Random Reflections: The Power of Rest

Hi, everybody. Welcome to the Canine Connection
podcast. Today, Lori and I are going to talk
about a topic that nobody ever likes to hear
about. Yeah. Which is time off. Time off. Time
off. I remember when I was doing physical therapy
on dogs. And dog was injured. And I say to the
client, your dog needs to be on complete rest
for the next however many weeks. Immediately,
at 100 % of the time, the questions would start.
But could I do this? Could I do that? Could I
do the other thing? So I learned pretty quickly
on, I would say. Before you ask me any questions,
anything you're going to ask me if the dog can
do, the answer is no. Because the concept of
complete rest was like mind boggling. Right.
And I always tell people if it's that hard, then
you need multiple dogs because. Like, forget
that when they're injured, like, the dogs need
complete rest. Like, humans are hilarious, right?
Because we're such babies. Oh, my ankle hurts.
Oh, my head hurts. Oh, you know, oh, it's Sunday.
I need to rest. Like, they're really good about,
like, oh, I can't do that. I can't do this. But
when it comes to giving their dog time off, and
there are multiple reasons. One, physical. A
dog, most dogs are just going to keep going.
That's how they're wired. In nature, if they're
injured, they die. It's that simple. So they're
really tough. If your dog is dead lame, guess
what? They're super broken. I promise you that.
right? I see dogs competing all the time that
are in pain, like all the time, every sport I've
ever been in, I saw dogs working in pain, right?
But they weren't overtly limping, but I could
tell because that was my job. that they're uncomfortable.
So physically their body needs to recover. So
if you say, oh, well, but then can my dog play
ball in the yard? Well, that's still exercising.
Can my dog, you know, go for a hike? Well, that's
still physically working their body. Like their
body needs to heal from being strained. And then
mentally, like it's kind of interesting again,
because I come from a sports background and this
is again, where most dogs, a lot of dog sports
people do not. It is like very common. Go online,
look up a half marathon or a 10 K training program.
It's going to give you a program. It's going
to be a three to four month program. It's always
what it is. It builds up slowly over time. You
have the event and then guess what you do after
the event? You rest for several weeks. So that's
well known, right? It's like a well -known thing
physically, but it's also a mental thing. Like
mentally, they just need a break. Like their
brain. Needs time off. I mean, for God's sakes,
children have the whole summer off. I don't really
think they need that long to rest their brains.
But, you know, or it's the typical like, oh,
my, thank God it's Friday. And then most people
aren't working over the weekend. They're not
even doing mentally taxing activities over the
weekend. They're relaxing. They're resting up.
Yeah. For Monday. Yeah, it's hard. Like it's,
it's hard as like the person I am. I know the
person you are to like, if somebody said to me,
dude, you need to like take the next five days
off and do nothing. I'd probably like hang myself.
So that's hard. That's hard for me to do. And
I'm just, I'm just talking about the hard, the
hard side of all this. It's hard, too, because,
like, I know that for my dogs, like, especially
when they're coming off of something like a wicked
big tournament. But they've, you know, they've,
you know. used a lot of mental and physical capacities
of their bodies to get through that event. They
need that time off, but it's really hard because
my dogs are, they play such an integral part
of my life. They're so interwoven into my every
like part of my day, like whether we're hiking,
going somewhere, training, blah, blah, blah.
I can see how that's really difficult for people
to do. Like, I'm just I just want to. Yeah, no,
it is super hard. I mean, I like I'm the same.
Like I like yesterday, I knew I really they needed
the day to just rest. Right. But like there is
this other part of me that like really wanted
to train because I'm working on some stuff. Right.
And. And I started nose work and they have an
ORT in two weeks. So I'm like, oh, and then luckily,
so this is what saves me. What saves me is that
I'm just too damn busy. Right. So fortunately
for me yesterday, because in the back of my mind,
I was at least going to do a little bit of nose
work, but I had scheduled. Peggy, who we had
on the podcast, like took me on the tour of the
Seeing Eye, which was spectacular. But it was
like I was there for a bunch of hours, right?
Like the afternoon, basically, which was perfect.
Because then by the time I stopped at the store
on the way back and got home, it was on the later
side. And then I still had to do some work on
the computer. And then it was too late. Right.
So I think that's part of it is like. What saves
me with the dogs with that piece is that I am
really busy and I do have other interests. Like
I would say to people, like do yard work, like
do a house project, like. Because the reason
we part of what happens, the people that tend
to train dogs is like we are people we are so
used. It takes up an enormous amount of time.
