Episode 32: Importance of Life Skills

Hi everybody, welcome to the Canine Connection
podcast. I'm in an Airbnb in Connecticut stuck
because there's a blizzard. So I was up here
doing a two -day seminar at Lori's place. And
they started calling for a blizzard. And I'm
like, yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll see. We'll see.
And here we are. Patra's stuck. So we decided,
let's do the podcast since we're both stuck inside.
And then I had just said to her, like, I don't
do a lot of live seminars, people. So FYI, don't
start emailing me. I did it because Lori's place
is not that far from my house. And anyway, but
I was just telling her that, you know, it was
a lot of people that are new to the sport, like
a lot of novice aid people, not all, but holy
Hannah, what a motivated group, like everything.
like we talked about and then they would come
up to work and they're immediately implementing
it like they tried so hard which always like
is so exciting to me just to see that that they're
you know willing to try different things new
things and just putting in an enormous amount
of effort um so kudos to everybody there and
to people that hung in like Sunday, we started
early seven instead of nine, which I'm sure everybody
was like, oh, my God. But we were trying to get
in as much as we could before people had to leave
for the storm. Right. Yeah. Yeah. The group was
fantastic. Everybody was like. Super motivated
and really, really, really like. I don't know.
They're just so open. They were just so open
to trying new things. What was really nice is
they all came to the table with things that they
knew, like they recognized they needed help with.
You know what I mean? Like a lot of times you
ask a lot of people who don't really. Who just
are starting out and, you know, you know, what
do you want to work on? And they just kind of
don't know. And I was I loved a lot of them.
Majority of them were my students or people I've
seen before. But they were really they all came
with a purpose of learning as much as they could
from Petra. And then when they had opportunity
to kind of isolate things that they had, they
were having issues with, they like brought it
right to the table. which was really great, you
know? So I feel like it was super productive.
It was such a productive weekend. So fun. Yeah.
I think the key is people need to come with an
open mind and then they need to be willing to
try it. And then they need to be willing to kind
of like understand that implementing something
is going to take for it to really work is going
to take time and consistency, right? Like you're
not going to master it. Like a lot of times I
find. People come with a problem and they want
a quick and easy answer, like a miracle fix.
Right. And once we've been training for a while,
we know that doesn't really exist, you know.
So I think that everybody here came like I could
tell they understood that this is going to be
a process, that this is going to take time and
effort. But they need to start now and they need
to do it. And I felt like every time they got
up. Instead of rushing into the work area, they
did what they were supposed to do, which is make
sure their dog is focused, make sure their dog
is ready, make sure they stay connected and so
on. And that was really impressive. Right. And
that makes me excited because then I know these
they're going to do well in the long run because
they understand the process, you know, and that's
what's hard in most sports is like, I think people.
You know, everybody wants their dog to do the
cool and sexy thing. But, you know, things like
engagement don't happen overnight. Right. Right.
And that's, you know, I mean, that's the most
important thing. You know, that's what you need
to get to sexy and cool and fast. Yeah. Yeah.
So something that came up there and that we've
talked about. like that we've said we need to
talk about moving forward is life skill. I think
life skills and there's, and also understanding
who your dog is, right? Like what's their personality
like? What do they like? All these things that
really stem from home life, pet dog life, right?
Like who these dogs are in life. is who they
are in training. So if my dog in life is pushy
and demanding and obnoxious and always trying
to push the boundaries and a little independent,
that's okay. That's who this dog is. That's also
who this dog is going to be in training. And
I need to address those things in life and address
them consistently in order for them for me to
be able to train this dog right like if my life
skills are not in place so one example is I have
a leave it cue on my dogs because their labs
they'll eat anything and everything if I drop
a glass in my kitchen they come running in and
they'll their first thing will be like can I
eat this or if I drop pills or anything like
that so I teach them a really strong leave it
so if i dropped food right now and i yelled leave
it none of my dogs would touch it right which
means that if i'm training my dog and i a cookie
drops or there's some enticing smell on the ground
if i say leave it my dog will immediately leave
it and now i can train my dog right but if i
don't have a strong leave it in life then My
dog's going to smell something and that's super
reinforcing for dogs. My dog's going to blow
me off. Yeah. And the same goes for, you know,
all, all the things that are, all the things
like I consider life skills that are like detrimentally
important are things that are safety issues.
