Velociterv

Hróar: beautiful, majestic, handsome, perfection

I think there’s a specific subset of person who get a specific dog that works extremely well for the Task they are interested in, and they forget or fail to consider that other dog personalities exist. For the type of general training thing you’re talking about it’s often herding breed folks, but it can occur in any breed. Here are some specific examples I’ve encountered in person:

I took an online bikejoring course and also traveled to visit the trainer in person about fifteen years ago. I worked harder than any other student and made the least progress. Bindi found the combination of pulling into harness + being in front of me + being responsible for navigation to be too much pressure. I never was able to get her to pull me on a bike. After about a year of frustrating wheel spinning, my trainer said, “Well MY dogs love pulling and they love seeing what’s around the corner. That’s how Bindi should be motivated.” She had Alaskan huskies.

My first nosework trainer did not approve of me hunting with Kermit and at least once a month would comment that he would be ruined for nosework if I continued. I struggled a lot to find a reward that was worth his time because Kermit hates toys and food is a medium reward at best. He’s a very difficult dog to motivate and it’s been a real learning experience for me. My trainer told me, “Well MY dogs do it because I ask them to. I expect them to work purely for the love of the game.” She has shepherds of varying flavors.

I once agreed to help someone start her dog in tracking. I told her to bring hot dogs. She did, but didn’t want to use food. When she does barn hunt her dogs are able to go purely off instinct. When I was going over how to introduce the concept of AKC tracking, she kept interrupting me, “Well MY dogs do it because they love me. I tell them Mommy is proud of them and sometimes I pet them.” She has dachshunds and greyhounds.