It’s Okay to Make Mistakes

I’m always learning and I never want to stop learning – why? Because I know there is always a way to do something better. And this doesn’t just apply to dog training! I recently tried to teach Loker a few more foundations for a proper heel. He knows how to heel, but this exercise will help him be more aware of his back-end as well as teach him how to rotate his back-end properly when in the heel position. The exercise is to teach him to keep his front paws in place while his back-end rotates around. This is a challenging exercise for any four-legged animal as this is an unusual movement that they would normally never have to perform in their natural life.

This exercise is trained by using an object that the dog can rotate his back-end around while keeping his front legs on that object. I was so eager to try this exercise that I made a few mistakes and accidentally set my dog up to fail.

  1. I choose the wrong object – it slid around on the carpet making it difficult for Loker to even get one paw on there.
  2. I already knew he has the worst habit of sliding to a down position from a sitting position and I had not really worked on it prior to trying this exercise.
  3. This training session went waaayyyyyy too long!

Cant you spot any other of my mistakes? Guesses and questions welcome! 🙂

To watch this exercise being trained correctly, check out this videoHeelwork Foundations: Clicker Dog Training

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iASxOJvPATo]

As you can see, I made several mistakes – but that is okay. It is better not to sit there and beat yourself up on how horribly you did. It is much better to take it and learn from it. Finding ways that will create a successful training session for next time should always be the ultimate goal if you find yourself unsuccessful every once in a while.