You know, like that, like the recall, that's
like the big one too, is, you know, you know,
when I say come. you need to fucking come like
no matter what. And that gets addressed. Like
that stuff needs to get addressed in your pet
life. You know what I mean? Like, so things that
recalls or leave it, it's like people who don't
have those things solidly down in their training
with their dogs, like when they come, you know,
to do lessons or training competition, obedience
stuff, that stuff needs to get. ironed out in
your pet life right like so if you have if you
see holes like that in competition obedience
stuff like you have to go you have to go examine
what's going on in your pet life because that's
where it needs to get ironed out like that's
where it needs to be solidly trained right because
you don't want to be you know if you don't have
like a with me like with me you know that's the
other thing like when when we move you need to
move with me when i tell you to right that doesn't
you don't want to start correcting and getting
after your dog in like your competition obedience
stuff because you don't want to poison that stuff
you need to get all that ironed out and trained
in your pet life first and foremost because you
need it in because it does it bleeds into your
competition stuff but on the other hand like
I we hike our dogs all the time and we travel
all the time we're getting dogs out of parking
lots we're at hotels we're near roads we're blah
blah blah god forbid you break down on the road
right and you gotta freaking get your dogs out
of the car or whatever like you need those skills
for sure it's like an insurance policy my dog's
safety is like a priority Yeah. So I think, so
our definition, we should say our definition
of a with me is it's basically like an off leash
day with me. Right. So I, you should, I say for
life skills, people should be able to, I'll ask
students, like if your dog is off leash, can
you get your dog from the car into the building?
A hundred percent guaranteed safely. And if they
say no, then that's a problem because your dog
is going to be no matter what sport you do, your
dog's going to be off leash and your dog can't
leave you. Right. So if my dog leaves, if a dog
leaves somebody in training, then that's a hole
in their pet skill. Like my dog should never
leave me unless I say go. Like if I'm off leash
hiking and I say go run, they run. But if I call
them, they come back. And if I say with me, my
dogs, all three of my dogs will walk next to
me in the woods so I can walk past somebody or
whatever until I say, OK, and then they can run.
And it's the same thing in training. And why
does that matter? Because if your dog could be
the friendliest dog on the planet, but if your
dog runs out of the ring and runs up to one,
depending on which dog I have, runs up to Zesty's
face, guess what? We're going to have a problem
because he is not going to take kindly to that.
And he's going to be in the right because your
dog should not be running up to my dog's face.
Right. So that's a big problem that needs to
be addressed in pet dog training. The recall,
like you said. If something were to happen and
you call your dog, your dog should come immediately.
So I see people training their dog, toss a cookie
or toss a toy, and then the dog's running around
with it and they're like, come here, here, come,
come. And the dog's not coming. It's a problem.
Yeah, it's a huge problem. And if your dog learns
that your cues are optional, like if your dog's
like, yeah, maybe I'll come, maybe I won't. why
would your dog follow your competition cues,
right? Like if I run agility and my dog's like
we and decides to go run around or visit people,
that's a with me issue. Yeah. That's a pet dog
issue. That means your dog does not understand
that it can't just leave and do what it wants.
So people try to address it then as a competition
thing. Oh, my dog's this, that, or the other
thing. No, no, no. It's a pet dog issue. Right.
Your dog does not know that it can't run off.
Yeah. You didn't teach it that. Right. And, you
know, these things are tough. When I get puppies,
like these things are implemented immediately,
you know, because the puppies are with me on
hikes. Like immediately they're going everywhere
with me. They're going to dog shows. We're hiking.
