The other night, while I was preoccupied and going through the motions of pre-meal prep, I accidentally gave my Dobie’s thyroxine and Meloxicam to my BC. She just gulped it down as if it were *her* maintenance drugs. And I stood there, you know that moment? You cannot believe you just did what you did and to undo it would be much more work than you have energy for.
My first thought, will my fist fit down her throat? Nyet. Peroxide? Nyet. Emegency clin… “Wait! Before you think this is an emergency, is this really an emergency,” I asked myself. Pippin, the Smurf-sized Dobie takes these drugs twice a day, so I decided on the let’s just see what happens approach.
Behavior is expensive. My mentor, Jean Donaldson, taught me this. It’s such an important concept that it has become one of my mantras. Behavior and its expense play out daily in my life especially overseeing a multi-dog household. And the pill incident was one of those moments where I slapped my forehead and let it go. And unless there’s some long-term effect from a short-term mistake, score one for my side. Nothing happened.
But think about this line when you’re training your dog because any behavior, including thinking, has its price. If focused thinking were easy, then we’d all have doctorates. If standing on tip-toes were easy, what healthy person couldn’t be a ballerina? If swinging a tennis racket to place that tennis ball in the court across the net was a cinch, we’d have an abundance of champion players. How about plotting a story and writing a book? If that behavior were easy, I’d be a best selling author.
So I was shooting for the stars in that last paragraph. If I bring us down to earth, the thought of mowing the lawn tallies up an expenditure total in the energy register in my mind, and I don’t know about you, but I have to plan for those huge energy expenditures, especially on hot days. The same with anything having to do with visiting an auto mechanic. Though I’m either sitting in a waiting room or waiting for the shuttle to drive me home and back to the mechanic when the work is done, I’d prefer to invest that brain power and physical energy in a more enjoyable task such as dog training.
Which brings me back to behavior being expensive and what to do about it. Rewards! I promise myself a beer after mowing the lawn. A really good beer. During the mechanic task, I will read a good book or listen to one while waiting for the worst part of the visit, seeing and paying the bill. After that, I enjoy knowing that my truck is safe to drive. Money well spent. And while I’m at it, when I face anything that’s going to be challenging for me to get through, I prompt myself to get through it with a thought of doing something enjoyable afterwards. And I do it. Here’s a tip: Don’t promise yourself something then break that promise. If you can’t trust yourself to follow through on a promise, who can you trust?
Same goes for promises to your dog. Especially your dog. Don’t break a promise to him when you’ve said you’d pay him. If you make the motion of throwing a toy, throw it. Don’t tease. Who trusts a teaser? If you click that clicker, pay the toll. If you’ve said that marker word, hand over the moolah. And pay well when it comes to those expensive, lawn mowing behaviors. If you give me a bowl of Cheerios after I mow the lawn instead of that really good beer, I’d not come back for a second turn at that game. Find yourself another gal to mow the lawn!
Every behavior has that cost to it, and when you’re training your dog, who has the say as to what that cost is? Your dog! If he’s not working, not paying attention, not in the game, it could very well be what you have to offer isn’t the sort of payola that makes expending his energy for what you are asking of him worth it. It’s up to you, the other end of the leash, to match the value of treat to the behavior you expect your dog to offer.
By Helen Verte
Certified Pet Dog Trainer-Knowledge Assessed, Certified Trick Dog Instructor
Ft Lauderdale Dog Trainer
