What is ease and flow?
It’s one of the hardest things yet one of the easiest. 'How' you say? When training your pooch you want to be in a good frame of mind so when you start, training comes from a place of calm. Dogs are really good at reading body language, it is hardwired into them. If we go out there and we aren’t present and in the moment our dogs generally pick up on that energy and respond accordingly. Some dogs are more tolerant than others but as owner of 4 working dogs and 5 years working with horses I had to learn how to master my emotions. Once you become present in the moment you will start to feel at ease and things will flow. You will notice the little things and start to react differently.
Unfortunately in this busy world, which really doesn’t suit dogs at all, we always going out with an agenda: what to complete in a specific time. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a plan, which I will talk about in a future blog, but being too rigid doesn’t help anyone least of all your dog.
Clear your schedule
First clear your schedule, actually clear a time where you won’t have interruptions and make it a priority so you can focus on your dog or puppy. Next mute your devices, yeah I know you’re busy but I promise you it will help you with your training. Training is all about quality rather than quantity. Though we need both I would much rather, and particularly at the start, have someone do a really good 5 minute training session than someone who has been trying for 30 minutes but is constantly being bombarded with questions from the kids, calls from their mobile, notifications from their tablet, you get the idea.
Find your calm
Right, the next bit takes a bit of practice so don’t be too hard on yourself at the start, you need to find your calm inside, and it’s a bit like meditating. You visualise what you want to achieve and you think about the steps you might need. The more your practice the easier it gets.
Be positive
Next just look at your dog and think about all the positive things, smile, enjoy the moment, ok you’re ready to start.
Go with the flow
Now go with the flow, follow your intuition. As long as you are present, you and your dog are enjoying yourself, nothing really can’t go too wrong. Once things are flowing, ease will come too. You will become more aware of their body language. You will notice when the dog has had enough and even recognise when you have had enough. There is no point trying to push something uphill. It’s way more work than it’s worth and it will leave a bitter taste in your mouth and your dog/ puppy won’t respond as well and that can be held on to into your next training session. Even if you haven’t got to the desired point, just go back to the spot where you both understood and finish on a positive note. There is always later, tomorrow or even the weekend.
I do strongly recommend at least spending at least 10 minutes per dog a day to give them the stimulation and mental strength but if you just can’t get that done get as close as possible for you and your lifestyle. Be your best self and always work on yourself as much as you do your dog. Most training problems come from a lack of understanding from the human rather than your dog being misbehaved.
More info
Need more guidance? We do one on one training in the Warren district (based in Pemberton) which can be really helpful to set you on the right track, we also do a live Q&A on Sunday afternoon at 4pm AWST just follow us on Facebook for all our lives, updates and new stock. www.facebook.com/ThenaturaldogAus
Have a dog question? Drop us a message and you might see you question featured in our future blogs.
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