We're going here. We're going there. We're going
to training facilities. Like, so they're with
me. So they need that stuff. put in immediately
and like when we teach this stuff you know I'm
always assessing it all the time with my dogs
like we always talk about we're always watching
our dogs like in the house we're watching them
we evaluate them we watch how they're moving
we watch how they're acting same thing when I'm
out and about and I am assessing pet life skills
because you know like if I go to load my dogs
up in the car we have a detached garage so our
our park like our driveways out by the road,
right? So when I go to load my dogs up, they're
on a with me and I open the car doors and I'm
telling them to come, let's load up. And, you
know, the road is right there, right? So I have
to be really careful. And I will, like, if I
say, come with me, load up and someone's over
by the garbage can sniffing, like I will not
hesitate and address it right then and there
because they're like, that's the, you know. It's
going to be maintenance too, right? Like stuff
gets weak. So I'm on it all the time. And there,
you know, there's a consequence, obviously. I
don't beat my dog, but you know, that's to me
a non -negotiable skill for sure. Yeah, because
life skills are, like you said, safety issues.
I mean, you know, no one, everyone thinks, oh,
that's not going to happen to me. But last year,
the year before I had a really bad accident.
And my dogs had to get out of the car. I couldn't
even reach their leashes. Like I didn't even,
you know, I had to come out of the truck and
sit there while I tried to get, you know, leashes
for them. And then they had to calmly walk with
me into this like car repair place. They were
kind enough to put me in the room. So they had
to like be in a room and be well -behaved. You
know, then I had like, I was like, at one point
I was like carrying stuff. So they were on leashes,
but I didn't even have the leashes in my hand.
They were on a with me. Yeah. No. And those are
the times when you're like, this really matters.
Yeah. And it's really important. Like if I had
dogs that needed to be. held and they were like
crazy on the leash and they didn't all this stuff
it would have been an absolute or dogs that would
have run off and wouldn't come back like it would
have been terrible and you know going in the
hotel and this that and the other thing so that's
all really really important and but I think what
happens is people have their dogs on leashes
And they don't have these skills and they're
like, it's okay because, you know, I can manage
them in my everyday life. And then they go into
competition, training in whatever sport, and
then they're having all these problems and they're
handling these problems as if they were competition
problems and they don't get resolved because
they're not competition. They're really, they're
not just pet dog problems. They're also relationship
problems, right? It's like a kid. If I let my
kid be an absolute hooligan, he then no rules
in the house. You really think they're going
to listen in a restaurant? You're right. No,
they're not. They're going to act the same. They're
not. And you're going to say, cut that out. And
they're not going to listen because you're going
to be like, why would I? There's never any consequences.
So why would I listen? Yeah. And that's a thing
like I see. I see a lot with people, you know,
who come to me and the biggest one is like when
I go to, all right, let's, I'll say like, all
right, we need to talk. So put your dog on a
down stay. And that like is usually like totally,
it is. I can tell in five seconds, like you need
major life skill work because they're standing
there. They can't even fucking listen to me because
they're managing the dog. The dog goes down,
looks at them, gets up. They go to put the dog
back down and they're saying the command repeatedly.
The dog gets up. They have to go put it down.
And I'm like, your dog doesn't have a down stay.
No, he does. He does. I'm like, no, he doesn't.
