Words matter, just like the criteria that we set for our dogs. Clarity in criteria means that our dogs are more likely to exhibit high performance in whatever we ask them to do. The need to have clear criteria is something that most of us can agree on. The trouble with words though is when we communicate to each other, what we say might not be all that clear or specific AND words can evoke emotion.
“Trust Your Dog” is one of those phrases that is both non-specific AND evokes emotion. Let’s talk about the emotion part of it first. It is a phrase at the outset that makes you think “well of COURSE I need to trust my dog.” It is a phrase that you can’t help not getting behind. There is judgement there because if you don’t agree with it, then you clearly have some conflict with your dog or massive training issue, right? Or… what I I am not sure??? That seems kind of emotionally coercive doesn’t it? Then there is the clarity part… what do we MEAN by “Trust Your Dog”. And when we DO “Trust our Dog” and we fail, without knowing WHY, how does that set us up for success later? And who gets blamed? (HINT: Usually the dog.)
When taken at face value “Trust Your Dog” is actually a phrase that can run the gamut between trusting your dog blindly no matter how poorly you have prepared and trained them to trusting your dog to leverage all of the high quality training you’ve given them on top of an enormous amount of generalization and positive exposure. Both ends of the spectrum are BOTH “trusting the dog”, right?
This is actually why this phrase triggers a knee jerk reaction in me… please be more specific! And… This phrase is usually given in the course of one handler or trainer giving another advice. Unfortunately it’s usually because the receiver actually NEEDS help. And equally unfortunately, this phrase is altogether unhelpful.
If we are to be more specific, we first have to answer the following questions:
- Does my dog understand their job?
- Have I been clear with my criteria and delivered reinforcement in a way that will help my dog to do their job correctly?
- Have I taken the time or can I understand the scenting conditions and air movement that my dog is working in?
- Can I tell what my dog is communicating through their response (or lack of) to odor?
- Is my dog capable of doing the job at this moment, in this location, and under these circumstances?
- Do I have confidence in myself and in my own training and understanding of the situation?
- And FINALLY…. do I BELIEVE what my dog is telling me?
You see…. in order to Trust Your Dog…. you must FIRST Trust Your Training. And if the answer to any of these questions is “No”, then “Trust Your Dog” is a completely unfair statement because if you are wrong, the dog takes the blame.
That said… most of the time when Trust Your Dog is given as advice, it’s being done in a well meaning way. But before you start to feel icky and all emotionally coerced or before you start to get even more confused because you don’t really know why that statement isn’t helping you… ask yourself about your training. And then ask the person giving the advice to be more specific. Take a moment to explore and dig a little deeper to understand WHY you are struggling. It is only when we dig deeper that we can improve.
This post is dedicated to the dog who has pushed me HARD in my most recent (and current) journey… where the answers to all six of these questions have made me dig deep and grow more as a trainer than I have in the past. And as we grow together as a team… K9 Prize and me… I continue to explore these questions and learn.
