New Year’s Day weekend a couple of friends and I decided to do the King Tide Walk on a whim.
We live on the coast, right next to the beach and King Tide means an extremely high tide which also brings and extremely low tide. With that it meant we could walk the beach from Cardiff to LaJolla, CA.
14 miles of a lot of beach.
Heard about it on Friday. Showed up and did it on Sunday.
No training time. No problem.
Why?
We didn’t need it because the three of us have made training as a daily practice. Short and sweet. Most days of the week.
While I will admit it’s a much more “normal” scenario now (2-5 miles), in the past I’ve done 9 Ironmans, including two world championships. Shannon, she was a professional triathlete in years past and Julie Moss… look that one up. She was the famous crawl to the finish line to the 1982 Ironman.
That was A LOT of years ago for all of us.
And while none of us would be comfortable, let alone competitive if we signed up for an Ironman today, we can sign up for a 14 mile walk on the beach on a whim and think nothing of it.
Why?
Daily practice in the simplest of ways.
How does this apply to what you can and cannot do with your dog?
It comes down to consistency.
You see, none of us are training to do an Ironman anymore. But what we do is something everyday. A walk. A short run. Basic fundamental movement.
Do we walk 14 miles a day?
No. No way in hell. But could we walk it comfortably, in fact have a lot of fun doing it?
Yes.
Why?
Fundamental daily practice.
I’m a dog trainer of 21 years. Or a people trainer I should say.
How does my 14 mile walk on the beach with two friends apply to the success you too can have with training your dog to be the best ever?
In the biggest way actually.
It comes down to the smallest of practices, consistently.
I teach a game called “Ready? Get It!” to all of my clients.
It seems so simple, but it builds a foundation for focus.
It builds a foundation for structure.
It builds a foundation for daily direction and practice.
It’s so freaking simple that most people do it for a week or two and then want to move on to bigger and better things.
And, my goal is to teach bigger and better things.
But here’s the deal.
Most try to go for the bigger and better things without the daily practice of the most fundamental.
You can imagine what happens then…
Nothing.
How did we do a 14 mile event on a whim?
Daily practice of the most fundamental shortest of workouts.
You can’t do an Ironman or a marathon without practicing the fundamental 1 mile, 2 mile, 5 mile run first.
How can you get your dog to do all the things you’d dreamed of doing?
A daily practice of the most fundamental drills.
Honestly, we didn’t go 14 miles on a whim by going on a couple of 1 mile jaunts around the block.
Yet, I see people every day disappointed because they tried to get their dog to walk nicely on a leash around the block a few times and it did’t go as smoothly as they’d hoped.
Their dog didn’t keep moving nicely by their side when other dogs and people were coming at them on a trail or on a beach walk.
Their dog didn’t “stay” parked nicely beside your table at a local bistro or brewery when they never even practiced it consistently at their own meal times in their home.
I see dog owners slighted because they expected their dog to be perfect after a couple of repetitions of correct behavior.
Seriously people, Julie Moss crawled to the finish line because she didn’t have the right nutrition and enough training under her belt. Was it perfect? No. Did she finish? Yes. And did she go on to figure out how to do it better, champion her quest with more practice? Absolutely.
My point here for all my dog people…
Don’t expect perfection without a lot of practice on the fundamentals.
Don’t expect your dog to come racing to you when you call them from 200 yards away with dogs and lots of smells in between if you haven’t practice a solid recall from 10 feet in your house or backyard over and over again first.
Don’t expect your dog to pay attention to you when the doorbell rings whether it’s the UPS / FedEx delivery person or a friend if they don’t have focused attention on you on the regular with no outside influence going on.
If you find it hard to be patient with your dog learning a new skill, think of the last time you learned a new skill, went on a diet, attempted to get back into shape.
It’s hard!
The best advice I have as a professional dog trainer and a 9x Ironman finisher….
Break it down into the smallest practices daily.
Reward a ton.
And allow plenty of daily repetitions before expecting behavior to become solid.
Want my “Ready? Get It!” Game that teaches your dog to look at you for direction, no matter what in any kind of distraction, shiny object or big smell that steals their attention from you?
It’s a 3 minute morning routine that changes everything…
You and your dog in?
