Correct work at the top

[juliepoudrier]

...been told by a fella that I use to train with, to not be so insistant about being correct all the time, and allow the dog to work on its own, and make mistakes. To me, that sounds rather contradictory, can some one perhaps give me a better understanding of what that means?

Darci,

Maybe if you think of it terms of the way you were raised or, if you have kids, the way you raised them. Sometimes we learn more by being allowed to make mistakes. Jack Knox said it to me at a clinic when I was just starting Lark. He told me that I was making her right rather than correcting her for being wrong and then allowing her to *figure out* what was right. So, for example, if she was stopping short on her outrun, I would move myself toward her on a circle to encourage her to continue around the sheep to the balance point. I was making her right by moving myself. Instead he had me correct her (just a voice correction) for stopping short and then give her the flank again, allowing *her* to decide where to stop the next time. That way, she was learning to *find* balance rather than getting to balance because I was forcing her there with my body pressure.

 

As another example, suppose you flank your dog because the sheep are trying to escape and the dog stops short. You could either see it coming and do a preventive flank to stop the sheep or you could let the dog stop where it wanted and realize the mistake when it loses its sheep. That may not be the best example, but it should at least give you an idea of the philosophy.

 

By the same token, my Twist pups started out running a bit tight (okay, more than a bit, as in right up the middle like bowling balls). I could have tried to force a proper outrun (make them right) or let them learn from the consequences of their actions. What I did was give a voice correction (Get back!) when they were way too tight, but I didn't try to create the perfect outrun. Instead I made sure I had appropriate sheep (nonrunners) and I let the pups figure out where they needed to be to get around the sheep in a proper fashion to maintain control. They both have widened naturally.

 

So the mantra "make the right easy, and the wrong difficult" means just that. You want to set up the training situation so that the dog *can* be right, but at the same time you don't take all choices away because you want the dog to have the *option* of also being wrong, because we all probably learn better from our mistakes then we do from being told what's right all the time.

 

I hope that makes sense.

 

J.