And that like that's an important thing. Like
your dog is literally. like doesn't believe you
like that's what i really say they really don't
believe you like you can stay there and get mad
at them and start like down no down they're like
yeah whatever it doesn't matter like i'm gonna
win they know they're gonna win the game eventually
she's gonna relent which is probably what happens
a lot of times they just give up and the dog
can do whatever they want but that they're like
that is that's going to bleed into your competition
stuff for sure like that stuff needs to be addressed
right um and that's that stuff's not going to
get like i tell them that's got to get done in
your pet life like don't be doing it in the you
know in your obedience life because that's you
know you don't want to do that you don't want
to poison stuff get it done and fixed in your
pet life and for a lot of dogs it's also it's
impulse control it's like a sustained down stay
right and that so for example i'll take um so
i have all different dogs so zaina she's really
independent wants to do what she wants to do
doesn't really want to listen to anybody quite
frankly because she doesn't need to um she has
poor impulse control very high drive very opinionated
whatever so i tend to be um lenient ish um in
my home life sometimes just because I got have
so much going on but I realized with her I could
not be right because part of what she needed
to learn was impulse control part of what she
needed to learn was to respect me and take what
I said as that it's meaningful because I was
having problems also in her competition right
because she's like What you tell me is optional.
So in life, I had to, you know, sit at the door
and wait. You can't go through the door till
I say, when you go through the door, you have
to sit. Now you have to go do a with me to the
car, sit in the car. If I don't do that with
her, everything slips. It goes off the cliff,
literally in the blink of an eye. And then 300%,
it goes off the cliff and my competition training.
Yep. And it. It's part of it is if I am not holding
her accountable, then she just then she says,
well, now you don't mean it then. And therefore,
I don't need to listen. And so that's a relationship
thing. In order for her to respect what I say,
I must be 100 percent consistent. Now, Zeal,
I can let him do whatever the fuck he wants in
life and he will still listen to me. Cause that's
who he is. Cause he's like, now, obviously his
safety life skills have to still be in place,
but I can be pretty lenient. Let him run through
the door and whatever. Because he is that all
I have to say is zeal. And he's like, Oh my God.
Oh my God. I'm sorry. What did I do? Help me.
I have a very different relationship with him
because he's a very different dog. Yes. He still
has a strong with me. Yes. He still has downstairs.
calm and whatnot. But in general, I can be a
little lenient with that because his relationship
with me is different because he's a different
dog. Right. Exactly. He's more complicated in
that he does care. He does respect me. But so
I kind of let something slide. But then all of
a sudden I realized, oh, wait, you know, he's
a little deceptive because sometimes. In certain
things that matter to him, like food, he will
blow me off in training, which shows that there's
a hole in my life skills. So I went back and
revisited my life skills and was like, oh, I
see there's some spots where he gives me a little
pushback. I better iron this out. So I realized
that he does need. He does really do much better
with structure like Zaina does and with a lot
of impulse control work because that's a weakness
of his, you know? And then I realized on Friday
when we were trying to demo with me to somebody
because we were training together and you were
tempting him with food and the freaking dog left
me every time. and I was like well guess what
we need to do so again lifelong maintenance right
we I need to revisit that that's what I'll be
working on this week and with food because that's
his Achilles heel right yeah who knows maybe
he would have left me if you just called him
right like because these things need constant
maintenance especially with come you know especially
with certain dogs yeah Yeah. Well, that's why
it's important. Like we say, like you really
need to know your dog, learn your dog, learn
them in your house, you know, because that's
where you're going to see who they are. They're
pushy. You know, there are dogs. They will freaking
fight you tooth and nail. They will push the
limits every single time. Like that's just who
they are. You know, we had one this weekend,
like probably a lot of people wouldn't have known
it just because of the way the dog looked. that
dog ended up being a super pushy dog and I think
the the handler was like surprised a little bit
and I think it was really helpful that we kind
of opened that up for her so she could see that
but that needs things like that like that's where
you you really need to you really need to read
your dog and know who they are in in life that's
why like we're always I'm always watching them
Like I'm always assessing them, seeing who they
are, what they do. I watch them with the dogs.
They, they, they do a lot when they speak a lot
volumes of who they are, just interacting with
the other dogs, how they interact with each other.
Yeah. I mean like zest. Yeah. That's a huge point.
Like how are they with each other? How are they
with other dogs? How are they in the house? Like,
I think people really struggle. Back to this
person that you mentioned, I think there was
more than one where like they're thinking certain
issues, again, are competition issues. And I
pretty quickly discerned like, no, these are
like pet dog issues and relationship issues.
