Someone recently shared a post on Facebook that told people to learn to see the positives in life. I loved this post because it has so many applications, including in the world of dog training. Teaching our brains to see the positives is a highly beneficial skill and one that can have a huge impact on how well our dogs respond to training. Learning to see the positives in life does not negate the negatives, it simply allows one to move past them as they pursue their goals. Being able to do this during dog training, and daily life with dogs, can have a highly positive outcome for both you and your dog!
What Does It Mean To "See the Positives"
So, what exactly do I mean by "see the positives"? What I mean is that we look for the things we can work with. We all have bad days, including our dogs, and that is okay. But if we focus on the things we can't do, we very quickly spiral into a stagnant state that is often filled with unpleasant feelings of inadequacy. On the flip side, if we focus on the things we can do and the things we can accomplish, the negatives become just another thing we have to work around to get to where we are going. They lose their value because we have something much more reinforcing and helpful to focus on, the positives.
Train Your Brain - Spot the Positives Game
So how does one train their brain to see the positives? Here is a little exercise I like to call "Spot the Positives" to help you develop this skill.
Step 1: Pick a cue that your dog doesn't respond to all the time. Get a piece of paper and a pen. Write down the cue you want to use for this game in the middle of the paper, then draw three to five circles around the cue you wrote down connecting the circles to the word with lines. You are going to write inside these "spots" so make sure they are big enough to fill with words. Refer to the photo to see an example:
Step 2: Once you are all set, sit down where you can observe your dog and give your dog the cue (e.g., sit, come, etc.). Make sure you are in a safe environment where your dog will remain safe even if it does not respond. Be ready with your pen and paper and make sure you only give your dog the cue once.
Step 3: As soon as you give your dog the cue, begin to fill in the circles with things your dog does that are a positive, even if it doesn't respond. Yup, you read that right! Even if your dog doesn't respond or "obey" write down one positive per circle or "spot" on your paper.
Step 4: What did you see? Were you able to fill in all the circles? Did you need to add more circles because there were so many good things? Did you struggle to find just one? Any of these scenarios is okay! Play the game until you can find at least three good things for each cue to which your dog struggles to respond.
What Is There to See?
This game can be really hard at first, especially if your dog has a lot of behavioral problems or doesn't respond to cues quickly. As a result, you might not find anything the first time. But not to worry, this will give you an opportunity to practice! (See what I did there?). Since you have given yourself permission to be happy that you found something positive about this new game (you either succeeded and found great information that you can work with or that you can practice and gain a new skill that will help you both in life and in dog training), rather than getting bogged down by your dog not responding quickly, you now have the freedom to focus on the positives and find out what will help you practice (another great side effect of seeing the positives)!
So, what is the first step to practicing? Teaching your brain what is positive. Sometimes we get stuck because we have been taught that nothing short of a perfect response is a positive. But there are tons of little positives that you can find and capitalize on to help you, and your dog, succeed. Keep in mind that sometimes the positives are very small, so you have to be paying close attention. Let's start with recall (come). If your dog struggles with responding to its recall cue, below is a list of some behaviors you can keep an eye out for and count as "positives":
Dog's ears twitching in your direction.
Dog's head turning even just an inch in your direction.
Dog disengaging from whatever it was looking at when you gave the recall cue (even if the dog doesn't look directly at you).
Dog looking at you.
A delayed come.
A partial come (dog comes but gets distracted on the way).
Immediately turning away from you.
Immediately sniffing the ground or "deliberately" ignoring you.
How are these, especially the last two, positives? The first six behaviors on the list above are behaviors that we can shape into the desired recall behavior. They are small parts of the bigger behavior and thus are helpful. But they are only helpful if they are spotted and utilized in training. With these six behaviors in mind, you can look at your dog and be looking for any of these behaviors so you can reward any of them and build from there. Practice spotting these, and similar behaviors, as you play "Spot the Positive" with your dog. Though these behaviors might not happen for every cue, similarly small behaviors may present themselves. Practice spotting them and writing them down, teaching your brain to find what is usable, no matter how small. By practicing this, your brain will begin to transition from "Ugh, the dog is ignoring me" to "I can work with that!".
All Information Is Helpful, If You Know How to Use It
At this point, you might be wondering why I included those last two behaviors on the list of "positives". The dog looking away from you or otherwise doing something that makes it look like the dog is "deliberately" ignoring you, might not seem helpful. However, they are very helpful! The reason is because those behaviors are information, and very useful information. When I see a dog consistently, and immediately, responding to cues by turning away, sniffing around, or "deliberately" ignoring the handler, I see it, based on scientific research, as a clear sign that the dog is stressed by hearing the cue. This is a sign that the cue has been poisoned and/or that your dog doesn't actually know what you are asking and has decided that it is too stressful, or simply pointless, to try to figure it out. This is a positive! Why? Because your dog talking to you! It is actively telling you how it feels and giving you hints as to how you should approach training. It is giving you useful information! This means that you now have permission to see that behavior as something helpful. Your thoughts might become less of a "not again!" reaction and more of a "I see the dog is stressed by that cue, which means it might not know what I am asking, or it has learned that something bad will happen if it comes to me. Now that I know the cue is not fully trained or is poisoned, I can work with that by breaking the behavior into smaller, more achievable steps during training and reinforcing each step to build a stronger, more reliable behavior." When dogs respond with looking away or other stress signals, we need to allow ourselves to see it as a positive because we know that dog is talking to us and telling us how it feels. Just as a good friend might confide in us about their feelings and fears, we need to let our dogs confide in us and respond by helping them build strong, positive associations to learning and creating a safe and enjoyable learning environment.
A New Outlook - I Can Work with That!
Now you can see your dog in a whole new way! When you see your dog, you see the positives. You see what you can work with. You can call your dog and when it doesn't come, but instead only moves its ears to catch your words, you can say "I can work with that" and shape that small behavior into a full recall behavior. This skill can take practice, but it is fun and builds a skill that can help you both in dog training and in life! If you need help, let me know!
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