Slow is smooth, smooth is fast

Most people have a reasonable idea of how teaching new behaviours works. Make the good stuff rewarding, make the stuff we don’t want less rewarding.

The bit that separates really good trainers from the rest though is how we pace those little steps along the way.

When we’re training a dog, it’s tempting to rush stuff - skipping ahead to the fun stuff we’re really excited to get into. Chucking them straight into exciting environments, meeting lots of different dogs in chaotic situations, showing off our cool puppy and all the fancy tricks they know. This can look super impressive from the outside, but it makes for a rockier less sustainable ride in the longer term picture as things fall over without a strong foundation to support them. This is especially true in our higher drive dogs where these more extreme peaks and pits come with a whole lot of big feelings baked in which then need to be unravelled.

If we want to be successful longer term and build a confident, solid dog we need to split things down into the smaller pieces and build them up gradually. This strong foundation allows everything else to be built at a much faster rate, without crumbling at the first hurdle. This also means we have less frustration built into our relationship along the way, because we’ve set them up for success at each step.

If you’re struggling with something - pause for a minute and ask yourself, is there a way we can split this down into smaller more achievable steps?

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.