And I think it's hard because it gets confusing,
right? Like, why did the dog do this? And then
people start thinking, well, maybe it's this,
maybe it's that, maybe. a lot of times pet dog
issue is something they don't even think of as
a potential option, right? Or they're like, oh,
this dog is doing this because it's this, that,
or the other thing. And it's like, so yeah, it
goes back to observing really objectively who
they are in life and what are they doing in life
and how are they acting, right? Like I told them.
When Zaina was like seven or eight weeks old,
like I have an acre fenced in. I bring her home.
I put her on the ground and she's gone. She's
like, oh, my God, look at this yard. I love it.
Seven weeks old. I'm like, she could have cared.
Did she check in with me? No, she's like, oh,
my God, I'll be back in a couple hours. I'm going
to go check this place out. And in that moment,
I said to myself, like, OK, this is a very independent
dog that's very confident, that is capable of
entertaining herself. Therefore, when I train
her, I am going to have to present things that
are so highly reinforcing to her, like insanely
highly reinforcing to overcome her ability to
just entertain herself. And that is absolutely
the case. Right. If you have a dog that like
zeal, he goes two feet away from me and then
immediately comes back to me. Well, that's a
dog that's going to be worried. I'm going to
have to put a lot of confidence in this dog.
You know, I'm going to have to teach this dog
to be able to work away from me like that's going
to be hard for this dog. So that's all really
important information to have because that holds
you in their training. And then I had a student.
I said, well, what is your dog find motivating?
Eh, nothing really. Tell me about your dog at
home. Well, what do you mean at home? Like just
in life, like it was so kind of interesting.
It was hard for this person to even understand
what I was asking, right? Cause that's not what
people think of. And I'm like, what does the
dog like to do? Like, what does the dog find
fun? right she's like oh the dog likes when I
kick the ball oh good so your dog likes motion
great so how about we take the food I put it
in my hand and I did like a lot of prey drive
chasing the food in my hand and the dog loved
it went from being the dog's kind of like you
know lower drive dog yeah From after two or three
sessions of me doing the chasing thing, the dog
kicked into prey drive and was a completely different
dog. Yeah, that's crazy. When you just handed
the dog food, it didn't even act like a lab.
It was like, oh, thanks for the cookie. Right,
right. Food like that. The dog was completely
different. Right. So how did we know? Well, what
is your dog like to do in life? Right. And that's
real. So that's important information in terms
of what does your dog find reinforcing? Right.
Or can I use in my training? Like, how can I
leverage that? Like, I just did a workshop on
that low arousal dogs. What do they find exciting?
I'm like, if your dog finds the tunnel exciting.
Then send them through the tunnel, have them
do a couple tricks, send them through the tunnel
again. Dog starts to get more excited, have them
do a couple of competition behaviors, send them
through the tunnel. Leverage what your dog likes,
but how, you know, in life, you need to analyze
and get to know your dog. Yeah. Super important.
Really important. Yeah. I mean, I. I like, that's
all I do. I'm just always watching them, watching
them, watching how they interact. But you're
also watching them from an objective lens, like
as an observer. Right. Sometimes people watch
their dogs with this weird skewed lens and they're
actually completely misinterpreting everything
they're seeing. Right. Right. You know what I
mean? They're like, oh, the dog's nervous. I'm
like, nervous? Well, I know. I also think that,
I mean, I hear a lot of like, well, the dog was
in a shelter for the first two years of its life.
Or the dog had, like, they kind of just. have
like these ideas of who their dog are based on
like maybe some experiences or things the dogs
had in you know whatever and in their previous
lives and i think then they use those that i
don't know i don't want to say like as excuses
but they let things go or they they yeah they
get like a skewed perception of who their dog
really is they're treating the dog as if it was
still that dog that they got on day one but dogs
change like dogs are so resilient and so flexible
like just like my dogs like i've been in this
airbnb what i was here like friday night like
literally come in eat go to bed get up go to
the building, come back, eat, go to bed, get
up at the crack of dawn, go to the building.
