Perfection in Training – Almost Impossible?

I read this blog post today, “Perfection in Training” which is about taking a realistic look at the situation when a dog is ‘perfect’ in training but not in competition (or real life – I hear it a lot in basic manners classes).

When I work with students/clients I often see many areas where they could improve. I prioritize, help them, and we keep making improvements. Then I go and change lesson plans so that in the future when I teach the concept/activity there are fewer errors. My responses and phrasing are typically happy and true. “Great, now that you’re doing x, let’s add in y.”  “Look, he can do that now! Let’s change something by….”

However – when I analyze a training session with my own dogs – it sounds much different. I note all of the weak areas for the dog and for me – and then in future sessions we go work on those pieces.  During that next session more holes come up. And we go to fix those….   For every one thing I cross off my “to-do” list, I often add at least 15 more in the process.  This can make it sound like I’m upset with my dogs or myself – I’m not!

My favorite dog activity is competition obedience. And my favorite thing about obedience is working towards that theoretical (or real?) perfect performance – and being able to get it again and again and again. Working on those details is something that I enjoy even if it’s not going to be a ‘success’ most of the time.

Here’s a video of our first session putting together his scent articles:

There were many parts that were great and that I’m happy about – he actually did it, we were able to do the whole sequence, the quality was equal for metal vs leather, he stayed on task.  Getting to this point has been one of our hardest training challenges. If you were to talk to me right after the session I’m focused on the “what to do next” and looking at the weak areas.

• Pivot – smoother for Griffin and me. I almost fell over.
• Move slower – I go quickly from one part to the next. I need to add in longer pauses at all stages.
• Calmer searching – I want Griffin to be calmer during his search.
• Fronts – crooked [this could be due to the leash he’s dragging – restricted activity, I wanted to reduce the chances of him moving too fast.]
• Hold – His first grab on the metal wasn’t good. He also was mouthing it as he came in.
• Response to side cue was delayed
• We need to add in someone else handling the articles, playing the judge, etc.

Perfection also depends on the standards of the handler – that’s where I run into the most conflict with clients  – sometimes I see they need a higher level of fluency in training set ups to get success in a trial/real life environment. Even though the behavior is “good enough” for the set up – it might not be sufficient for real applications. I also know that most of my pet students don’t need – or want- the level of response I do for my competition behaviors.  And that’s okay – we always talk briefly (or extensively) about goals. My job is not to set the goals but to help the dog owner get there by helping to set criteria and get the person to stick to it.