Eeep, looking back on the past year and a half with Kailey is so depressing. I sometimes feel like I completely failed.
Don't get me wrong, she's an amazing dog and I wouldn't change her for the world, but there's just so much I could have done better.
For example, I really charged ahead of foundation, both with agility stuff and plain old manner/obedience. She wasn't always ready for what I was throwing at her, and I was too blind to see the signs. I should've been working with recalls and drive before pushing the "sexy stuff", as Susan Garrett calls it. Instead of doing wraps around trees at the park, we should've been building drive and been doing circle work. Instead of teaching her a dozen new tricks each week, we should've simply been forming a stronger bond. I know tricks help build bonds, but not when you only focus on the results and not your dog.
As it is, Kailey's doing pretty well. We get lots of compliments at the places we train, though, to be fair, she's been doing agility-type stuff for nearly a year now. I just wasn't doing it right.
It's just frustrating because we could be so much better along at this point. She's developed a few bad habits that, thinking about it now, I definitely contributed to and could've prevented.
Ah, well, I guess that's just how you learn. And I honestly feel like I learned a ton through doing everything wrong first. Thankfully, pupster has remained loyal and loving the whole way through.
Anyway, do you feel satisfied with the way you raised your first dog? Were you smart enough to research and seek help, or did you just lunge on in to it like I did?
Don't get me wrong, she's an amazing dog and I wouldn't change her for the world, but there's just so much I could have done better.
For example, I really charged ahead of foundation, both with agility stuff and plain old manner/obedience. She wasn't always ready for what I was throwing at her, and I was too blind to see the signs. I should've been working with recalls and drive before pushing the "sexy stuff", as Susan Garrett calls it. Instead of doing wraps around trees at the park, we should've been building drive and been doing circle work. Instead of teaching her a dozen new tricks each week, we should've simply been forming a stronger bond. I know tricks help build bonds, but not when you only focus on the results and not your dog.
As it is, Kailey's doing pretty well. We get lots of compliments at the places we train, though, to be fair, she's been doing agility-type stuff for nearly a year now. I just wasn't doing it right.
It's just frustrating because we could be so much better along at this point. She's developed a few bad habits that, thinking about it now, I definitely contributed to and could've prevented.
Ah, well, I guess that's just how you learn. And I honestly feel like I learned a ton through doing everything wrong first. Thankfully, pupster has remained loyal and loving the whole way through.
Anyway, do you feel satisfied with the way you raised your first dog? Were you smart enough to research and seek help, or did you just lunge on in to it like I did?