Yesterday I'm driving down, pulling up the driveway.
Zaina's yell. She's like, Oh, we're almost home.
Right. She knows it's not our home home. But
then this morning they're guarding the house.
They're like, okay, this is our home now. Right.
I said, I was walking around going, God, they're
so resilient. Like they just. Like, you're not
like, oh, I'm so sad. Like, no, they're like,
oh, we're home. Okay. And so people will often
go, like you said, like, oh, my dog used to be,
or I thought this was really cute. So somebody
at the seminar is like, oh, my dog has a drop
on recall problem. Dog does a perfect drop. I
go, why do you think this drop was perfect? Because
you told me you had a drop problem. Well, because
we've been working on it really hard. I go, well,
you fixed it. It's not a. You don't have a problem
anymore. It's fixed. It's over. Now you're good.
What else can we work on? Like, I know. I know
they get stuck on shit. Yeah. Or like you said,
they're like, well, my dog. No. Well, guess what?
Maybe your dog was like that, but you know what?
Your dog ain't like that today. Right now. This
is not. what we're dealing with, right? Exactly.
Or my favorite, and I get this a lot, is when
they're saying like, oh yeah, my dog is this,
that, or the other thing. And I watch, I'm like,
all right, maybe I'm missing something, right?
So I'll comment on the video. Next video, they're
saying the same thing. And I'm like, yeah, I'm
not seeing it. Third video, I'm like, look, that's
no. Your dog is not what you're saying it is.
It's not nervous or worried or anxious or whatever.
I'm like, no, I'm not seeing that at all. And
here's why. Look, their ears are up. They're
this, they're that, the other thing. I'm like,
I don't know where you're getting this information
from, but this is not your dog. You know, you're
right. My last dog was like that. Dude, your
last dog is not your current dog. Right. And
that happens a lot. Yeah, definitely. A lot.
So I'm like, you need to stop putting what you
think onto the dog. Right. Read the actual dog
in front of you in that moment in time. What
are their ears doing? What are their eyes doing?
What is their breathing doing? What is their
tail doing? If their ears are up and their eyes
are bright and their tail is wagging, they're
not stressed out. Right. exactly or anxious or
afraid or whatever right you know um so i think
it's hard like i tell people be a detective just
gather data like what i do to separate my separate
myself emotionally is when when i'm like frustrated
or i'm not sure i'm like i don't know i go all
right you know what pretend this is your student's
dog This is not my dog. This is my students.
And just what would I say? Because when I look
at other people's dogs, I am just looking at
them objectively. Right. There's no emotion involved.
There's no baggage from the past, from the future,
nothing. I'm just in, I'm not judging anybody.
I am literally looking at the dog and analyzing
data. Yeah. That's hard for Pete. It's hard.
It's hard to get rid of that emotional component.
Like that's what I hear all the time. I, a big
one is like, Oh, I feel, I just feel bad for
him. I'm like, what? Your dog lives a freaking
like better life than I do. Oh my God. Right.
Like our dog. I'm like, I want to come back as
one of my dogs. Yeah. Right. Because Holy Lana,
do they have good lives? Right. really good lives
really good lives for sure yeah I think that
yeah so the key is you need to be somehow come
up with a strategy to separate yourself emotionally
yeah from the situation because that always will
100 % of the time skew your skew your decision
-making and never to the good, right? Like anytime
I'm emotional, I never come up with the right
answer ever, never 0 % of the time. Emotions
absolutely are a hindrance, right? So separate,
being able to separate your, go, okay, I'm emotional.
