Inclusion
Sometimes when working with dogs, you need to go through a period of temporary inconvenience for long term success.
This can be really hard to wrap your head around when you are just getting started. If your dog is reacting to other dogs, you might have to avoid those busy city parks until you have done some controlled set ups and your dog has progressed. If your dog is running away and is unresponsive to you, you might have to start using a long line and stop having it completely off leash. - “But isn’t that avoiding the issue?” you say. “What is the fun in that?” you say. Plan smart now, so that you can reap your reward later on. “And what reward is that?” you say.
The reward is inclusion.
Focusing on your final goal makes it easier to stay disciplined now - including when you have moments of doubt, and when you have to justify your choice of training to others. When we first got Fausto, we got many critical remarks from our surroundings. Something which I am sure many of our clients with difficult dogs can relate to. “Why are you so strict all the time?” “Why don’t you just let him run around and have some fun?” “Why can’t I just pet him when I want to?” To all of those questions, the answer would be that we would have ended up with a pretty stressed out dog who would have been making some bad decisions!
If you have high expectations of your dog’s behaviour, you need to have as high standards on the way you set your dog up. - Giving your dog a good foundation, preparing them in a way that is fair and supportive, to give them the best chances of managing different situations successfully.
Next time someone questions the way you advocate for your dog, or you feel like maybe you should skip the long line just this once time, try to focus on why you do those things - so that you can keep including your dog in activities and involve them in your life. So that when you have a dinner party, your dog can settle and be well behaved instead of having to be shut into a different room. So that when you meet your friends for coffee, you can bring your dog with you instead of having them wait for you at home. So that your dog can be included.
Shortly after we got Fausto, we went away over Christmas together with some family members (this is when the picture for this post was taken). For the hot mess of a dog that he was at the time, this was incredibly challenging for a long list of reasons. But because we had some sort of foundation training that we could fall back onto to help create predictability for him in a situation that seemed overwhelming, he did really well. This year we will be spending the holiday with three times as many dogs and twice as many people, and will be preparing them in exactly the same way. By advocating for the dogs and providing clear guidance - so that they can be included.
