The House Always Wins

Picture a rainy weekend and your family or friends are visiting. Having finished all the streaming services pre-vaccination, you're bored and looking for something to do. 

Someone brings out a deck of cards. While there are four of you, only two people max know how to play the same game. So what do you do? You choose the game easiest to rattle off the rules in less than two minutes, and off you go. 

The two folks who don't know how to play are going along to get along. They are really just guessing which cards to play. They don't understand their hand even when they win a round. That's chalked up to beginner’s luck because honestly, they zoned out and just nodded whilst the game was rapidly being explained. 

As more hands are played, the understanding unfolds. Strategy is acquired. Enjoyment is had. They're even able to explain it to the arriving friend who's late to every gathering. 

I want you to remember this whenever you're with your dog. When you speak to your dog, are you the friend rushing through the rules so the game can start? Indeed you are when you say "sit", "off", "down", "drop it", or "leave it" without having trained any of these behaviors. You’re also this friend when you expect these newly trained behaviors to be completely distraction-proof.

Is your dog going along to get along? He is if he's guessing what you want him to do. When he accidentally does the right thing, he got lucky with his guess. When he gets lucky with his guess and you don't reward him, he's less likely to choose that behavior again. Can you see how this might frustrate your dog? Catch your dog doing something right, and reward him! Whenever he’s settled on his bed instead of begging at the table, reward him!

Is your dog zoned out? If she's outside and watching the critter channel, you're not likely to interrupt that programming for heeling practice. If you haven't practiced heeling inside with distractions, she's going to choose that critter channel every time. 

Remember, the house always wins. Play many hands many different ways inside before expecting your dog to be flush with "sit", "off", "down", "drop it", or "leave it"  outside.


Jackie Moyano#distracteddogs, #proofingdogbehavior, #distractionproofdogs, #distractiontraining, #dogtrainingknowledge, #empathy, #empathyfordogs, #howdoesmydogfeel, #whatsitlikeformydog, #howdoesmydogseeme, #whatslearninglikeformydog, #howdoesmydoglearn, #humanexperienceanddogexperience, #dropit, #leaveit, #off, #down, #sit, #basicmanners, #beginnermanners, #foundationaldogtraining, #dogtrainingfoundation, #baddog, #baddogbehavior, #naughtydog, #trainwithyourbrain, #smartdogtraining