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The Compound Effect
I think most of us realize when we see obvious errors committed in the dog training process, whether those errors have been committed by us or others. From over correction, to unfair corrections, to missing the opportunity for a legitimate correction.
What may not be so obvious is some of the subtle mistakes that are made during training on a consistent basis over a relatively long period of time, and the impact these errors have on the results we get. Some of these things are very small on the surface, and the incremental build up is so gradual, that when these "small things" turn into big things we wonder how "all of the sudden" our dog has this big problem.
This relates very well to how I gained 20 pounds. A little over eating day by day, nothing major, just a little extra serving here and a little spoonful there, and lo and behold I woke up one day 20 pounds heavier. It happened so gradually that one day I looked in the mirror and said how did I get fat "all the sudden".
That may not be the best analogy but hopefully it makes my point clear.
I have seen this kind of thing happen time and time again in the dog training process. A little mouthing of the bird on the return, and an ever so slight delay before giving up the bird on the release command, and "all the sudden" we have a dog that won't give up the bird, or that is crunching the birds.
Or possibly we have a dog on the third bird of the triple that creeps a little, then a ways down the road a little on the second bird, and then a bit further down the road a little on the first bird, then a little bit farther on each bird and finally "all of the sudden" we have a breaking dog.
And this could apply to any area of our dog training. I have found rarely does anything become a major problem "all of the sudden" ( the exception being a situation where a dog is severely over corrected or corrected heavily unfairly. These things can cause immediate major problems. Though this probably happens to frequently that is not the type of problems I am talking about here ). From breaking, to freezing on birds, to noise on or off the line, to not a sitting on the whistle, to blatantly cheating water, to not handling well, etc, etc, etc, these training issues that have become problematic do not "all of the sudden" just appear, no more so than "all the sudden" was I just fat. It was the compound effect of little things repeated consistently over a period of time that made it seem like it was "all of the sudden". And the real danger of this compound effect is that it is so gradual that often we don't notice it until it is a major, "all the sudden" problem.
And just to be clear, and to make sure that this does not sound like a holier than thou type of message ( most if not all of my articles are things I need to hear or re-hear), I have been guilty of doing this as well. And have paid the price as we all must. The point is not to make anyone feel guilty but to cultivate an awareness of why our dogs do what they do and to take full responsibility for the results we are getting or not getting. Excuses for why our dogs do what they do may make us feel better, but rarely does this make our dogs better.
So it is at least food for thought ( actually I think that is how I gained 20 pounds ).
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