selections from a comment thread on reddit (op is u/missionimpossiblek9 - note that i do not necessarily agree with all of this), just saving for my reference.
I own the mondio husky who podiumed in a field of mals @ her MR1 closeout and recently started trialing MR2. Her debut score was a 212--not too shabby for a first attempt for any dog, much less an off breed, much less a VERY off breed with a first-time sport handler (a solid -20 of those points were me, lol whoops). Next trials are this fall and we expect her to title unless weird stuff goes wrong. Tbh, I think she can get a 3 if we hustle before she ages out of the jumps.
She'll never be able to go past club level and will certainly never be a fast, hard-hitting dog, but she tries her best, and her best is normally at least good enough! The point total is the point total and a Q is a Q. We will always lose some points on slow entries and escort meters but make up for them by e.g. never missing the defense hit, never losing significant points in jumps or ob, (probably, knock on wood 😅) never losing a search, etc.
HOWEVER! I was already a very experienced professional horse trainer (raised in a horse training family from birth) with quite a lot of dog experience on the side before I ever touched this husky, and it did indeed take a level of work and commitment I think most people would consider not worth it and not sane, lol. She started out with zero interest in tug, with anyone, near zero interest in any toys at all, and no commitment or follow-through. She was also soft/sensitive/submissive in temperament.
I started from square 1 with "put your mouth on this toy to get fed (and praised and fussed over)" > "pull this toy away from me to get fed/praised" > "chase after the toy and catch it AND pull it away from me to get fed/praised" > "fight me a little bit for the toy; now fight a bunch of random other people for the same toy, now different/bigger toys," etc., incredibly gradually and painstakingly, with nonstop supplemental confidence/ego/motivation/perseverance and fitness work.
It sounds simple but was not, it was extremely finicky and took countless hours of watching footage back and squinting and scrutinizing and then testing different things out at home, making teeny tiny tweaks and adjustments to how we were working her, going back to the drawing board, tweaking again, back to the drawing board AGAIN, rinse and repeat forever and ever................ :'D
We will always be fighting certain battles, e.g. the aforementioned slow entries, inconsistent grips, short little legs, comparatively fragile confidence. Her whole life is basically a canine Truman Show built around beefing up and preserving her ego. She is convinced she is tough shit (at this point she isn't entirely wrong!) and I probably annoy everyone around us keeping it that way 😂, but it's worth it to me 💖
> someone asks about building confidence
+ Never ask them to do anything you know/suspect they outright cannot do. If you are going to ask or prompt the dog to do something, you need to ensure it's something they can actually successfully COMPLETE (follow through on) in order to keep their morale up. Avoid accidentally making them rehearse failure, ever!
It sounds simple but you would be really surprised how many people think nothing of doing things like pretending to throw a ball saying "Get it!!" and then laughing when the dog can't find it and starts doubting herself. If you're confident but not 100% positive, be ready to help them. Always ensure they end on a successful note, always ensure that the # of successful reps GREATLY outweighs/overwhelms the # of unsuccessful ones.
+ Play lots of "competitive" games and make sure the dog ultimately always wins. That doesn't mean BABY them; they can tell if you're faking it. Put enough "competition" in to make it fun, to make it feel like they're actually winning and not just having a fake victory handed to them on a silver platter (very unsatisfying). Like, feel free to pull one over on them if they're slacking, make them frustrated and spicy, but they shouldn't be losing multiple times in a row, and for lower drive dogs, you definitely don't want them ending or being made to leave the game on a losing note.
Ideally, get as many people in on this as possible. If ONLY your mom says you're tough and badass, you're likely to be like "mm yeah, but like, of course she says that, she's my mom." If EVERYONE you meet is telling you the same thing, you're probably going to start to believe it. So if someone is going to play or interact with the dog, make sure they're pre-briefed on exactly what to do.
+ Proactively confront the dog's weaknesses. If I know there's something my dog particularly finds scary or is unsure about, that's going to be a big focus of our home training sessions (please note we have Hard Things sessions and then fun-only sessions to balance the Hard Things sessions out). Dogs gain confidence not from staying comfortable, but from facing and OVERCOMING minor discomfort. Again, it HAS to be achievable/surmountable, so be sure you start small + quit while you're ahead, don't push it.
+ Always reward any amount of TRYING through emotional discomfort. It's not about the dog being perfect, it's about them making an attempt. So e.g. ANY movement towards a scary thing, we heavily reward. If the dog is so avoidant that they won't even look at a scary thing, if you see the dog finally stop cringing and cowering underneath their metaphorical blankie to take a peek at the scary thing, reward that! Even if it's just verbal praise and patting and silliness because they're too spooked to take food rewards, "woooowwww [dog's name], you're so TOUGH, I'm so PROUD of you!" should be the least of what they receive <3
+ Take advantage of the training scenarios the environment gives you. If I'm out and about and we come across something the dog finds particularly scary/unnerving, wellp, looks like it's time to drop everything and have an impromptu training session around that thing lol, hope I wasn't trying to be on time for anything 🤪
+ Navigating challenging environments is great for confidence, but it's extremely important to make sure ahead of time that the environment is actually safe!!! The last thing you want is to go "My dog isn't comfortable climbing on things, so I'm going to teach her that it is safe and OK and won't hurt her, she CAN climb on things," and then ask her to climb on something that collapses out from underneath her and hurts her. When you're asking the dog to confront things that scare them on your word, you're promising that dog it can trust you. Don't make a liar out of yourself on that front.
