Read, Learn, and Keep Learning
By: John Wick
The chances are great that if you’re reading this, you don’t need to be reading this. Smiles.That’s because you’re already aware of the fact that you don’t yet know everything there is to know so you’re trying to gain more knowledge, food for thought, and some training strategies that have proven successful for others.
Sadly, to the peril of themselves and their poor dogs, way too many wannabe trainers think they know much more than they do, and, therefore, make little or no effort to gain new understanding and skills. You and I both know bunches of people that firmly fall into that category. But you and I also know that’s not where we want to be. We want to do better, be wiser, and give our dogs the very best effort and education we possibly can. If a dog does not turn out to be our dream dog, or a strategy we’ve tried does not accomplish our desired results, we want to be very sure that it’s not our fault. We did everything reasonable to do. We handled situations as well as humanly possible. We always strive to be open-minded, sensible, calm, and consistent. We always know there’s more to learn. Every month of every year we put forth some effort to gain more knowledge and understanding.
Striving to do better with E-collar influenced training certainly starts with reading your E-collar owner’s manual, watching any DVD’s included, and then reading any books and monthly articles that pertain to your segment of dog interests. Did you think I was going to stop there? Nope, I’m going to encourage you to then read everything you can get your hands on that you have time to read that pertains to other dog niches and interests. You’ll be quite surprised and pleased at all the ideas you pick up from thoughtful folks who work with dogs having much different jobs than your dogs. There are thoughtful, knowledgeable, savvy dog handlers in every realm of dogdom. Don’t shortchange yourself by thinking only those in your interest group can be helpful to you. Learn, learn, and never stop learning. The more you do that, the better your results will be and the less often you’ll be stumped or frustrated.
By the way, have you ever read your owner’s manual? If so, have you skimmed through it again recently? Doing so might help and sure won’t hurt. Having an understanding of your equipment and what makes it tick is almost as important as understanding how your dog thinks, regardless of what kind of dog owns you!
I’ll see you here next month to share more thoughts.
John Wick
