Our relationship is fantastic. She is defiantly my dog and every day she presents me with a new challenge which I actually enjoy as well as showing me how devoted she is to me as her partner. I was reading somewhere in a book completely unrelated to dog training about something that really struck home and a way of training a dog I never had thought about before. It was a book on quilting ( yes - I am a closet quilter) and it said that in order to really make a really nice quilt, you need to enjoy each and every process. That included picking the fabric colours, cutting, sewing, basting ( no - not turkey), quilting and binding. Thats a lot of sections but once I took this on board I truly started to enjoy the WHOLE process of quilting rather than flying through the parts I didnt like.
How does this relate to dog training? Well when I thought about it I thought that is so much like dog training. You need to enjoy the foundation work but no foundation work is enjoyable if only one of you is having fun - and that is where the relationship side comes from. If its a 2 way street then you will go much further than "my way or the highway" and now that I think about it, that would be why I did so well with my cavalier Mickey. We really did work together. I think I was extremely luck to have worked with him and to have achieved what we achieved. Not because he was a one off dog, but more the fact that I now really understand what its like to have a wonderful relationship which will help us both down the track.
So now I am faced with some free time ( well after I spend a few days on the lounge asleep recovering from school holidays) and now I have to be "accountable". So the first few days of "real" training will be working out exactly what I want and more importantly exactly how I will train that behaviour. Here is where I hit the next and biggest hurdle I will face. I had read somewhere that people who have read too much on training methods are in fact their own worst enemy. Its time to shut up and put up and yes - mistakes will be made ( many) but its time to take the plunge and I am looking forward to what ever lies ahead. Hope the water is not to cold!