So I should not be making any decisions until
I can separate myself from that. and objectively
look at what's happening. And then that's the
only time you can really analyze and come up
with valuable information. Yeah. And just thinking
about like the emotions because I'm just thinking
like, I think some people may all of a sudden
be like, wow, my dog really doesn't listen to
me. Like you can't then get angry and like you
have to teach these skills, right? Like they're,
you're, you know, that's up to you. You're the
one that got the puppy. You're the one that got
the dog. Like it's up to you to train your dog,
not just for competition stuff, but also for
life skills. So you can't then go like, wow,
my dog really doesn't listen. My dog really doesn't
recall. And then like hammer down on the dog.
You know, you can't do that either. Make sure
you stay on a moat. Like when I have to deal
with some of my pet life skills, like if there's
a weakness or a hole where I'm like, oh wow,
I don't think I really taught that well enough.
I'm not going to get. angry about it you know
I'm not going to get rough with my dog I'm going
to take that emotional component out I'm very
neutral when I do all that stuff even if I have
to give a correction in pet life I stay I try
to stay very neutral it's hard sometimes because
we get pissed and annoyed and we're rushing or
whatever but I try to stay very neutral in all
that and then if you have to teach it then you
need to teach it like you teach anything else
with patience and and guidance until your dog
understands it yeah because it's on us just like
yeah that with me the other day where zesty's
going to you because you have potato chips or
whatever i'm like oh i said i need i need to
work on that yeah because clearly i have let
that slip, or maybe he just needs a refresher,
but that's on me, right? It's a hole that I need
to go and address. So I'm going to go back to
the basic training for that and refresh it and
get it back up to where it needs to be. So yeah,
we need to take responsibility for the fact that
there's either a hole in our training or the
training just got weak and we need to refresh
it. Like it's always everything the dog does
is just a reflection of what it's been taught
to do or not taught to do and what's been maintained
or not maintained. Like, yeah, that's just the
reality. Like it's a function of that. Yeah.
Yeah. So, yeah. So I think home, home life. The
observation part, super important. You get to
know your dog. You should know what your dog
likes and doesn't like, what excites your dog,
what doesn't excite your dog. You know, who is
your dog's personality? Because that's relevant
in training. Life skills should be in place,
A, first and foremost for their safety because
that always trumps everything. And, you know,
when they're competing or training. If, you know,
if their life skill breaks and they something
bad happens, you need to take that's on you.
That is 100 percent your fault and nobody else's
fault. And that should never happen because it's
not just your dog. You're putting other dogs
at risk. And that's, you know, really acceptable.
Yeah. And if at some point. And in your training,
if you're struggling with something, asking yourself
if this is a life skill issue should be on the
table, right? Like you should ask yourself, hmm,
could the underlying cause be a weakness in either
a life skill and or in like just a hole in our
relationship, right? Like if I sit here and say
to my dogs right now in the house, come or down
or do something and they're not responsive. Why
would they be responsive when I'm when I'm training
and I say, come on a recall or down like. Right.
A cue is a cue is a cue. Yeah. You know, so sometimes
when people say like down, down, down in a competition.
Or, you know, competition skill training scenario.
Maybe that's a life skill relationship problem
because your dog doesn't respect your cues. Not
because the dog's a jerk, but because you don't.
You're not consistent. Right. I usually will
just say, so how many times do you have to say
that until he actually does it? Because you're
on the fourth one. And then the first is like,
oh. The funny thing is the awareness, right?
Like, I'll say to somebody, how many times did
you just tell them to sit? And they look at me
like, I don't know, two? And I'm like, try five.
Right. Oh. Like, you're not even aware. And I'm
like, you need to pay attention. Oh. That's my
favorite because I count things all the time.
Me too. I'm like, I'll count it in my head. Like
one, two, three, four. And I'm like, so how many
times? They're never right. They're never right.
They always underestimate. I'm like, oh, my God.
You need to work on your counting skills. That's
right. Pay attention. Pay attention. All right.
All right. Work on your life skills. God. All
right. Someday I'll be back in New Jersey. Maybe.
Hopefully. All right. Bye.