.. and so for that matter isn't the handler, ;-)..

We were talking about startline woes on the Start Line :: Startline Routine Forum (very interesting thread, BTW), and TracyE commented about tarining her 11 months old puppy Dani: "Omigod, we are on like week 11 of Sit at start line, Watch me, Stay put, Walk out 2 jumps, OOPs, rinse, repeat,... arrggh.", while ValeryT on the Premium Coaching Forum in the process of rebuilding her BT's confidence after a Teeter scare, keeps uncovering more and more details about that is involved in an obstacle performance skill.

So, let's talk about what it really takes to train a dog..

My take on it that the dog is never trained, ;-).. No, it is not a joke.. I mean it. That's what makes training dogs so interesting, is the fact that the dog always evolves. Training dogs for Agility is even more in flux due to the nature of our sport and its young age.

Training is influenced by the tree main factors:

• initial foundation of the skill
• evolution of the skill through use
• retrofitting of the skill to meet new demands of the sport

One of the challengers of dog training is obtaining a proper "yardstick". Meaning, knowing what's "good enough" when laying foundation for a skill or skill set. What may look like a solid well trained skill to a novice trainer, will be deemed pretty superficial by an experienced one. The big question: "Is my dog ready to trial?" really has no good answer, ;-).. On the other hand, a lot of trainers are so thorough with their initial work, they are never satisfied and have a real problem getting out of the gate..

I believe, every stage of training needs real world validation. I am not talking about "proofing". I actually don't do "proofing". There are enough real challenges to test the dog's aptitude. For example, if I am training the skill of attention and team play, I have no problem taking the dog into the ring to give him exposure and a taste of competition. The dog doesn't have to be 100% perfect. Such exposure offers a chance to the budding skill to evolve through use. That can be a total deterioration of the percieved level of the said skill or it can be a major breakthrough that can produce ironclad skill thus saving both me and the dog a lot of effort. I do believe that life is the best teacher and I take every opportunity to take my training on a "field trip", ;-).. If my dog and I fall flat on our faces, no big deal. Regardless of the outcome, once back to training, I don't change the curriculum, whether we had a breakthrough or an oops!, we proceed business as usual, without any extra stress or difficulty added.

Dogs are not robots and they don't do things the same way all the time. Most dogs having aquired a new skill tread lightly until they are confident and familiar with it. Even the hot-headed Ninja Border Collies are the same way, ;-).. Once the skill is under their belt, dogs let it rip and take pleasure from applying it on the course. They push the limits of their skill and take it a few notches up.. Sometimes they take it too far, like Yang Yang in the banner picture above. No sweat! The dog is never trained in my book, so we proceed on our journey.

I like to design skills I teach my dogs the way the have "open source architecture" (sorry for the geek artifact).. so I can always retrofit my dog's skills if I come up with something bigger-better in the future or the dog may need his skills adjusted due to physical and/or age issues. The key to this is the pivotal concept of "101 things to do with any given thing" I teach my dogs. This way they don't get surprised if I ask for a new game with an old toy..

So, there you go, guys, that's my story with the dog that's never trained, ;-)..

Same can be applied to the handlers.

Olga.