Right. Right. So then all of a sudden and for
a lot of people, it's also social. So now all
of a sudden you have all this empty time and
it's like, well, now what do I do? Right. And
I think that's that's really the key is like,
say, OK, well, what are you going to do? Give
yourself something to do. That maybe you would
enjoy or that needs to get done or so that you
don't feel like you're just sitting there doing
nothing and you're feeling bad about it and so
on. Yeah, I think if you have something concrete
to do or like, I don't know, it was two months
ago now. Time goes so fast. Like my friend has
this beautiful house down. In Delaware on the
water. And she's like, oh, just come down for
four or five days. And I'm like such a kook.
There's part of me that's like, oh, God, but
wait, all those days of training. And then I'm
like, no, you're going because that gives my
dogs four days or however many days I'm gone
off from training. Right. Yeah. Which is so important.
Right. Because even just the physical aspect
of the wear and tear on their bodies, like they
just, you know, I'm always, I always say like,
they just need to be dogs. Like they need to
just be let out in the yard, sniffing in the
yard. Like, and you know, when I don't have a
lot of, like if I have some time off, which is
rare these days and I can squeeze in hiking,
like that is my, like. utmost most favorite thing
to do with my dogs but even that like when we
talk about time off and the physical aspect of
keeping their bodies rested I can't do that like
right so that's where it gets really difficult
to hang that up and even though like my dogs
are screw like if they even I mean, there's things
I do in the house that will cue that they know
they're going for a hike. Like if they even think
that is happening, they are fucking going ballistic.
So they enjoy that like so much. So it's easy
to be like, well, it's just a hike. My dogs love
it. But it is like it's still wear and tear on
their bodies. Yeah, so they need time off for
their body to heal. What I used to do with my
clients is I would, this was really funny, like,
so I would print out these blank month calendars
and I would say to them, okay, here, take this
home and fill it in. I want you to write in everything
you do with the dog, trialing, training, hiking,
playing, throwing the ball, whatever you do with
the dog, right? Okay. And every almost every
time they will come back and I'd go, do you have
the paper? And they'd look at me and they'd go,
I already know what you're going to say, because
when they actually wrote it down, they realized,
like, holy shit, like I'm doing something that
they were doing something with them every day,
multiple things a day. And they realized, like,
oh, I wasn't even aware I was doing that much
with them. Right. So there's the physical aspect
that's super important. So I think they should
have like one day a week where their body just
gets to heal. Right. So where they're not doing
anything that's physically breaking down their
body. And then I do a couple weeks a year like
spread out. Maybe more like because if I go away,
then they're off. You know, my sitter stays at
my house. I will have her come to do something
with Zeal because Zeal's old. And if he just
lays around, he'll fall apart. But like the other
two don't do anything. And I used to be like
panicking, like, oh, God, it's going to be terrible.
I had my extra sitter on standby and they're
fine. She lays my sitter like when she's not
working. Lays around, she's older. So she just
hangs out on the couch or sits in my yard if
the weather's nice and they're fine with her.
Right. You know, so there's something to be said
for that, that they're actually okay for multiple
days in a row, like just hanging out. Yeah. So
physically, so I have that and I will for sure,
like after the NOC, they always get at least
a week, if not more. for sure off from training
and several days off from conditioning and throughout
the year i have you know places where there's
five to seven days where i let their body rest
just because i think that like it's good for
them you know like they need that right right
um mentally you know We have the kind of dogs
that are the most challenging to rest, like physically
and mentally, because like that's what our dogs
need, right? Like they're bred to require an
enormous amount of stimulation. Otherwise, you
know, go lock yourself in the bathroom because
it's the only time you'll get any peace. You
know, I always find that after they come back
from that break, oh, my God, work -wise, they
are so sharp. Yep. Yep. I agree. I agree. It's
hard. Like, that's the hard part. Like, I know,
like, after we do a big show, like, you know,
I always give my dogs who are showing, I give
them, you know, a day or two off after they've
shown. But it's hard because I'm driving home
from the show. Like that's just on us where we're
just like we have issues we want to resolve.
We want to train. We want to get back to it.
It's so tempting. They'll be fine. I'll just
do a couple of things. But they really do need
that time off. Like we have to just be really,
really wise about making sure that they get their
rest mentally and physically for sure. I think
we. also to like, I think of it now as an actual
training tool. So instead of saying like, cause
like the instinct is I didn't train today. Therefore
it's a lost day. It was not productive with respect
towards training, right. Heading towards my goals.
