Why We Train

First, a little on behavior theory…

Why do we choose to perform the behaviors that make up our daily routine? 

Everything that we do (along with dogs and any other animals) is to better our situation. We go to school and try to get good grades so that way we can have a better chance at getting a well paying job... we want a good job so that way we can get more money... more money generally means less stress... etc. Another example could be; we hang out with certain people because those people benefit our lives in some way, shape or form. Maybe they make you happy, maybe they bring you comfort, maybe they help you financially, etc... We’re usually never intentionally doing things to make our situation more difficult for ourselves. The same goes four dogs!

Pressure:

These difficulties in life can be looked at as pressure. We’re always looking for the path of least resistance in order to avoid pressure, but unfortunately there will always be pressure in life. Pressure can come in all kinds of forms, but some that come to mind for me are tests, performances, auditions, interviews, etc… These pressures can be HUGE, but they shouldn’t ever be looked at as something negative. In fact, overcoming these pressures can be some of the most rewarding things that ever happen to us! So, in general, our goal is to go on with life avoiding as much pressure as possible, but when there is pressure we must be equipped to handle the situation with experience, knowledge and a whole bunch of other tools! We will have to take tests and overcome obstacles/challenges (pressure) throughout our entire life. That part is a given and we can’t always control that, but what we can control is how we take on every situation. Do we coward and shy away from the issue, never learning how to deal with it? Or do we face the issue with confidence knowing that there will be hardships, but still we stand tall to get past the obstacle? Maybe we even have to fake a little bit of confidence… I personally think that’s the best way to go about it because at the end of all that the relief of pressure through overcoming the obstacle confidently is SO much more rewarding that it makes up for the pressure/stress that you felt before/while conquering it. And that goes with saying we will fail over and over again, but failure shouldn’t be something to be turned off by, embarrassed of or ashamed of. Instead it becomes a badge of honor when you’ve proved to be able to overcome the obstacle in the best, most logical and ethical way. Then we just get back to the drawing board, learn from our mistakes and try again.

When we look at things this way we almost never see pressure as something negative, we just see hurdles that are needing to be jumped over. Pressure becomes very positive and rewarding as long as we face the obstacles in a structured, productive and confident way where we know how to overcome while working through the stress. Stress can definitely be good thing! 

Back to training... 

We train to set ourselves and our dogs up for success in real life. We purposely put ourselves and the dogs in stressful situations that are set up to work in a way that we can overcome the stress, making us more confident in the long run. As we progress the amount of pressure that we’re able to withstand grows more and more. If the processes are productive. For example, if someone starts going to the gym they should start with light weights and as they get stronger they add more. If it was done in the opposite order where this person started lifting hundreds of pounds heavy weights they’ll probably hurt themselves and create a negative experience. I doubt that would be a start to a new habit. BUT If the process is done correctly through making the goal obtainable (start with lighter weights), while still pushing yourself AND IT’S FUN (super important!!!) then it’s very likely that the behavior of going to the gym will continue to be rewarding for that person. 

This is why sports and extracurricular activities are so popular and important for us. They’re all methods of pushing ourselves to be stronger, quick-witted, creative and intelligent individuals. We put ourselves in competitions, tournaments, etc. to test ourselves to see if we can withstand the pressure and we train for years up until this point so that way it’s not overwhelming on the day of competition. Then when you win that confidence of winning carries on throughout your daily life. You communicate with people more confidently, effectively, you’re happier in general and your positive vibes are infectious to others! …along with a million other great things!

...Or maybe you lose! It really doesn’t matter because now you have more fuel for your fire so you can come back with more preparation. That fuel is what gets us to be better. It gives us focus and a goal to strive for. It’s a win/win! It’s all good!

And it really doesn’t matter whether you’re a pro chess player or a pro body builder, the activity is what that individual finds fun, but the challenge of overcoming obstacles is something they both share in common. Both take an amazing amount of passion, control, smarts and drive to be the best.  

As a dog trainer I do my best to express this drive in the dogs I work with. The dog gets to choose what the fun activities will be since every dog enjoys different biological activities. My job is to make them the best at whatever they choose. I’m the dogs coach just like how we need coaches to point out our flaws, to show us a more productive way of doing things and to reward the new/preferred behavior. 

We put dogs in sports and extracurricular activities in order to build them up to be stronger/more confident dogs during actives so that confidence/ability to problem solve under stress carries on when they’re outside of the activity. This also helps to fulfill them as a dog through biological activities while simultaneously getting rid of unwanted behaviors through teaching the dog to focus its energy on more preferred behaviors. We also include communications skills, obedience commands and handler awareness during these games!

I’m sure I can go on, but I think this is a good representation of why we train dogs. This isn’t JUST dog training, this is learning theory; something that can be applied to our own lives just as much as our dogs. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me!