In our time together in the country, we have always lived on old farms facing busy streets or roads.
One of my proudest training achievements is that no dog of mine has ever gone in the road or even near it (Fate did once at an Open House; she got too excited, she was a puppy).
My dogs are rarely on leashes, and lots of trucks roar close by. Training is a spiritual experience for me, not a question of obedience. I see my dogs as partners in life; they expect a lot from me. I expect a lot from them.
Like almost all well-bred Labs, Zinnia was bred to be calm and to work with people. She loves being trained as much as I love training her. And training never stops; it cannot be done in four visits to Petco.
Every day, when I go out to get the mail, I take Zinnia. I started training her by bring some biscuits, and when I got to the point in the driveway where I wanted her to stop, I dropped a biscuit on the ground right behind my car.
When she stopped to eat the biscuit, I asked her to stay and held up my hand and walked backwards to the mailbox by the road. Every time she moved, I walked back towards her with my hand and told her to stay.
After a week or so, she stopped automatically and looked for a biscuit. I stopped dropping them there and asked her to stay and then walked to the mailbox, my back to her.
If I saw or heard her move, it turned and walked back to the training spot and asked her to sit and stay. Then I would go to the mailbox, get the mail, and when I walked up to her – and if she was in the right spot – I gave her a treat and made a fuss.
It’s automatic now. When we walk out together, she sits down by the car and watches me. I walk to the mailbox and don’t even think about her, and when I come back, she is sitting, waiting for me. Some days I reward her with a treat; some days, I reward her with praise.
Red was special. I just asked him to wait for me, and he did. But border collies are different from Labs. Bud also does not go to the street, but I don’t think it’s safe to let him go anywhere the road unsupervised since he came when he was two. I wouldn’t turn my back on him there. If he saw a chipmunk or squirrel on the other side, he might take off.
Fate has absolutely no interest in the road; the sheep are the other way. I incorporate training into almost everything I do, including writing. When Zinnia lies quietly next to me, which she does, I reward her at the end of my work with a marrow bone.
Training dogs is and should be a joy. Training is a language with which we can speak to them and show them how to live safely in our world.
John having a dog does make us more human. And there no doubt will come a time when all of humanity sits up and takes notice as to how dogs have such a way of lifting the Human Spirit.
Training dogs IS a joy. Learning how to communicate with them and understanding their responses is a never-ending source of happiness. There can be frustration, but that’s always because I haven’t been doing something right! Once I figure it out, we’re back to good stuff.
Everything that I have learned from training dogs carries over to my relationships with people. Patience is the most important benefit, but I also am much more aware of the reactions of the other person to what I am saying or doing. I’m also a lot better about thanking people when they do something that I like – that’s a “people biscuit”.
Thank you for posting about your dogs. Interesting reading about training your dogs. Nice photo also. It seems that you really enjoy training your dogs and taught them well. I enjoyed reading your post.
There are few dogs harder to train than Border Collies? I have never heard anything other than the complete opposite from the many, many BC owners that I photograph at events, mostly agility. They always say they are by far the easiest.
People make dog training so much more complicated than it is, as you know. If you can just get people to understand that dogs repeat a behavior for only one reason, because it gets a desired result, you are on the way to success. . Once you get that, it’s easy. I know you definitely understand that. It’s the simple foundation that all good training is based on, but it can be stunningly difficult to get people to understand it.
All my dogs have been from the shelter, so they have often arrived with some challenges. Understanding that simple fact that they will repeat any behavior if it gets a consistent desired result for them has been the key to my success with all of them. Day in and day out, all day, redirecting and counter conditioning with consistent positive reinforcement has been my life with dogs for so long that I don’t even have to think about it anymore!