The same goes for interactions with other dogs. If you can't safely intervene and handle that other dog if things quickly go south, do not chance it.
Some rules I have for MY dog (some of these rules I also give owners for insecure + unconfident client dogs depending on what is realistic/beneficial for them):
+ Other people (i.e. people who aren't me or a temporary stand-in I've authorized) are generally NOT allowed to ever ask her for passive obedience. Active/forward tricks like speak/spin/high five are a lot more OK if someone is begging me to let them give her a command because they're so enchanted by meeting a dog that actually responds to any commands, lol. Absolutely no sit/down/stay/etc., and I actively praise and reward her for blowing them off if they ask things of her without asking me first.
You cannot teach a dog that every human ever has authority and power over you and then turn around and say "Hey fight that human, F him up," it won't work.
+ Other people are generally not allowed to punish her (even just verbally) unless I've preauthorized it for training purposes. If there's anything they don't want her doing in her interactions with them, like jumping on them or licking them, they need to let me know beforehand so that I can preemptively communicate that to her. Everyone who interacts with her has to agree to this; I need her to be willing to be pushy and obnoxious with strangers and keeping an attitude of "the only people above me are God and my mama" 😂😂
She is normally SUPER polite and gentle so this typically isn't even an issue, but just in case based on a few weird incidents, all strangers get the speech/ask ahead of time. Obviously when I know someone's preferences, I make sure we conform, but managing and controlling her behavior is my job, not theirs.
+ I never put her in a situation to lose fights/games/contests, against other people OR other dogs. That means she is NEVER allowed to e.g. play tug with a dog I know/suspect is stronger than her and will win against her every time (ESPECIALLY if that dog is the type to gloat and lord it over her instead of self-handicapping for the next round to be fair and pro-social). If I'm allowing her to play tug with another dog, I'm usually guaranteeing a loss for that other dog, so I also feel an ethical responsibility to consider whether THAT'S a dog that can afford to take an ego hit, either - she has been brainwashed into thinking winning tug is the best and most important thing in the universe and her entire life's goal so she takes it EXTREMELY seriously and will not ever back down on purpose.
As a result, only minimal competitive toy play ends up being allowed with other dogs, especially tug. She's a speedy zoomer so chase + "who can get to the ball first" are much more acceptable (it's also much easier for me to manipulate the outcome and ensure fairness for both dogs depending on where/how I throw the ball, it's less about the direct head-to-head test of strength). Wrestling, I keep a very close eye to make sure a larger or stronger dog is going to voluntarily self-handicap. If they don't, she can't play with them.
+ I reward as much proactive, play-requesting, and loud, pushy, possessive, controlling behavior as possible (within the bounds of what is safe and healthy). I absolutely selectively reward even "naughty" behavior and intelligent disobedience, especially if it is really brave or creative. Demand barking, too, lol, as well as crazy barking at strangers who come on our property (most barking in general, really, since when she first started bitework she did not bark, only "woo woo"ed, LOL; does not make for a good bark & hold!). She is never punished for slow outs or being dirty in bitework. I might gently tell her no in a scolding tone, but I'm always laughing when I do it (usually so is everyone else), and she is a huge ham who loves getting laughs, so she "teehee"s and takes it as a soft no, not a real no :P
+ This one is gonna be controversial but she is encouraged to be dominant with and push back on dominant behavior from other dogs - the vast majority of her interactions are with dogs who need to learn boundaries & deferring to elders/authority anyway so this is beneficial from both angles in most cases. I back up 99.99% of her corrections and intervene if they push back on her. I gently verbally discourage submissive behavior and encourage her to stand her ground if client dogs try to push her around (obviously I'm handling the other dogs and backing her up for this; please see "ensure a safe environment"). I let her mark over client dogs and our young malinois and do not let those dogs mark over where she has marked. She even does handstands to pee over male dog pee on trees and posts 😂😂.
Obviously, if she ever takes it too far, I do stick up for the other dog and tell her to knock it off, but it's really rare that she ever does.
There are a lot more that are specific to our exact lifestyle & mondioring/bitework but I think that's most of the more general ones. It mostly comes down to being mindful and planning ahead--pre-asking yourself how a given interaction or sequence of events will likely affect the dog's confidence and taking steps to manage/change the situation ahead of time or maybe declining to participate entirely if the answer is "probably poorly" and there aren't any viable alternatives that are fair to the other participant(s). Always being proactive, always being ready to handle any potential confidence-harming events or encounters.
Basically just teaching the dog over and over that nothing that bad can ever happen to you--and ensuring that that is actually true, as close to 100% of the time as possible, for years on end--until they come to truly believe it, deep in the pit of their little doggy soul. If I'm telling you you can beat that guy, you can beat him. If I'm telling you it's OK, it really is OK. :)
I hope you get something useful from all of that! 🤪
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