But the reality is what I've learned over the
years is those are actually incredibly valuable
training days because Their brain just needs
to process. And there's like, that is a thing.
Like the, you know, I do this one and done with
Zest especially, but Zayna's the same now. Like
I just, and you know what? They love it. Where
Zest is a type of dog that if he's learning something
and he's puzzling it out. Right. So it's kind
of messy. And then he's like, oh, this behavior.
I go, yes. And then I don't do it again. I'm
done. Right. And that's where, you know, we always
and I feel that urge to do more. Right. But it's
that overnight thing where I just need to let
it sit. I learned this thing, God, so long ago.
I did this with Tyler. If my dog was stuck on
something and we were just stuck, like they couldn't
figure it out, like I couldn't explain it or
we were just kind of stuck. I would write, I
would go on my calendar and I would mark off
five days and I would not touch that thing for
five days. And then after the fifth day, I'd
go back and do it again. He knew it. Yeah, I've
had that too. It's amazing. So amazing. Yeah.
So I did that purposefully as a training technique.
I am going to table this. I remember one time
Zest kept getting the wrong article. Like I couldn't
figure out why I couldn't explain it to him.
In the middle of the disaster, I just aborted,
right? Left it, never fixed it, never came up
with a resolution. I remember at the time I even
filmed it and I was like, this is what I did.
with this mess nothing and people were like they
couldn't understand it like what get up the next
day go outside do articles problem solved I know
it's a mate it's that it's that's that latent
learning stuff it's it's I'm sorry I I get it
too especially with the puppy like even with
the puppy like I'll be doing something uh, you
know, training and teaching him a little new
concept or whatever. And then I remember like,
there's so many times I walk away. I'm like,
I don't even, I don't know if he really got that
or not, you know? Right. And then like three
days later, I'm like, Oh, let's try that again.
And he's like, dude, I got this totally nails
it. I'm like, Whoa. Like I, I, I agree. I think
it's like. Totally true. Totally fascinating.
And it's completely underutilized, right? What
do we do when there's a problem? Do more of it.
Work on it harder. Work on it every day. Work
on it over and over. Do 8 ,000 repetitions. Like,
again, Zaina, she's like, dude, I just did it
twice. I did it right. Like, why are we doing
this over and over? And then she'll get creative
and she'll do it wrong. Right. And then I'm going
to say, well, you did it wrong. Well, no, that's
on me. So I'm really big on the one and done.
And like so like people always think like I train
for hours. No, like quality over quantity, like
less is more. Right. You know, you did it right.
Move on. You did it right. Move on. Again, luckily
for me, I have eight thousand other things I
need to do. So if I get have a short training
session. that's good but like they need a clear
head so if we're just or if like if we I do a
lot of challenging training sessions right like
I'm ramping up for a tournament I must build
in days where they do nothing or I just go for
a hike so that can all clear and settle and they
can have like an easier day And then maybe the
next day easier training and then I can ramp
it up again. But if I do hard, hard, hard, hard,
hard with no break, they are going to get flat.
Yep. And they're going to get sucky and their
work quality of the work's going to degrade.
Right. Their enthusiasm's going to go down. Like
they just need, just give them a break. Give
them a break. Just give them some time off. So
I think there's, yeah. So there's the like short
term, like the overnight thing, not doing too
many reps, you know, give them those days off
during the week. And sometimes like, you know,
I always found like I, it wasn't until very recently
that I managed to like squeeze that into my schedule
again, where I started doing some nose work because
it's that it is good if you can, if you have
the time. To do something different than your
primary sport to just change the channel. Yeah.
Mentally, which, you know, I haven't done it
for a long time, literally because I just didn't
have time. But back in the day, I used to always
do one other thing that that I wasn't worried
about being highly competitive and anything like
that. But it just gave my dogs an opportunity.
to do something different. And what's kind of
fascinating is like, so Zaina's like phenomenal
at, at this nose work thing. And she's so proud
of every time she finds it, she's like, I did
it. And I'm like, wow, you're so good. Right.
And, um, you know, she's trying harder and obedience.
Wow. I know. shocking but she's like she's like
give me my turn look what i can do like you know
so it's that too it's like she's gaining confidence
from that thing completely unrelated apple like
couldn't be nose work obedience like hello right
right right exactly the same thing like I could
see if it was field work nose work something
like that right right but um no like typically
she doesn't really want to train obedient she
doesn't doesn't really she does not want to train
obedience every day and that's fine she doesn't
need to there's a lot of days I'm like okay let's
train and she's like yeah I'm not feeling it
and I'm like okay you're out bye and she's like
It works for her. She knows everything. It's
fine. Right. But lately, even when I'm like,
all right, today, you don't need to train today.
