Thursday, June 26, 2014

Thoughts on training your human

As most of you know, training your human is a never-ending task. They'll be going along perfectly fine, then they'll get some odd notion in their head and you have to work on training it out of them. It's hard work, but a well-trained human is essential to your long-term happiness and well-being. A well-trained human, for example, will dispense treats liberally, always serve meals on time, and know exactly where to plant that ear scritching.

I've been training my human for six years, and she's pretty well-behaved if I do say so myself. One thing I learned in the training process that is very hard but essential to your human's success -- you have to let them do things on their own. Yes, I know, it's usually so much easier if you do it yourself. But then they don't learn. Let's take the bed, for example.


When I first started training my human, I told her that a neatly made bed was a necessity every single morning. She grumbled a lot, but she agreed. So every morning, we'd make the bed together. I was flying all over that bed, smoothing out the sheets and making sure they got aired out completely before she put the quilt back on. It was exhausting, folks! And you know what? She still needed my help every day! That's not training.

So finally I took the hard step. I told her, "Momma, you're a big girl now. It's time for you to start making the bed by your own self." She looked at me with those wide, pathetic eyes and said, "But Casey, how will I possibly do it right by myself?" I reassured her that I'd be right there with her, but she had to learn to do it herself. And you know what? She did!


Now every morning, Momma makes the bed all by herself while I sit on the other side and watch her carefully. And if she does a good job, I jump right up in the middle of it and let her scritch me for a while as a reward. (Rewards are very impawtant when training humans.) She gets a wonderful sense of satisfaction out of it, and I get scritches! That's what we call a win-win scenario, folks.

So how about you? Do you have any advice for training your humans?

10 comments:

  1. We Beaglebratz got our mom trained ... so so an'yeah, she duz slip up now an'then BUTT we just CANNOT git her trained good tue help us with our bloggie ALL of the time. Sumtimez we just gotta take the matter in-tue our own pawz.
    Shiloh'n Diva Shasta

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  2. You gave us a few more good tips. Ours is pretty well behaved most of the time. We laugh when we make her get our ball under the sofa 87 times
    Lily & Edward

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  3. YES, we have our dad trained so well that he lifts the couch up 132 times a day to get our binkies out from under it, our mom is a harder nut to crack.
    stella rose

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  4. Your mom can make the bed without you? You are a FAR better trainer than I am, Casey! Zim used to help Mom all the time, and now it's up to me. I'm fairly sure she wouldn't be able to make it without my help. Really.
    Y/s,
    Maggie T.

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  5. All we have to do so stare at mama and she will give in and give us treats! Dad is a little easier - he gives us whatever he eats. Mama doesn't like it ... but who asked her!?! We're doing the training here and it's working out pretty good!

    Love Zoe, Peyton, Webster, Liberty & Whitney

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  6. I like to help make the bed too. I think we have Mom very well trained as to when the treats should be dispensed and when it is time for desert!
    hugs
    Mr Bailey, Hazel & Greta

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  7. For some reason, my human is cackling like a mad hen while reading this post with me. You just can never completely understand them. I'm still working on training Dad about how much space I should have on the bed and that, once asleep, I should not be disturbed. I've found that ignoring his bad behavior is the most effective technique, so I just act like I can't hear him.


    Bunny

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  8. Oh Casey! You are so smart! And handsome too! You Mama is lucky she has you to train her so well! :p

    the critters in the cottage xo

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  9. Your work is done, you are now the Master. Good job on training mom.

    Aroo to you,
    Sully

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  10. My mom still needs a lot of work. It helps to read about other pups who have BTDT! She still thinks I need to learn to stay. Silly humans. We both think the word scritch needs to be used more.
    oxox
    Daisy

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