Sometimes It is Better To Stop A Dog Lesson

There are times when I stop a dog lesson. 

I remember a dog I used to have. He would be one dog one day, and another on another day. On his good days, I would make progress in the training. On other days, he was just not into it, and it was like we had gone backwards. 

Same location. Same setup. Same everything as far as I could tell, but on some days he was just off. 

When I encounter a lesson in which the dog is just off that day... I discontinue the lesson: go take the dog or a walk or go play with the dog and not worry about it.

People have off days, too. Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you are the bug. Sometimes you are into the learning or the workout or the movie you are watching, and sometimes it's better to take a break and go do something else.

Dogs are not machines. If you train enough dogs, you will see this effect with some dogs. 

There are variables that we can sometimes detect, some that we can't. Maybe the dog is carrying some kind of worry that is inhibiting the dog that day. Maybe the dog isn't feeling well, but the outward signs aren't obvious. 

For example, let's say you got in an argument with someone over the color of a blanket. You say it is red; the other person says it is blue. It becomes personal and feelings get hurt. When you get home, you see that the blanket in question really was blue, not red. So, you apologize, and the fight is over. Yet, you might take a few hours to let go of the negative emotions that were stirred up and to recuperate from the energy you expended. Right after the fight isn't the time to study your calculus homework. You'll find yourself re-reading the material repeatedly, but it just isn't registering. You need to put down the calculus book and go recover, maybe take nap, turn on a movie and zone out, or go take a car ride. 

This same thing happens with dogs. Something can stress them, we won't know what it was, but we can see it in the lesson and the lack of response. 

The worst thing is for the owner to lose his cool, to start bossing the dog around. However, that is what some people do. Several years ago, I overheard an account of someone trying to load up a horse into a trailer. That day, the horse didn't want to go in. That angered the owner, he lost his cool with the horse and dished out something harsh (I don't know what was done, I wasn't there, I only heard about the incident). The stress was so great, the horse physically collapsed on the ground and couldn't get up. They had to call a veterinarian to get the horse back on its feet using a winch and body harness. 

What was going on with that horse that day? I don't know. But the horse was having an off day, and that had shut down what normally would have worked. 

Dog training is not a science. You can do a very controlled experiment in a laboratory to try and find "laws" of behavior. In the real world, there are too many factors to observe or control. The responses you see from your dog right now might have been influenced by unknown events yesterday or even 4 years ago. It can even be that the dog isn't feeling medically well but looks well on the outside. 

Thus, if your dog is having an off day... my recommendation is to stop the lesson and come back to it tomorrow or another day. Obviously look to see if the dog is feeling well, and confirm there are no signs of a medical condition. Also, investigate what has been happening over the past week to detect if some unknown factor made today's lesson a bust. With my dog, I now suspect that his intermittent bouts had an underlying medical cause. At 5 years of age, he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and died of a heart attack 7 months later. My guess is that had been percolating all along, but undetected by me and his veterinarians. 

Plan accordingly.