This is Beau, our youngest dog. He’s a Beauceron X and he’s
beautiful – not just in looks but in temperament too. He was my husband’s
answer to a poodle in the family.
 |
| Beau at three months |
When Beau first joined us he was three months old and while
he was hubby’s dog, it fell to me to do much of his basic training. Clicker
training is not so much about solving problems as preventing them from ever happening in the first place. One strategy that enables this more proactive
approach is the need to define clearly what it is the dog’s owner expects from
his dog. In our situation I could easily have drawn up a training plan much as
I’d done for Blue, our poodle, but it would not have taken into consideration my
husband’s expectations of what he wanted from his dog.
Martin works in a high powered job and is not as young as he
used to be. He was keen at the time to increase the activity in his life; he
saw this new addition as a means to that end. Wasn’t that all the expectation
he needed?
Pinning him down to a ‘client
interview’ was to be my first challenge; he didn’t understand
the need for it. We’d owned dogs in the past and none of the trainers we’d
worked with had suggested doing this. However it was a requirement of my KPA
course and I asked him to humor me – he graciously obliged.
One evening last summer we settled on the balcony with a
drink in hand and discussed in some detail exactly what Martin wanted from his
dog. Initially, I got lots of “well I don’t want him to pull” and “he needs to
come when called”. And while there is nothing wrong with these – what I was
after was something more descriptive of why he wanted these behaviors. I
explained as much to him and told him to consider thinking of this as a job
description for his dog – what were the competencies he was after?
In the side bar is the list of expectations he generated. I
couldn’t improve upon it if I tried. Not only is it an excellent description of
the dog Beau is becoming, it is also a pretty good description of the character
of my husband. It seems to me what he was after was a match with himself.
Should I be jealous?
In designing a training program for Beau, I referred often
to this list. It helped me identify and prioritize the behaviors we wanted Beau
to develop competence. It was useful in explaining why I trained this behavior
at this time, rather than that one, and it gave me a benchmark I could refer to
whenever we were veering off track.
That was nearly 6 months ago now. Over the holidays we
reviewed this initial list and to our delight were able to tick off many of the
expectations as “achieved”.
Beau at 8½ months is an active, friendly dog, fun-loving and
responsive. He is calm but cautious around all things new, is learning to
remain calm around children despite all the noise they make (we have several
schools on the estate). He is attentive and courteous most of the time, and
only occasionally lets his puppy exuberance get the better of him. He is learning to be more thoughtful and to
exercise self-control particularly when he meets people he knows and likes. He
is not a barker, and just as well even at this age he has a bark that will terrify
the dead.
Goals set in this way are not static; they should adapt to
suit your situation and changing needs. Today I feel the need to add another
section to my goal setting form – Achievements. While I used the Goals to help
with the training, we inadvertently achieved other things as well and it would
be good to note these over time so we can appreciate just how successful this
process really is.
 |
| Blue and Beau in one of their few quiet moments |
Beau is a gentle giant, an affectionate dog who really does
look to Martin for his lead. He is always keen to please and loves nothing
better than to play with or just be with his best buddy – his two legged
friend (despite what the picture on the right might suggest). What greater achievement for a dog could there be?
No comments:
Post a Comment