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Training dogs can be frustrating. This can come in at any time when frustration can kick in. Some days your dog performs outstanding and some days it seems like it never learned a thing. This for some can be frustrating. It was for me this week working with Lilly. I’ve only had her now a little over two weeks. Most people, I would think would say I’ve moved mountains with her, but yesterday we had a setback. Pulled on the leash extremely hard twice, once to get to another dog and the second to get to a rabbit. Needless to the leash got entangled in my hand and she almost pulled my index finger out of socket, she kept going to the door to be let out, none of her verbal cues were being reliable. Needless to say, I was frustrated. What can be said about how to work through frustration? Is it something you should work through?
Truth is frustration is a fact of life. We are all going to get this way at one time or another. Now that I’ve had time to reflect and some sleep. I realized that I was having the feeling of being overwhelmed and my expectations were too high. It is important in dog training or in training of any kind for a reasonable expectation. I feel in dog training or animal training it should be viewed a little differently. The dog or animal can’t tell you they’re not feeling their best. They can not tell you that they don’t understand or that you’re moving too fast. Maybe all of these things happened to me yesterday. Maybe it was the dog I took in to evaluate that changed her environment to where she wasn’t as receptive. All I can tell you is that I was not happy. Even I’m not immune to being frustrated.
I guess you can say it was humbling and that it told me that I always have work to do in practicing patience. Dogs have actually taught me more about this than anyone or anything. To train a dog is not about instant gratification but a journey between two species finding common ground. In some instances, they train you and you in most you train them especially how to function in our society.
When you work with your dog or dogs it is important to understand your limit or know where you are at emotionally and not try to stretch it. Frustration only brews, it doesn’t just go away if you try to work through it. It usually needs to be assessed. Here are my rules that I practice to manage my frustration during training. 1) I understand that the way I feel is affecting the dog. 2) I will stop the session. I will always end on a good note. Like something easy or fun 3) Understanding if I need a complete break. After the session has ended you may find yourself mad at yourself. If that’s the case, try and reflect. The best way that I’ve found is crate your dog for about 20 minutes and reflect. Remember it’s not for the dog it’s for you. You are not punishing the dog if you need a complete break. You are helping them. They want you happy as you want your dog happy. You must take care of yourself. 4) Train when you’re motivated to do so. It is best to keep training sessions with your pup short and sweet 15-20 sessions followed by play. You can increase as reliability gets better. When the dog is learning it’s best to keep it short in my opinion. 5) Evaluate your expectations. You should be happy with any type of progress. Celebrate it. Dog training sometimes can be a slow process that makes you center yourself in patience.
These are the major lessons I’ve learned about working with dogs when it gets frustrating. You owe it to you to understand what, and why it is happening. More times than not with myself is that I feel overwhelmed.
Until next time! Settle relax and enjoy the relationship.