybody thinks this is about the member who reached out, it isn’t. She’s smart, she’s committed, and she’s been at this a long time. That’s my whole point. This happens to GOOD handlers.
Because when you’ve done the work, and followed the steps, and it still isn’t done, the only conclusion that seems to be left is that you need MORE steps. A new program. A different instructor. Course number seven. And every one of them feels like progress, because buying it feels like doing something.
Patience is real, and some things do take a long time. I’m not arguing with that. But patience is supposed to be GOING somewhere. If the plan has no finish line, that isn’t patience. It’s a holding pattern. And a holding pattern can be a very comfortable place for everybody except you and your dog.
So here’s a question to ask about any program. Including mine.
What does finished look like?
Not “better.” Finished. What will your dog be able to do, where, and how will you know when you’ve got it? If the answer is fuzzy, or it’s some version of “it depends, just keep going,” that tells you something.
And yes, I know what I sell. The Agility Challenge is a membership. It would be very convenient for me if you stayed in it forever, working on the same startline. So hold me to the same question. I’d much rather you come in, FINISH the skill, and stay because there’s always a next thing worth building, than stay because you’re still stuck on the first one.
The old way says stay in the program. Our way says finish the skill.
So tell me: what’s the thing you’ve been working on the longest? One line is plenty.
The whole system lives inside The Agility Challenge. Door is here.