MIND OVER MATTER: Part Five
 What It Means to "Assume"
 

 Obedience training is like many other facets of life.  It's easy to become blinded to the truth...to only see what you want to see.  There's an old saying that comes to mind, and I hope I'm relaying it correctly.  Regardless, I think you'll get the gist.  Do you know what it means if you "assume," as in, if you assume you know what's going on?  It makes an "ass" out of "u" in front of "me." 

                There seems to be a lot of assuming going on, all around the country, judging from the mail I've received over the past several months.  A handler's high-strung Belgian breaks a sit stay and charges after a toy breed, grabs it in the mouth and a puncture wound results before the owners can intervene.  Those who think the worst about this handler and/or the Belgian breeds in general, assume--and even pronounce--the dog is aggressive and a threat to all toy breeds.  Those with common sense show concern, but ask questions.

                How much training has the dog had?  How much proofing with quick moving objects?   Does this dog come from bloodlines that produce exceptionally high prey drive, strong herding instinct?  Is this a "bad" dog, or is this an unfortunate situation resulting from lack of training?  After speaking with the owner of this dog, and asking these and many more questions, I offered that this wasn't a "bad" dog as it might seem on the surface.  This was a dog that was easily stimulated visually and would require extra diligence with proofing and calming/settling techniques.  The owner concurred, relieved, but still concerned about the "gossips" who saw the event, assumed she had a "bad" dog and were thus spreading their assumptions across the land.

                The dog in the Open ring creeps in on the drop on recall, slinks in on the retrieves and broad jump.  The "assumers" standing ringside proclaim this dog to be beaten and abused, and start spreading gossip about the handler who mistreats her dog.  Too bad the gossips didn't stick around to talk to the handler about the dog's moody, manipulative, ring-wise attitude and how much better this dog was than it used to be.  The gossips never saw the trainer, day in and day out, using tons of food and toys to bribe the dog into working.  The gossips didn't know the dog had figured out that it could get away with its "pissy" attitude in the ring, and the poor handler didn't know she should be matching her dog rather than trying to solve her problems in the ring.  Before long, rumors spread about the heavy-handed trainer and her brow-beaten dog.

                The Utility dog is working at break-neck speed with great accuracy.  Over its short career it has accumulated numerous HITs and HCs.  Obedience neophytes all want a dog just like that one.  Those who know body language and know how this handler trains her dog, know this dog is working out of fear and panic.  The obedience world veterans have little respect for this handler and her approach to training, yet those who only see what they want to see observe a fast, accurate high scoring dog and want this dog's puppies. 

                Over in the novice ring at the local fun match there's a dog being corrected with jerks on a choke chain.  Hard jerks.  Stoic dog.  Imagine what those excessive jerks would feel like on your trachea, but because the dog's not giving outward signs of discomfort, nobody notices.  One ring over, there's a dog being given tiny jerks on a buckle collar.  Very vocal dog.  Look at it cross-eyed and it screams.  It's vocalizing, even though the handler is taking it very easy.  Those who know the dog say it's very manipulative, and has learned that if it screams the owner worries that people will say she's mean to her dog, so she stops.  In all honesty, the owner's too easy on this dog.  But, the "assumers" only see what they want to see--a vocalizing dog--and in their infinite wisdom proclaim "dog abuse."  Which trainer suffers?

                One handler nags her dog day after day.  Moderate corrections that have no effect.  The dog has physically and emotionally tuned her out.  The dog's body language never changes, regardless how much the handler praises the dog.  The dog shows no enthusiasm for training, and it stoically takes one correction after another.  The dog is like an emotionally battered person, who's totally withdrawn.  The handler can't look at the situation objectively...she thinks the dog is just being stubborn.  Change scenes.  Another handler starts with mild corrections, but escalates quickly, so that she doesn't have to nag her dog.  She makes her point, and it's no longer a point of contention with her dog.  The gossips see the hard corrections, but fail to see the happy, tail wagging dog immediately after the corrections end.

                People see an exceptionally high scoring specimen of an atypical obedience breed and think they can buy any one of these dogs and magically see the same results.  They don't realize this trainer got really lucky and, according to the breed standard, these guys really weren't bred to have this degree of obedience aptitude.  Nor do outsiders know the hours and hours of training that have gone into this already exceptional dog.  Still other folks think that every Golden Retriever and every Border Collie is easy to train.  What was that saying about people who assume???

                A group standing ringside watches the Novice dog work in a qualifying fashion, earning a score of 175.  They roll their eyes as the dog works with less than the perfection they expect from their own dogs.  They make comments like "Maybe she should train that dog."  "How can people show dogs that work like that?"   The novice handler's family overhears these comments and hurt feelings result.  Instead of feeling proud of their dog's first green ribbon, this family leaves the obedience trial vowing never to return.  Too bad the groupies assumed everyone aspires to their high goals, thereby alienating one more potential long-term obedience supporter.  Did the group of gossips ever wonder if this was a particularly difficult dog to train?  Did this handler train alone because she lived hundreds of miles from the nearest obedience club and classes?  Did the handler work 18 hours days, precluding more than a few minutes of training a couple times a week?  Who knows?  The assumers never took the time to find out.

                A man and his dog set out looking for obedience classes.  They just want to earn a CD, maybe a CDX, for fun.  Their primary interest is hunting and field work.  Acquaintances refer the man to High Scoring Hannah's School for Dogs, so he goes to observe.  He's impressed with how the dogs work.  He talks to Hannah during a break.  Hannah wants him to be comfortable with her approach to training before he signs up for class.  If he doesn't agree with her philosophy and methods, she suggests he contact one of the other schools in the area.  After four weeks of class the man drops out.  He doesn't want to spend time teaching attention and precision...he says he just wants titles.  He bad-mouths Hannah and her assistants, saying they think they're better than everyone else and his dog isn't worthy of their attention.  Why the discord?  Because in Hannah's classes, she insists that heeling be trained with attention...a point she made perfectly clear when the gentleman first spoke with her, yet this man assumed he could "do his own thing" in Hannah's classes.

                The group of handlers from XYZ Dog School train their dogs with their friend Sam.  These handlers fail novice as often as they pass it.  It took one handler 40 shows to earn a CDX.  No one can remember one of Sam's students ever earning a UD.  Sam's been teaching classes for a long time and thinks there's too much emphasis on high scores.  Sam believes in putting dogs in novice after just 10-12 weeks of classes.  Sam doesn't do any proofing and he only recommends 10 minute training sessions--at home--a couple times a week.  His students watch the OTCH dogs in Open B and wish they could get an "easy" dog like those to train.  They assume that they could get high scores, too, if only they got the right dog.  They're too naive to know, and Sam doesn't help educate them, about the hours and hours of training that have gone into those OTCH dogs. 

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                I've received a number of letters and personal comments from all over the country recently regarding situations like those described above.  It seems like there's a lot of assuming going on.  People assuming they know what's going on with other people's training methods, other people's dogs, other people's goals.  It's time to remind everyone that the beauty of this sport is its flexibility.  It can accommodate a wide range of interests, breeds, training methods, aspirations, etc.--if we let it.

                It seems there are a lot of people around the country spending more time gossiping and assuming than they are training their dogs.  I hate to think that obedience is becoming as negative and back-biting as the conformation end of the dog world.  Perhaps trainers should forget about who trains with whom and quit trying to convince everyone else around them that their way is the only way.  Maybe handlers should stop concerning themselves with how other people's dogs work in the ring and devote that time to solving their own dog's problems. 

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