She'll be like screaming in her crate. And my
training partners are like, what is happening
with her? She wants her turn. Yeah. She comes
out and she's like, let's go. Like who would
have thought, right? Yeah. So maybe it's the
confidence she's getting in the one, or maybe
it's just building her ego, or maybe it's just
changes the channel so that when I go do obedience,
she's more enthusiastic, like who knows. But,
um, so I think like doing now, of course, you
know, you can do too many things in the sense
of. That your dog then is doing three things
a day every day. Right, right, right. Which is
too much, but yeah, doing that to change the
channel, I think is a really good thing. Like
if you have the time to do it. Oh my God, you
want, so I'm just, I'm doing an ADD thing right
now. So you're having. Lori's having a Mondio
ring person do a seminar at her place. This is,
this is what social media is, right? So I'm at
the seeing eye. I see a client, someone that
used to be my rehab client talking to her. She
works there. All of a sudden she goes, Oh my
God, you're doing Mondio ring. I'm like, no,
I am not. But on Facebook, I said, I posted that
I'm going to this seminar. It'll be, it's a one
day. It's a fun thing. I said, yes, I signed
up for the bite work, but it's one day. Like
how much can they, you know? Right. Right. And
she's like, but you know, they haven't, I'm like,
dude, I have so much. That is so funny. One more
thing. Add it to your list. I can also do Mondia
Ring. But I always joke, like we always joke.
Zaina would love Mondia. See, everybody said,
I know. Dude, because like she loves that fucking
challenge. And that's what it's all about. She
loves when it's hard. Like the crazier the challenges
we make, the more bizarre, random, kooky. roofing
thing we can come up with, the happier she is.
Give her a plain old ring and she's like, oh,
this sucks. This is so boring. Let me look outside
the ring. Zaina Elizabeth. But even something
like that, I think doing a one day seminar and
something different. Yeah. And giving them something,
the dogs, something different to do. Right. Like
I think is good for them. Like I think they find
it, a lot of dogs find that entertaining. Yeah,
absolutely. I think it's a change of pace. It's
just like us, a change of freaking scenery, you
know? I mean, it's true. Like for your mental
state, like when I opened the business. Up until
pretty recently, like I literally felt like I
was living in this bubble of just working, training
my dogs, working, training my dogs. Like I didn't
even have a normal fucking existence. Like I
hadn't even been to the freaking grocery store.
Thank God my husband was able to, he's got a
schedule where he's able to pick up a lot of
that slack. But I literally was like craving
going to like walk through Walmart like a normal
person. But that's like this, like I needed to
mentally do that, that change of scenery. And
that like, I think it's just good to think about
that. Like you said, I wish I had more time.
There are things, I have my bucket list of things
I just do, I do want to do with my dogs. you
know, I love obedience, but if I had more time,
I would love to dabble in other things just for
fun. And I think the dogs do, they enjoy something
new, you know, just like we do for sure. Yeah.
So, I mean, of course we all go through that,
right? We all have periods in our lives where
we just can't add that other thing. Right. But
everything ebbs and flows, but like you kind
of have to have it in the back of your mind.
So that when there is a break, okay, like go
to Walmart and then leave the dogs home. Like
let the dogs just hang out. Right. Like they
get to just chill out. You get to go to the store.
Like it's this weird thing. Cause we feel guilty.
Right. Like I, and I've done this and I have
to train my dogs. Oh my God. I haven't trained
my dog. I didn't train my dogs yesterday. Like
as if we did something. bad i know like i haven't
trained my dogs and my dogs in two days oh my
god like i have to train them today i have to
like and we get this it's like that i don't know
it's like that feeling like the train's going
by and we're not on it you know it's like that
feeling like we're missing i think it's an addiction
i think it is an addiction it is you know and
we have to recognize that and put the brakes
on Yeah. And start. And like I said, like do
or sometimes it's like, OK, instead of like training,
training your dog, like teach your dog a bunch
of silly pet tricks, like something stupid. So
now you're still doing it that something together.
Right. But you're doing something that's like
outside the context of your sport. Right. And.
It's like it could be low impact or like I used
to do like this thing with a dog in the past
where I just like had a little empty cleaned
out shampoo bottle, poke some holes in it, do
some hot dogs in it through in the yard, go find
it. Right. Like when Zesty goes to the one sitter,
she like literally she goes to this big field
and the grass or whatever weeds really high.
