Yesterday, a day that I had earmarked for sitting at my desk promoting my upcoming webinar, was gloriously sunny. Plans were modified. I let the dogs run the show for a time, and we played raucous games of tackle fetch together until they were panting heavily and ready for a rest.

That took quite some time, as they are young, fit and love sport. While I was being repeatedly asked to throw the ball, often faster than I could compose myself from a previous toss, I thought about how 'common sense' and professional trainers have ranted on about the dangers of this. That it was bad for my dogs to play fetch repeatedly for any number of reasons.

But...

I also very much treasure my dogs' ability to repeat actions over and over without boredom, without mental or physical fatigue. I value their willingness to go all in when I ask them to do something repeatedly for me because it pleases me to do it many times. So often people lament that their dog is of a breed, personality, or constitution that does not do well with repetition. That their dog is sensitive and shuts down when asked to repeat things. Or gets bored. Or or or. But have we already set the stage long before, by letting them know that such things are only one sided? That we are the only ones who can ask?

I come back inside, pondering this, and now scrolling social media in another tactic to evade working. I come across a post from another dog trainer about electric collars. And I am not here to say whether one should or should not use any tool, that is not the point. It's the reasoning that got me. They said:

And I thought about this for a moment. I thought about the hand holding the remote, the hand attached to a person. A PERSON. There could be a simulacra of impersonal to the dog, but the human was feeling something. And teaching involves both of us, the emotions surrounding it take us both in. How we are, how we accept and absorb what we are doing IS personal. When we accept that we can inflict pain on another without taking credit for it, there is a problem. If we choose to use any tool that causes a dog to feel discomfort, the least we can is accept that it came from us. Own what you do.

The link for the webinar is up now. The ELEMENTARY Webinar, March 22, 6-8 PM EDT $30 (if you can't make it to the Zoom, sign up and you will receive video and PDFs after the event)

Who is this webinar for?

Do you want to learn how to teach your dog cool tricks?

Are you interested in learning about new and different ways of communicating with your dog?

Are you curious about how much dogs understand when we talk to them?

Are you looking for something new to try with your dog?

Do you have a training issue that could use a novel approach?

The ELEMENTARY Webinar introduces the idea of conversational teaching. Dogs, like small children, can learn a lot through mimicry, play, and gentle guidance, when we both encourage them to express themselves and help them learn to understand our way of being.

I am SO EXCITED to hold this webinar. There will be video clips of Know Me learning skills, complete with errors (both his and mine) PDFs explaining how to start with your own dogs. Q&A (people who cannot attend can send me their questions ahead of time) and more!

My experience teaching a huge range of animal actors of many different species for over 40 years, as well as raising and helping develop the intellects of two unschooled children (now well into their 30s and fully functional adults) has given helped me develop the skills to bring out the best in dogs and their people.

So yeah, I did a lot of procrastinating, got the advertising done, and you got all my other thoughts as well.