IT'S ALL ABOUT ME

I was speaking with one of my gurus, Diane Kline, about what REALLY matters about Loosen the Leash. What REALLY seems to make the difference about us being there or not being there. What REALLY is the "key" to being effective in the long run. How my biggest lesson is to FINALLY get that you don't give up because every single thing isn't PERFECT.

Example number one (which by the way may be the only example I use but I am still happy to give it a number):

The boys are learning how to let their dogs out of their crates and snap the leashes on their collars without feeling like a tornado just whipped through the room with the ensuing chaos that can bring. Sounds simple, right? It is. It is as simple as every other thing we may choose to teach. You have to break the lesson into it smallest component and teach that little component. Eventually you "chain" the little components together into one accomplishment. Go.
Step one-Teach dog to stay in crate when you open the door.(I won't explain how to do that here,but that's step one and it isnt' hard.) Click and treat. Click means"that's right" Treat reinforces that the click is a really good thing.
Step Two-Teach dog that he can come out of crate. In this case by saying a word that means you don't have to stay anymore. Click, treat.
Step Three-teach dog to sick just outside of crate before he slips past you and out the door.
Brilliant. Very do-able.

Here's where LTL does the real work....in my opinion AKA "The world according to Cindy Vickers". Boy who handles Chowder..BIG dog experiences Chowder staying in his crate beautifully when he opens crate door. Chowder also sits easily and obediently when asked (in most circumstances). Chowder, however, upon hearing release word BULLDOZES his way out of the crate at which point you have to do a volleyball dive to grab anywhere you can to catch him and wrestle him back. Chowder is somewhat oblivious to this acrobatic display.
Boy is VERY FRUSTRATED and can't understand why he has to have THAT dog. Wants to quit. For the 15th time. By the way, he HAD to have THAT dog when he saw him initally. In my mind, I might be thinking, "O Good Flippin' Grief child, just quit complaining and just train the dog". Light bulb moment...if he knew how to train the dog, if he knew how to stay the course, I wouldn't need to be here.
What we do now is "move in" on boy in a tizzy. One and one (and that is critical, I believe) I explain how VERY successful he has been with 2 of the 3 parts of the training. I also remind him that I know what dogs are easy to work with and which ones are more challenging. In this one instance Chowder is more challenging, other times he is a piece of cake. I then remind him of how I am going to help him work through this ONE piece of the chain that needs work. That's dog training! He is doing exactly what he is supposed to be doing! I am thrilled that he can see how the process works and how much he has accomplished. I tell him that! He is smiling. Crisis averted.

Then I punch him in the gut as I always do and tell him he needs to work on those abs.

Once again, these boys are not so different from me. I spent a lifetime moving from place to place, career to career, on and on looking for perfect. Moreso, afraid that if I couldn't be perfect, it would entrirely to clear to everyone around me that I wasn't good enough. So here at Hogan Street, I see myself many times in the boys and in their bravado hiding their fear. Almost daily there is something not working right in the program, something that needs to be better.
Never give up. Keep on keepin' on. Their is love and support all around us. All of us.
I never said that this was really about dog training. It's all about me.
Cindy