Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Puppies Training - What Dogs Can Teach Us

By Jed Rose

It takes very little puppies training to have a working dog like my little blue heeler cross to bring an object back perfectly and precisely every time. They never seem to tire and they never seem to get it wrong.

Right?

Wrong.

On this otherwise ordinary afternoon down my back paddock, my little blue heeler girl taught me something that had been staring me in the face for years. Something that had troubled me without my ever being conscious of it. Something that has helped me to change my approach not only to dogs but more importantly for my work situation, to humans as well.

When I threw the ball, each time she brought it back, my dog dropped the ball on the grass further and further from my feet, then shot off down the hill in joyful anticipation of my next throw.

Eventually she just hurled it in my general direction from a great distance with not even a glance in my direction and took off again.

As I walked further and further down the hill to pick up the ball and throw it again for my dog's obvious delight - the penny dropped.

I was the target of some artful puppies training.

My cute and lovely dog was training me to work for her, not the other way around.

Wised up, I immediately changed the rules of the game, demanding and receiving her focused attention on what I wanted and within minutes my clever dog was bringing the ball back to me and laying it carefully right on top of my foot.

Now as a famous German philosopher once said, you can learn everything you need to know from the dog.

Just suffice it to say that for some time now my once troublesome staff members have been completing their jobs properly and on schedule rather than leaving them for me to tidy up, re-assign or finish off myself.

Who would have thought that a little time spent correcting my puppies training could have such far reaching positive results for me in the workplace.


Jed Rose can help you with how to train puppy. Jed gives common sense advice, encouragement and tips for how to train puppy at his how to train puppy blog.

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