Did I mention I saw the Dog Whisperer himself on the streets of Victoria a couple of weeks ago? A work colleague and I were walking along Humboldt Street, across from the Empress Hotel, on our way back from lunch, to our day-long field assignment in the Capital City. We were walking into the driving rain, so we both had our hoods up. A couple was approaching from the opposite direction, and I just happened to look up in time to recognize Cesar’s impish smile from beneath his hooded Goretex. In stereo-typical Canadian politeness, I smiled back, and just barely had time to give a nod of recognition before he passed.
I describe it now because it’s just occurred to me that perhaps that recent brush with celebrity may have sub-consciously encouraged me to coach Tannah a little more diligently in the couple of weeks leading up to her 1st place finish in Advanced Beginner obedience training this past Monday evening. I think Cesar Millan himself would be proud.
As a disclaimer up front, I have to admit I’m not so much a fan of Cesar’s that I’ve never missed an episode. Quite the contrary in fact; I’ve seldom seen an episode of his show. I’m not even sure we get the channel on which his show is broadcast. But perhaps that makes me even more a fan, that despite rarely having seen him on TV, I still instantly recognised Cesar on the street.
I did catch an episode of The Dog Whisperer on TV this past summer during our vacation in Portland. I enjoyed it, and I could really sense Cesar’s obvious enthusiasm for dogs, and his mission to teach people how to teach their dogs. In my opinion, that really is the key. In the vast majority of cases I believe that if a problem dog exists, it’s generally not the sole fault of the dog; the owner likely didn’t have a confidant grasp of the skills required to instruct his faithful companion.
And I certainly know from experience (Tannah is my 4th), teaching a dog is not easy, but it does get easier the more you practice. The farther along I get into dog obedience training, the more I realize I’ve become a better teacher over the years; I can now see that I’m getting better quality results faster from my dog.
To tell you the truth, I was rather startled by how good it felt to hear Tannah’s name called out in winning 1st Place. I guess I hadn’t realized how much I had wanted that distinction for us. Our previous spaniel, Shelby GT (yes, her official name on her Papers was in recognition of the classic Mustang), earned a 2nd place ribbon in Beginner Advanced. During her short time with us Shelby participated in Beginner, Advanced Beginner and Novice. So far Tannah has completed Beginner, and she’s done Advanced Beginner twice. No, she didn’t flunk the fist time ‘round; we simply wanted Shauna to take Tannah through her paces so Tannah would be comfortable with both of us instructing her. Although, towards the end of this session’s classes, Shauna got really busy with report cards, and it was decided that I should coach Tannah the final 3 or 4 classes, which included the Grad.
Not to sound too much like a graduation convocation speech, but I want to encourage anyone out there that may be experiencing some degree of difficulty or frustration in training their dog in basic obedience commands. Don’t give up! It really is all about repetition. Conduct 2 or 3 short training session per day. I find that 10 minutes each session works well. That gives you enough time to run through the ½ dozen or so commands a couple of times each. End the session before frustration might have a chance to creep in. I try to incorporate training sessions into our morning and evening walks. I’ve also found that going for a short jog (even as little as 10 minutes) with Tannah after work has been beneficial before practicing obedience commands, especially heeling.
We’ve signed up for the Novice level which begins in late January, with possibly a Rally event in our future after that. And as with all dogs, Tannah loves the quality time spent with us that obedience training affords. It’s in her best interest as well, in terms of her being safe in the city, and guests to our home not finding her to be a nuisance. She’s a very special member of our family and we love her enough to ensure she’s fluent in People Whispering.
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