# Is Anyone Else Good at Making Things Go From Ok to Horrible?



## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Since you have excellent insight into the problem - which many people don't, maybe you can make a plan to avoid ending on a bad note next time. 

Some ideas - end doing something simple (Ash has to sit or come front) then he gets a jackpot reward or playing tug before leaving. Make it your routine that he looks forward to.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

I like your idea, Skylar! Great ways to end on a positive note.


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

Well you seem to know your problem but you are not listening to that little voice in your head telling you to "STOP" and walk away! Yeah, I learned this the hard way many years ago with everything.........just stop...... and remember if plan 'A' is not going well there are 25 more letters in the alphabet.....LOL! 
Also because I would lose track of time in MY enthusiasm......I set a timer and kept the training under both mine & my dog's 'patience' threshold.......and even then, I would have to stop sometimes! LOL!


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## Mysticrealm (Jan 31, 2016)

I actually forced myself to take a break and bring out the tug toy. Did a bit of stuff with the tug toy, then went back to a touch of heeling work, rewarding for the smallest thing with the tug toy. But of course had to push it for that one last time and of course that didn't go great because with the heat he was totally tired, tried to reward the most insignificant semi could be considered sorta ok but he was too exhausted to even take the toy. go me


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## snow0160 (Sep 20, 2016)

I used to do this all the time, but then realized it is more effective if we practiced more frequently for shorter durations tend to get better results. I try to end it on a good note but if not, I'll just try again at another point.


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

I had a bad habit of pushing it too far on horseback. Well, landing on my butt a few times broke me of that! I think it is the nature of a perfectionist, or even a high achiever to believe that one more time will be better. I have to remind myself that training involves two beings, and maybe one more time is NOT good for the other "guy".


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## Mysticrealm (Jan 31, 2016)

Thanks guys. I had actually video'd our session and finally watched it last night and was surprised at overall how good it looked. I had been thinking about using a timer. I think that if it hadn't been for the warm weather I don't think our session was ridiculously long but with the weather it was and with my attitude it was. I just need to be more loose-y goose-y with my training. Fun first, precision second cause otherwise I get cranky.


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## reraven123 (Jul 21, 2017)

I have despaired over screwing things up more than once, but have learned that one really great thing about dogs is they don't hold it against you! Next session they are back with you as if nothing ever happened. 

I make a great effort, not always successful, to keep in mind how different my dog's priorities are from mine. My goals and the picture I have in my mind of what he "should" be doing mean nothing to him, so I have to put things in terms he can understand and that give him a reason to work with me. This is a real struggle with Zephyr, who doesn't like food and will only play with toys for a short time and then he loses interest. It's getting better as we find ways to connect and ways to make "work" into fun, but it still is not easy with him!

He's a wonderful companion and hiking buddy, he comes nearly everywhere with me, but if we ever make it to competition either in agility or anything else it will be a real achievement. And if we don't, that's OK too. It isn't really the competition that I enjoy, I like the training. I like trying to figure him out and finding ways to communicate with him and ways to understand what he's saying to me.


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## Eclipse (Apr 26, 2010)

"Ugh. I'm so good at starting out the training session thinking positive and things go ok, and then we have an issue and I get frustrated and make things go from ok to horrible. And then I drag the session out way too long till my dog is tired and so even if things start to get back on track I exhaust my dog and things end on a bad note."

When I am training any performance venue I break it down if I have an issue. For example, agility. So normally would work the whole course and if there was something we had an issue with once, like a missed contact, missed weaves entry, etc. would correct right there and move on. But often, there is something that we get wrong that going back once, twice, 3x, etc. doesn't fix. So rather than continuing to mess it up and repeating it over and over then, we move on (no reward) and then when we next have our turn we come out and break that problem area into a little sequence and give it a fresh try. So it's like a mini course, could be 3, 4 obstacles only, whatever works to set the approach to what we were fine with, the issue and the obstacle after. And if we have to do that a couple times, less stress than anticipating the issue by running the full course up to it and a quicker reward by getting it right than having to run the rest of the course after because you didn't want to stop flow. JMHO...


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## kontiki (Apr 6, 2013)

I trained my own Service Dog. No small feat.... lots and lots of training. I found that the things he learned the best, and retained best, were things where I kept each training session under 6 minutes. I might do three a day, but each brief. He loves it! I say training and he comes running

But yes, once in awhile I tried to push things for 20 minutes or so. He rapidly lost interest in training... so back I went to the brief sessions.


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## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

I'm with Kontiki on this. Short is better than long. To keep myself from drilling Noelle, I work in the rule of three. Three repeats of a skill, followed by three very silly things. Sit in front, sit in front from a further distance, run and sit in front. Now, leg weaves, high five, spin in a circle. Heel in figure 8 three times, and sit pretty, find your tug, let's play tug.
AND... that's it for now. We tend to run through the entire novice obedience exercises every day, but we do it in chucks with lots of fun thrown in.

Noelle leaves happy, I get more successes than failures.


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## Mysticrealm (Jan 31, 2016)

Thanks guys. I've had several good training sessions making sure I was keeping things shorter (1 hot dogs worth of training, once hot dog is gone the session is done). I did have a bad training session in there when I knew I shouldn't try training on the wet grass when I wanted to do some 'down/settle' work, but I did manage to end it on a semi good note.


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## kontiki (Apr 6, 2013)

Hmm, I don't know how long in time one hotdog is! I would cut it in such tiny bits that it would be an hour! Actually, I would never feed a hotdog to my dog unless it is organic.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I always make sure I have a written list of what I want to do with each dog. The last thing on the list is always something I know they will enjoy and do well even if they are tired. If they do the exercise correctly the first time I move on. We take frequent breaks and play at tricks or tug or treats along the way.


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## Skylar (Jul 29, 2016)

Mysticrealm, I'm on the same page as Kontiki - even for a spoo, one hotdog is potentially a long time of training. I also use tiny pieces and that hot dog would last a very long time. My treats range in size from half a pea to a maybe a large pea size - pea size if I'm throwing a treat and I want to make it easy for her to find it such as in agility. Jackpot ranges from 3-8 small pieces. 

Now I do have a minipoo, not a spoo. Maybe I'm generous through the day with treats than you are? If DH takes her out for potty, when she comes in she runs to me and gets into front position - that earns her a treat. A session of grooming on the grooming table earns a treat and sometimes there's a random surprise treat for getting into her travel harness or jumping into the car and getting belted into the seat. And surprise treats on random walks for good behavior too.

I'm just one huge Pez candy dispenser - haha While I don't think I feed a hotdog's worth of treats in a day, maybe I do and I don't realize it? Maybe your hot dog for training is all the treats Asher gets?


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## Mysticrealm (Jan 31, 2016)

It's not a long time.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I don't use hot dogs since I don't want to give so much salt, so I use string cheese instead. I cut a stick of string cheese in half lengthwise and then slice those about an 1/8 of an inch thick or a little thicker. Generally if I am training as opposed to teaching one stick of string cheese lasts me for an hour working both Lily and Javelin by turns. If I am teaching then I use more. It is really important to help your dog to understand that it isn't just doing what you ask to get fed. Build in lots of other kinds of rewards once a dog knows a behavior and make sure you can use them in a trial ring. I use hand touches, a nice rub on the dog's chest, for Javelin spins, also a jump up (give a hug), retrieving the gloves that are left after directed retrieve and other things that don't require props (toys) or food.


Poodles are so sensitive to our moods and frustrations that we need to be careful to let go of those feelings and get jollied up before the dog decides the game isn't really a good game.


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