Why we get better at what we love

I’ll be honest, I’m not a domestic goddess. Never have been and probably never will be. I don’t have a passion for matching scatter cushions and whilst I don’t want to and don’t indeed live in filth I’m pretty cool about a bit of untidiness so long as things are basically clean. I’m the sort of person that can live with the hovering going a day or two overdue put it that way. I used to walk into houses that were matching, absolutely spotless with kitchen floors you could eat your dinner off and wonder what on earth do these people do with their days? It must take them HOURS to do all this cleaning, they could be out having fun!

But the truth is they are having fun. Keeping their houses that way gives them an inner satisfaction, a warm glow as they bask in their co ordinated and scented environments. GOOD FOR THEM, no really I mean it because they are good at it and they love the end result. Just because it all looks like a total waste of time to me doesn’t mean it’s not valid and frankly fantastic to them. So what does this have to do with dog training? What’s the bigger point here? Their houses are amazing because they love doing it. They have found passion in matching the colours and spotless carpets, at the very least they have a satisfaction and certain skill level in the end result. They didn't get there without enjoyment, even though outwardly the task of cleaning tidying and arranging is often seen as a chore (guilty as charged here) and so we get by doing the minimum.

If we want to improve any behaviour in ourselves (or our dogs) it must be reinforcing. Reinforcement drives truly successful behaviour change. If we get caught up in the negative, the corrections, the no’s or the I don’t like thats we end up at a place of the minimum we can get away with. We do enough to prevent pain but never really see great results. We never match our metaphorical cushions and curtains.

So let’s find the joy, see the good and have fun with our dogs. If you are struggling with your dog start. with the good stuff, find those things and build on them. That’s the way to get motivated to help them, it’s the way to help our dog’s get better at the skills they need to be successful in our world and it is the thing that will drive life long learning and create the best dog human team you could ask for.