After the fun and frivolity of the holiday,
I feel the guilt over the extra pounds, extra couch time, and extra fun. I feel
extra pressure to set some goals for the New Year so I can get my life “back on
track”. Spending time with my dog, Peyton, is at the top on my resolutions
list.
Tasha Eurich, Ph.D. says in her article, “The
Science Behind Successful New Year’s Resolutions” that there are a couple
of secrets to keeping your resolutions. One way to be successful is to work on
only one thing at a time. Eurich reminds us that the late Stephen Covey
advocated putting first things first, pick the resolution that will give you
the biggest payoff and work on only that. I know that the time I spend with
Peyton is always has the biggest payoff for both of us.
When training Peyton, I found that instead
of teaching him to quit doing something, it was much more productive to have
him learn a behavior that is more desirable to do instead, for example, he
loves to chew. Instead of chewing up my shoes, I have provided a lot of other
choices of chewies and taught him to find one when he needs to chew. Dr. Eurich
says that the same can be done for humans. Maybe I can change my clothes when I
get home from work and take Peyton for a walk instead of sinking into the couch
and then trying to talk myself into getting up and getting out again. The extra
incentive is that when Peyton realizes that this is routine, he will encourage
me to continue walks when I get home from work. I know he won’t give up easily!
Finally, Dr. Eurich recommends that I
practice my resolution every day A research study by . K. Anders Ericsson,
Michael J. Prietula, Edward T. Cokely and Daniel
Coyle all show by research that greatness isn’t born, it is achieved by
consistent practice every day. They proved that marathon runners don’t have any
different bodies than anyone else, they just train every day for the months
leading up to the marathon. Not only will I do walks with Peyton regularly, I
can do more challenging activities for both of us.
What will we do next?! My mind goes
directly to running a marathon. Peyton could do that with me, except I don’t
like to run. I watch the dogs on television that dance and do tricks. I think
we could do that. And maybe we can if we are consistent and I’m realistic
enough to know it isn’t my personality. So what will work for us? So I decided
to consult with Sam the Trainer
to see if he had some basics skills that every adult dog should have. He said
that every dog should be:
✔ Well socialized:
good with me, family, friends, strangers, and other animals in any setting
✔ House trained: 100%
trustworthy indoors
✔ Well-mannered: in
home and in public
✔ Obedient: able to
do sit, down, heel, come off leash and with distractions, obedient up to 100
yards from me and even if he can’t see meOk that gives me a few things to work on! Sam the Trainer has some advanced skills that
we can work up to like agility (I think we’d love to do this), retrieving on
command and tracking. This could be overwhelming.
Then Sam the Trainer gave me some more advice, “Note that none of this comes
automatically. To get the most out of your dog takes planning and effort.”
Karen Pryor
is a clicker trainer (which I find fascinating), and she says that teaching nose
targeting is the most important skill. For those of you who aren’t familiar with
nose targeting, it is essentially a building block in dog training where the
dog is taught to touch it’s nose to a target being held close to the nose. Karen
says that if a dog has the nose target skill then you can substitute it, in a
pinch, for another skill the dog has yet to learn. I’ll be looking into her
book, “Fired
up, Frantic, and Freaked Out”.
I know there is still a lot of research I need to do
and then I need to come up with a written plan with a schedule. I also know
that planning for our future is one of the most rewarding things I will do for
both of us in the coming year.