And she just like. Turns his back, throws his
toy in there somewhere and says, go find it.
And he just goes and hunts it. And he thinks
it's the most fun thing in the whole wide world.
Like the most fun. Like he loves it. As a matter
of fact, he does that game on purpose with me.
It's the craziest thing. So we're hiking with
his toy. All of a sudden he comes running up
to me from behind and he like walks backwards
staring at me without the toy. Right. And he's
like. His eyes are all sparkly and he's like,
Hey, Hey. And I look at him and I go, well, where's
your toy? And he's like, my toy. Right. You want
me to look for my toy? I'm like, yeah, where's
your toy? And he takes off behind me and he goes
and he finds wherever he left it. And he's like,
I found it. He created his own game. So like
just a silly game like that, like can give them.
like you know change the channel right like give
their brain a break yeah give them something
else to do um but it's like we have to control
recognize and control that we have this urge
and that our dogs are they will train with me
every day if i ask them to right because we've
conditioned them to that yeah we make it reinforcing
we make it fun it's what we do it's what they
do with us yeah they want that time with us so
they will do it you know and by the time they
get so flat that they're like I don't feel like
it if that happens you're in a huge hole yeah
you know You've dug yourself deep. So I think
it's just a matter of self -control, mindful
of doing it, scheduling it in. Yep. I agree.
I agree. And they are going to be fine. You know,
like I have a family, so I've got other people
in my house, my kids and my husband. But I'm
like with my Labradors, I'm the primary person.
You know, I'm the one that hikes them, trains
them. blah, blah, blah. So when I'm home, they're
constantly, you know, watching me like for any
sort of like indication that we're going to go
train, we're going to go hike, blah, blah, blah,
blah. But when, and, and like, they follow me
around, I go here, I go there, they're following
me all through the house. But when I go away
without them, my family's always like, no, they
were totally fine. They just chilled and slept
on the couch all day. But like when I'm when
I'm home, like stormy and salty, they don't they
they're just up constantly following me, seeing
what I'm doing. But when I leave, my family's
like, dude, they were fine. They didn't they
didn't really care. They were just sleeping the
whole entire time you were gone, which is great
because then I know I like, thank God. I gotta
get a rest. I'm tired. I need some sleep. I need
a nap. I need to watch doggy Netflix for a few
hours. Yeah, it's that whole, well, I have found
that like on the rare occasion that for whatever
reason, I'm like dead exhausted. I don't feel
good or something like that. And if I'm just
on the couch and I'm just watching TV, I'm like,
nothing's happening. They'll just lay there as
well. They'll kind of mirror that. Right. Yeah.
Of course, the second I get up to go to the bathroom,
all hell breaks loose. But for that time. So,
yeah, they're going to be fine with rest, physical
rest, mental rest. We are the ones that struggle
with it. So we need to come up with a strategy,
whether it's telling ourselves that this is still
training, giving ourselves permission to relax,
giving ourselves saying, hey. you know this is
the time you're going to do something for yourself
or you're going to do a project or whatever that
thing is something give yourself something else
to do so you don't feel guilty you know or you
don't feel bad um and understand that like you
know athletes understand the absolute critical
importance of rest you know physical rest and
mental rest they understand that like it's a
thing It's why there's so much talk about, you
know, mental health issues with top athletes
and that because it's just this constant pressure
like they need a break from it. You know, this
is what I love about that ice skater, Alyssa
Liu. She won the gold medal in the Olympics.
She won the world champions last year. She won
the Olympic gold medal. And you know what she
did? She pulled she she's not going to world
championships. She is all over the internet.
She is going here, there, this thing, that thing,
this, this TV show, that TV. She's going like,
I am soaking this shit in. Yeah. And I am not
running back into that ice rank and killing myself.
Like I'm going to enjoy this once in a lifetime
experience and all the like perks that comes
with it. Cause she's. getting invited like everywhere
under the sun yeah and she's doing it i'm like
how many people do that like no everyone's like
back in the gym already no gotta prepare for
world championships gotta prepare for nationals
gotta prepare for the next thing yeah and there's
no break right and then they crack and fall apart
and um so i love that she's kind of like doing
that like it's such a liberating thing it's such
a like amazing example of there is another way
to do it yeah absolutely and taking that break
is like so important yeah yeah so take your breaks
give your dog a break go do something do do yard
work bathroom i don't know all right thanks everybody
for listening bye