This is my WHY…

I attended my first ever dog training class in 2008.  It was a group class, held in a local park on a Sunday morning.  Bonnie was my golden retriever puppy, 6 months old and full of excitement for everything.  I didn’t have a clue about how to train a dog. It was the kind of class where you all line up in a long row with your dog on the left and walk up and down the park, turn left, then turn right, the dog will sit, down, stay.

At this point, I thought dog training meant stopping your dog from doing the “wrong thing”.  In Bonnie’s case, this meant not jumping, not pulling like a train at the sight of another dog or human.  It meant don’t ignore me.  But deep down, it meant stop making me feel stupid all the time. 

Really, I had no idea. Despite my complete lack of knowledge, skill or understanding, Bonnie was the sweetest, most patient and loyal dog.

But something must have been sparked inside me, because I was hooked on this dog training gig.  Several years later I enrolled in a professional training course, and I learnt a whole heap about positive reinforcement training. By 2016 I had a professional qualification through the Delta Institute!

At this point in life, I thought that dog training meant teaching your dog cool things.  Flashy behaviours to impress.  Training things that look good, that got me what I wanted from my dog.  Then aged 8, Bonnie was again my kind and patient student.  I had more understanding about dog training by now, but I still didn’t really “get it”.

My darling Bonnie lived till she was 14yrs old and I often think back to her puppy period and wish I could be there again with her. I often think how differently I would now respond to her crazy antics, and how much more patient I would be when she ignored me or jumped around in excitement.  Because I realise now, she didn’t know what else to do.  She was just doing the things that came naturally to her. Things that made sense in her doggy world.  

Now in 2024, my view of dog training has changed again.  Now it means “I see you, I hear you”, it means building a relationship and trust first.  I now see a dog’s behaviour in a different light.  When my dog does something I may not love, I can see how that may be fulfilling a different need for them. Rather than seeing a “naughty” dog that refuses to work, is deliberately ignoring me, I see a dog that doesn’t understand what’s being asked, or that finds the environment too distracting, or maybe they’re worried about something. 

When we put the relationship at the top, when we value communication and interaction first, we can see our dog more clearly as they try to work out how to operate in a human world.   

One definition of a successful day for me is learning something new. Whether you’re a child, a dog or an adult, we all make mistakes and we are all learning.  When we allow our dog and ourselves the time to learn together, we have the opportunity to build a relationship deeper and with a stronger connection than we ever imagined.

Bonnie was a loyal and faithful companion, and I loved her so very much.  The lessons that started when she came in to my life still inform the approach I have today for not only my own dogs, but for my client’s dogs as well. ❤️ 🐾

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