Setting goals for our dogs

So often in pet dog training we want our dogs to stop something. Maybe it’s not barking at people, not jumping on people, generally not being a dick.

All pretty reasonable expectations in exchange for the great lives our dogs get to live, but also difficult to measure. What amount of fuckery is acceptable? If a creepy guy comes up to me, is it okay for my dog to bark at them? How about visitors - can my dog bark once to let me know, or is any barking off limits full stop?

In a recent episode of @thecanineparadigm they said something along the lines of if it’s something a dead man can do, it’s not a clear enough goal. I reckon that’s a pretty good rule to follow!

We’re dealing with living breathing animals, and they’re going to do dog things. And as humans, without clear criteria we have a tendency to keep moving the goal posts - there’s always a next level of perfection to aim for, so without knowing clearly what we want to achieve we’ll just keep extending that not recognising how far we’ve come and allowing ourselves to really appreciate that success. We’re also going to be a lot less clear when communicating with our dogs.

Instead I want you to think about splitting down the criteria for yourself to have a clear destination in mind - from there you can choose your direction, clearly communicating it with your dog & also feel great when you reach that point. That may include outright stopping a behaviour, but should also include a clear destination of what you want their behaviour to look like instead.

Eg “I want my dog to stop barking at people” can become “I want my dog to be able to walk down xyz street without barking or lunging” as a first step.

“I want my dog not to be an asshole in the house” can become “I want my dog to be able to chill out on their bed while I’m watching an episode of Yellowstone.”

Less vague “don’t do that” and more “let’s stop doing that, and instead clearly teach my dog to be doing xyz”.

Small changes can make a huge difference in how you approach an issue, and the enjoyment you and your dog will get out of achieving that goal, and keep you more motivated to push towards the next one.