11 Bře 3 reasons why your dog is willing to perform at a trial

Training advanced sport obedience really has only one practical purpose. The reason we teach our dogs to heel with their heads focused upwards or to retrieve a dumbbell without chewing it while also holding themselves in a perfect front sit position is to show them off at a trial or a competition. A perfect sit out of motion is not something you would use in an everyday situation; it’s something you’d only use to get the maximum number of points at a trial. 

A trial is different than a training session

Of course, we enjoy training our dogs, and we love the bond that obedience creates between us and our dogs too. That is perhaps the most important aspect of advanced obedience. However, looking at it strictly from a practical point of view, we want our dogs to perform well at a trial or competition, and that’s what our training should be focused on.
In today’s article, I want to break down three reasons why a dog might be willing to work at a trial. A trial is a relatively stressful and difficult situation for numerous reasons. Among these reasons, for example:

• The handler is nervous and behaving and smelling differently than the dog is used to.
• There is an unfamiliar judge uncomfortably close by.
• There are no rewards and, consequently, no corrections.
• The atmosphere is different from a regular training session. 
• The logistics are different. You are at the field at a different time than usual, there are more people and more dogs, etc.
• The performance is more demanding than usual.
• Plus, many more—some of them so subtle only a dog could recognize them.

So, one of the problems that handlers have to face is how to convince their dogs to perform the same at a trial as they do in training. That is a very broad topic that we will be talking about a lot in future posts. Today, though, let’s focus on why your dog might be willing to work for you in this demanding situation.

First reason: punishment avoidance

The first (and let’s just get this out of the way) reason for a dog to work with you at a trial is because he is afraid he might get punished in some way if he doesn’t. This is by large how dogs have been trained decades in the past. Positive reinforcement wasn’t really a thing back then, so tails tucking low between the legs, hesitation, stress, and ears flat on the head became a common occurrence.
Nowadays, this type of “training” is largely gone, although not entirely, unfortunately. Trust me, I have seen some things that would give you nightmares. I know I certainly got them every now and then. But yeah, this is a very valid reason for why a dog might work at a trial, albeit not very well.

Second reason: hoping for a reward

The second reason—and this one is much more positive than the first one—the dog might be willing to work at the trial is because he hopes against all odds that he will get a reward. Using this type of tactic when training your dog, you could get much better performance than when the dog is simply driven by punishment avoidance. This method is much more joyful, positive, and generally better-looking than the first option.
This is largely how dogs are trained today, and rightly so. You can almost always achieve more with a ball than with a stick. However, this second reason has a large inherent flaw very similar to the first one that makes it very unreliable and unstable when at a real-world trial. 

Why it’s a bad idea to deceive your dog

The flaw with both of these reasons is that they are both lies. Both of these motivators are scams trying to convince the dog of something that is not true. “Be aware of punishment!” warns the first, but punishment won’t happen, and you can’t scream at your dog or—god forbid—hit him at a trial. Or, I guess, technically you can, but you will be disqualified and rightly so.

You also can’t reward your dog at a trial if you don’t want to be cheating, and I know you don’t want that. Therefore, promising him a reward and him hoping you will magically conjure up his ball in the middle of the trial is also a lie.
Sooner or later, your dog will see right through your lies; and from that point on, it won’t make sense to him to work at the trial as we covered in the article about the importance of praising your dog. At that point, many handlers will get angry with their dog. They feel like their dog is playing games with them or that he is just an uncooperative asshole.
As is almost always the case, this is not the dog’s fault. It would be the same as your boss at your boring corporate job telling you to go to work on a Sunday with no pay. Would you do that? Why would you do that?
If the reason to work is getting a reward, removing the reward removes the reason to work. It’s very logical in the dog’s mind. He doesn’t understand nor does he care about your desire to trial. He cares about his ball, and you forgot it today, silly hooman.

Third and best reason: enjoyment

So, what is ultimately the best reason for which a dog should be willing to work at the trial? He should work because he enjoys it—because you taught him to love obedience, to love heeling, to love retrieving, to love working with you and for you, and to enjoy some praise along the way.
That is the most stable and reliable foundation for any good obedience routine. I repeat it time and time again: always think about how to make training fun for your dog. And I mean it. Always be mindful and aware of your dog’s mood to make sure you have a joyful performance at a trial.

One is not enough

Although it may seem easy—to just make your dog love working with you and then everything will be smooth sailing from that point on—life is seldom so simple. It is very important to understand that a dog’s performance at a trial will always be a mix of the three above reasons. If any one of them is missing it, their performance probably won’t be as good as it could be. 

I firmly believe that the foundation, the biggest slice of the pie, should be the dog’s enjoyment. That’s what you need to base your obedience routine on. Talking in numbers, I think about 70-80% of your dog’s performance should be based on them feeling, “Oh wow, I get to do some fun stuff with my best hooman buddy! Oh, goodie!”
The higher you can get this percentage, the better; but I doubt you could get it to 100%, maybe only in some very rare cases. Dogs, after all, are opportunists, and there might be something even more interesting than working with you at the trial, like the faint smell of the cute female dog trialing before you or an interestingly shaped leaf on the ground.

A good ratio is the key

This is where the other two reasons come into the mix. You should be training in a way to raise your dog’s hopes for a reward. Think of creative ways in which you can remind your dog of his ball or treats legally (don’t break the rules!) at the trial and get his hopes up to boost his drive and performance.
Structure your training to resemble a  trial, and surprise your dog with a reward in the middle of it when he is convinced there is none coming. But, always remember, this is not the foundation. This is just some icing on the cake, and maybe 15-20% of your dog’s performance should be reliant on this or else it won’t work. Also, understand that these percentages are very subjective. There is no objective way in which to measure these; they simply should give you an idea of what to aim for.
I have been pretty harsh when describing the first reason—avoidance of punishment—earlier, and I stand by that. Using this type of motivation as a foundation for your training is essentially animal abuse. If you base your training on the hopes for a reward (the second reason), it probably won’t work very well on its own, but your dog will have a good time and everything will be fine. If you base it on punishment, that most certainly won’t work and I don’t like you because you aren’t fair to your dog.
However, I do think that a very small slice of the pie does belong to this reason. If your dog has never seen the consequences of his actions, his performance will probably be unstable. He will be able to work in ideal conditions, but anything out of the ordinary (like a difficult situation at a trial) will immediately throw him off his game.
So, about 5-10% of your dog’s performance should be influenced by him remembering: “Gosh, I would really love to go sniff that judge’s pants over there (what if he is hiding some treats?!), but I better wait for the end of the fun playtime before I do that. I know my buddy doesn’t like me wandering off.”
Corrections are, of course, a tricky business, and they must be done with the utmost care. Nevertheless, they do belong in a balanced, well-rounded training system.

There you have it. Build a strong foundation of you and your dog loving to spend time together doing fun obedience exercises, try to outsmart him a bit by having him hope and believe that he might get his reward, and remind him that it’s all fun and games but it has some rules too.
The trial you’ve been dreading for weeks? You will pass it with flying colors. Let me know how many points you got, and don’t forget to always be mindful.