Who's the one with the BIG brain?

I am trying desperately to figure out how it is that a species such as human beings that have created and evolved so many high tech gadgets that we can practically do our wash wirelessly from 10 miles away but we cannot seem to grasp the concept of "consistency" and "criteria maintainence." 

I am certain that I am a bit hyper sensitive to noticing the countless examples of inconsistency that occur in class, at seminars and in trials because I witness them on an almost daily basis, but, I find it amazing that the average individual training one, two, or, maybe even three dogs has absolutely no idea what it means to be consistent in maintaining the criteria taught to their dogs. 

I suppose it is equally surprising how many handlers do not even begin the whole process of training with any clear idea of what they want the criteria to be.

Now, you could say that if they are not teaching criteria to begin with then there is no criteria to maintain, this is true, however, it would then be only fair to accept that the dog has not been trained to be responsible for the obstacle performance and should smile and say "good dog" no matter what the performance is.

We all know this is not the way it happens. I was at a trial this past weekend that seemed to exemplify this issue to a level that left me quite sad for a large group of dogs.

I do not know if the level of dog blaming was at an all time high or it was just the fact that the trial was not exactly moving at a breakneck pace which left more than the usual amount of time to watch others compete.

Either way, I was really quite distressed at how many people used what I am certain were supposed to be cues relevant to a specific contact behavior that quite obviously did not happen. In some instances the handler simply ignored the lack of criteria and went on, this would be the least of the problems, or, would have the audacity to get visibly angry at the dog for not doing what the handler had cued without requiring numerous times prior to the actual missing of the contact.

I found a large number of handlers that allowed their dogs to blow off proper performance without incident as long as it was still resulting in a qualifying score, if the infraction would result in an NQ you bet there was a reaction from the handler, how incredibly sad!

In what I guess was an attempt to get our reward of the almighty Q the handlers would then resort to totally new and unrelated cues that I guess would surprise the dog into offering the behavior, quite the head scratcher says me :-)

I write this on a day that I find out that a friends 8 year old Golden literally fell over dead on Sat. and another friends BC died of Cancer yesterday and wonder what are we thinking?

Even if Agility was not meant to be a game we play with our dogs, even if agility was a known cure for cancer, or could pave the road to World Peace we would ultimately fail miserably because although we have the BIG brains and thumbs, we expect our dogs to sift through the crappola and be able to do what we want or need them to do to make us feel good without any real training, or, total disregard for maintaining the criteria we may have actually taught them.

I hear a lot of  "I am working on that", "I know I am not very consistent", etc... without any real plan for change. 

Far too many dogs are trialing far too early and pushed too hard to do things that they have not had nearly enough time to learn specifically enough to hold up in a stressful environment like a trial. Most dogs do not have a clear understanding in training of exactly what is required, let alone the understanding necessary for the show ring.

I am a human as well and am equally guilty of my own bouts of inconsistency, but, I better notice it, and fix it! It is my job to have a clear understanding of what the ideal performance of any given cue or behavior is and my job to teach my dog how to do it correctly. 

It is also my job to not create confusion by allowing the one behavior that I have taught to evolve into any number of other behaviors because I am not capable of paying attention to what my dog is doing and run a course at the same time, I MUST be aware of what my dog is doing and what I am allowing at all times. I have to reinforce the behaviors that I want and must not accept and certainly not reward the behaviors that I do not.

It is my dogs job to perform the behaviors that I ask for correctly, when I ask. It is not my dogs job to fix my inability to properly train or maintain the behaviors that are necessary to be successful in agility.

The dog cannot walk the course, read the rulebook, obsess over course maps, etc.. any information that your dog receives on course or in training comes from you, they are simply reacting to the information provided, you do the math.

OK, now that I have ranted and raved and beat all of my wonderful readers over the head, might I remind you that agility is FUN!!! It is a GAME!!! Enjoy the time you have with your wonderful canine companion, it is all too short.

The moral of the story, do not have greater expectations of your dog than you are capable of returning. Now, go TRAIN your dog!