Today was our first day of dog training – which was probably more about Matt training than it was Kimbrough training. For the pup… well, he did great and got way more treats than he would normally get in an hour. For me, I recognized some of my weaknesses and failures as a human being and at times wanted to put my tail between my legs or hang my head in shame. So, all in all, I’d say it was a wash.
Sometimes, I wondered if the trainer was questioning the need for the lessons. Kimbrough didn’t act out, and did almost everything I asked him to do. I felt like saying, but you should see what a jerk he is when we walk by other dogs. Under normal circumstances (with no dogs, cats, rabbits, or crows to chase), you’d be hard-pressed to believe he’s a jerk – not because he’s super kind and gentle, but mostly because he seems to be caught between obliviousness and not giving a shit. The trainer tried to see if he would be responsive to distractions (a doorbell, the sound of dogs barking, a ball tossed on the floor). No response. She called him a bit of an Eeyore. I might have been offended if I didn’t kinda agree. With people, he’s not super sweet or friendly or a gentle soul, but he’s also not mean or avoidant. He seems neither happy nor sad – he just is – perhaps a little emotionless. As for the fake distractions, I prefer to think he sees through the bullshit attempts to get him riled up and instead saves his energy for the real deal so he can terrorize little bunnies and other dogs with full force.
For much of today’s training, we focused on the heel command. It’s designed to teach your dog to walk next to you – under control, with a slack leash and without pulling. When I first adopted Kimbrough, he pulled a lot and was all over the place. I dreaded our walks. While I haven’t technically used the heel command, we’ve worked twice a day, every day on him walking on my left, within a foot or two of me – slack, short leash, no pulling. He now does this on most of our walks – which made it difficult for me to distinguish between when he was doing a good job at heel and just doing what has become his normal walk with me. The distinction seems to be ensuring that he does it on command and that he’s paying attention to me. The trainer demonstrated a few times and then had me do it – after which she admitted that he seems to pay really close attention to me – eager to please me.
For my part, she wanted me to hold the leash in my right hand so I could leverage it in a turn. I usually hold it in my left. She also wanted me to praise him more. These were two things that didn’t come naturally to me. As she demonstrated, she said good boy over and over again. As I did it, I reserved my good boy comments for when he would course correct or for when I felt like I hadn’t been saying it enough. It was a little like those first few times you give a public speech that you’re reading from notes – you look up and look left and right and then quickly back down to your notes, not because it’s natural or you’re talking to people, but because you know you can’t just read straight from the paper and not address the crowd.
I can get used to holding the leash in my other hand (though I think I can control him well enough without the added leverage). It’s the praise part that will be the tougher part of my training. I’m not used to rewarding what I might consider “expected” behavior. I grew up in world of “constructive criticism.” I’m sure there was praise, but it was reserved for being exceptional and usually followed by how to improve the things that needed some work. I was also raised to believe that you did things because they were the right things to do and not for the rewards… Therefore, as a person who isn’t terribly motivated by praise (if anything, I’m embarrassed by it), it’s hard for me to give it out. When I receive it, or see it, it feels superfluous. I thought the trainer looked and sounded silly constantly telling him he’s a good boy for what wasn’t a clear change in his behavior and what certainly wasn’t “exceptional” behavior.
Today was our first training lesson.Two old dogs trying to learn some new tricks.