Summoned

I’ve been summoned . . .

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Early Monday morning I have to show up for jury duty.

I’ve never been a juror.

I’ve been summoned before. Several times, in fact.

About 17 years ago, I was summoned 3 years in a row. I didn’t have to show up for any of those.

The first 2 times, I was VERY pregnant and close to my due date. (Yes, both times.) The court didn’t want to risk me going into labor in their building, so they postponed my service.

The last time, I had just moved out of state and the summons was no longer valid. (It’s kinda hard to show up for jury duty in Upstate NY when you live in Metro Detroit.)

But you know what? I still responded. All 3 times.

I was summoned again a couple of years back- this time in Michigan. All the cases were settled that day. So, I went home after a couple of hours, still romanticizing about what it would be like to sit on a jury.

I’ve watched far too many episodes of Law and Order.

I was excited to go to court that day because I find the whole process fascinating. Yes, I’m weird that way. But here’s the thing. It didn’t matter if I was excited or not, I still had to go.

Yes, I had a ton of other things to do - Very IMPORTANT things.

Yes, it was a PAIN to change my schedule to accommodate jury duty.

And yes, I lost money because it COST more to pay the babysitter for the morning than what I was compensated for my time.

But I went then, and I will go again on Monday. Not because I enjoy it or because I have nothing better to do, but because I was summoned, and I know what I have to do.

What’s my point?

A lot of people come to us with dogs that listen only when they feel like it.

The dog has little or no concern about their owner asking them to sit, stay, or come.

The dog either doesn’t understand what is being asked of him or has better, more interesting things to do. The message the dog is getting is either not clear or doesn’t provide the dog with enough incentive to want to follow through.

Compare that to my jury summons.

• The summons that came in the mail was clearly marked. There was no doubt what it was.
• It was written in English, so I could read and understand it.
• The consequence of ignoring the summons was clearly stated, right at the top of the paper. I don’t have to guess at what could happen if I chose to keep on with my schedule and ignore that little slip of paper I got in the mail. The motivation for answering the summons was clear.

Dog training is so very similar.

• Before we can ever expect a dog to obey a command, we need to make sure he is understanding what we are asking of him. We need to make sure both our body language and words are clear and consistent.
• We must also give the dog a reason to do what we ask. To do that, we need to provide clear positive and negative motivators that mean something to the dog!
• Most importantly, we must be consistent - consistent in how we ask for things, providing clear motivators, and following through.

Once we learn how to follow these steps, we learn how to effectively communicate with our dog.

THAT is when we see some pretty great progress in our dog’s training.

We’d love to help show you how to effectively communicate with your dog.

If you have a training issue with your dog, we can help.

Schedule your free, no obligation evaluation. Click here.

Happy Training,