The Power of Failure

            Recently I was listening to a book on tape called The Millionaire Course Seminar by Marc Allen.  In this tape he talks about the Power of Failure and it got me thinking about our dog training.  There is a lot of power in my mind with failing in training, as it is through failure that we become better at training our dogs.  Examples below;

            My first Golden Retriever was a high drive, field bred dog who looking back now had tremendous skills that I might never see again in one of my performance dogs.  It was the kind of dog that should have been put in the hands of a very skilled dog trainer, and most likely he would have been one of the great ones of the breed.  He was so driven in his work that he could easily be distracted by the slightest thing occurring around the ring, and he had a hard time waiting for me to give a command.  This dog taught me how to teach attention to our heeling, and how to perfect stays so that we could qualify in the obedience ring.

            My next dog was one who was a natural.  At seven weeks old she was heeling by my side looking up at me and learned her exercises easily at all levels through Utility.  If you taught her something, she retained it, and was what most would call a very biddable dog. 

            The question is which dog made me a better dog trainer?  The answer is dog #1.  Although dog #2 earned many High in Trials, was my first UD dog and consistently scored in the high 190’s, garnering many prizes and placements, I did not really learn how to train a dog from those accomplishments.  Dog #1 forced me to evaluate my training methods and learn how to work through problems to achieve the end result, which was the completion of the exercise. 

I learned how to be inventive with dog #1.  For instance, how many of you train alone, yet have a dog who is easily distracted by the judge?  Did you know that by simply wearing a mask (I used our President Nixon mask) when working with your dog on the stand for exam, you can teach a dog to accept handling from a stranger?  Dog #1 had to learn how to heel through popcorn, white foam cups, next to lawn chairs, around dogs who barked and cried, during loud noises, etc.  Dog #2 would have never bothered with these things, as her total being was just heeling with me.

Both dog #1 and dog #2 had quick, fast recalls, but dog #1 taught me to learn methods to teach him not to finish until I told him to.  Dog #2 never thought it was an option to do something that she was not told to do.

So the next time you fail in the obedience ring, look at your partner and thank them for teaching you to be a better dog trainer.  Look at the power you have just received to learn a new method, analyze your training and decide where you can improve the communication to your dog to perfect the goal of accomplishing that exercise. 

Cindy Pischke

cima@charter.net