How will you and your dog benefit?
*Less confusion and frustration through clearer communication - (human to dog; dog to human.)
*Less stress and frustration through fairer expectations because you set your dog (and yourself) up for success.
*The pleasure and rewards of success! You and your dog will enjoy yourselves, gain motivation and build your relationship.
*No judgement and distress over failure - it's just information to learn from and use.
WAYS TO WORK WITH WINGS
When you see your dog as a learner trying to understand their world, you are better able to empathise with why they keep making mistakes.
You're also learning.
You will also make mistakes.
This is NORMAL!
This is what the teaching and learning process looks like.
No matter who you are or what your other skills might be you might still have a lot to learn about owning, understanding and training dogs.
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Let yourself off the hook!
Allow yourself to be a learner.
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Let your dog off the hook!
Allow them to be a baby/ learner.
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As your understanding of the learning and teaching process grows, you will become more aware of why your dog is making so many errors.
At times you may feel frustrated. This is because learning something new is HARD WORK!
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What you already know and the skills you already have WILL come in handy once you can see where they fit into this process. Just be patient.
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Examples:
*Communication - paying attention, using feedback thoughtfully, clarifying your teaching so your dog can understand more easily. (Your dog's errors provide valuable information.)
*Empathy - seeing your teaching/ expectations/ the world from your dog's perspective.
*Consistency - consistent systems and expectations give your dog a fair chance at learning and strengthening their skills. Inconsistency is a recipe for confusion and frustration.
*Resilience - as you work through the frustration of repeated failures.
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