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to CyberHound Setting realistic goals for ourselves is as important a part of dog training as the method of training we use. It is important to evaluate ourselves and our dogs before we set our goals, then to be happy with whatever our dogs are able to give us. An incident that happened last spring really helped clarify this for me.
Five years ago a five-month-old basset was shipped to me. When my husband and I picked him up at the airport, we were surprised by his abnormal behavior, which was very much like schizophrenia in people. Over the years we worked with him in conformation, tracking and, more recently, obedience. With years of love, patience, and repetition of training, he was able to finish his championship and tracking title with ease and confidence.
The last two years I have spent training him in Novice and Open work. This spring I started showing him in Novice and was very pleased with his qualifying scores ranging from 184 to 191 1/2. The fact that this particular dog was able to stay in the ring at all, let alone make it through the exercises with some semblance of sanity and a gay tail, was a wonder to me.
However, the joy was short-lived when an acquaintance from out of town commented to me about his poor performance and said that my dogs usually work better than that. Suddenly, the happiness was gone and I began to question whether I had trained him to his full potential. Some time later when I analyzed everything that had gone into getting him ready for that day in the ring, I realized that this particular basset had more than reached his potential and had in fact given me 110 percent.
After giving this incident much thought, it finally occurred to me that many competitive people will not show a problem dog to a title, but will only train dogs that will make them look good in the ring. The thought of not training and showing this dog never occurred to me. I knew it would be one of my greatest challenges, but I also knew that when I was through I would have learned a lot from him.
To train him to be around other people, enjoy all AKC activities and function normally in society were my goals for him. Today, at age five years, he is presently sharpening his Open obedience skills and is ready to enter his first TDX trial.
I think the lesson to be learned from this true story is to set realistic goals and then to celebrate achieving them no matter what others think. Whether your goal is to win High in Trial or to put titles on dogs with little potential, enjoy what you are doing and bask in your dog's and your accomplishments.