Lazy Trainer

The weather was awful this weekend; cold and rainy on Saturday, then warm and rainy on Sunday. It was one of those super lazy weekends where I had no obligations and nothing to do except hang around the house. And that's all I did.

On Sunday afternoon, as I was standing outside, between downpours, watching Bowie sniff around in the grass looking for somewhere to "go", I realized something about myself.  I'm a lazy trainer.  What do I mean by lazy? I guess what I mean is, I don't feel the need (let alone the gumption) to set aside time each day to work on JUST training the dogs (in this case the pup, Bowie).

But  I also realized something else. On lazy days like this past Sunday, when I'm a total slug, my dogs are probably learning the most.

Because even though I may have been a lazy trainer this weekend, I was also completely present.

Let me give you an example.  I as standing out in the yard with Bowie when a bicycle approached.  Bowie, being ever vigilant as a good Terv should, caught sight of him way up the road.  She sat down in the wet grass and she watched. She didn't ran after him. She didn't bark.  I moved closer to her, just to be safe. And as the biker got right in front of us, she looked up at me and I was there, I was present....I saw it and I was ready. I said, "yes" and gave Bowie the dried liver already loaded into my hand.  She gobbled it up  as she turned quickly, looked back at the bike and sat down again. The bike was now down the road and then she did it again. She looked up at me.  'Yes!", I said as I gave her another liver treat.  Bowie then trotted over to another area of the lawn, squatted and peed. I said "go potty" and when she finished, I again said, "yes" and she happily sprang over to reap her reward.

You see, I didn't do any formal training with Bowie at all this whole weekend. But I realized I had caught her being good so many times and was present enough to notice and to reward, that it didn't matter.  I nurtured what she gave me and in turn she gave more to nurture.  THAT is what real learning is all about.  And now, I don't have to feel guilty about being a lazy trainer.  ;-)