As a teacher, trainer, and instructor for decades I can distill my general advice on learning into a couple of sentences. 

1. Take it slowly, break things down, practice in lots of small sessions. 
2. If things are too hard go back to an easy level and move forward again.  

This is always the way to make progress, always.  There’s plenty of scientific evidence to back up my claims, along with my observations over 30 years as a college professor, dog trainer, and training instructor.  All creatures learn best in small bites with time between learning sessions to consolidate the information.  That’s how learning works and I try to always keep this in mind when working with humans and with other species.  

So why do I think I’m the exception to this rule?  Why do I have absolutely no patience with myself when it comes to learning new information and skills?  Why do I push myself too hard, too fast, and too long; then get frustrated when it’s not working?  Could it be because I’m human and knowing something is very different than doing it?  Probably.  Definitely.  

I have two current examples of this:

The first is publishing my blog posts.  I recently moved to a new platform and instead of most of the work happening automatically I now have to go through a series of steps.  I was not thrilled, but surely I can learn the steps, right?  My guru for all things technical online, Melissa Breau, walked me through it the first time.  She even made a video for me to follow in the future.  As we proceeded each step made sense, until there were just too many and my brain said “nope, done”.  I continued to smile and nod and make appropriate noises as we worked, but I wasn’t  processing the information any longer.  Too much too fast.  Not that Melissa isn’t an excellent instructor because she is, but my brain simply decided when it had enough.  Thank goodness for the video!  

In the two times I’ve worked through it on my own with the video I’ve managed to make a variety of errors along the way.  I start out following carefully, step by step, then think “I got this!” and charge ahead like a horse out of the starting gate.  And then discover “I don’t got this at all!” and go back to fix my mistakes.  I’m not really looking forward to my third attempt with this post, but I do know that the only way to commit the process to procedural memory is through repetition.  If you’re reading this then that means that I managed to fumble through that third try. Yay me!

The second is my quest to buy a tiny house.  I’ve been on the lookout for a vacation home in Western North Carolina for over a decade.  Prices have always been just out of reach.  I finally decided they weren’t going to get cheaper and I’m not getting younger, so I needed to be a little more creative if I wanted something permanent.  Spending as much time as I do down here it makes sense to buy something if possible.  So I found a tiny home in a nice community.  I explored the possibility and decided it would work for me.  It’s a place that doesn’t require much upkeep so I can come and go without worry.  It’s a safe and friendly community.  And everyone there loves dogs!

Now comes the hard part; all the steps to move from goal to reality.  OMG what was I thinking?!  The whole process is totally overwhelming.  The sheer amount of paperwork is something else.  Luckily I have a loan officer who is very good at keeping things on track.  She sends me regular updates of what’s completed and what is still needed.  Even though some days I would swear she should be a drill sergeant and I want to hide from her; I know this is necessary to move me forward.  Having someone who understands the big picture and can organize the information is key to success.  This is what I  always try to do with my students.  Now I wonder “do they want to hide from me sometimes like I want to hide from Anna?” 

To keep myself from spinning out I divide the requirements into small chunks.  When I complete one I make myself stop and take a break, even though my tendency is to keep pushing until it’s ALL done.  From experience I know that pushing too hard is a terrible idea, but yet, I still want it done yesterday.  Having patience through the process is a true challenge for me, but an important lesson.  It’s especially difficult when things are actually out of my hands and someone else needs to complete something so we can move on.  I’m trying very hard to let the process happen instead of pushing to force it, but that’s not always easy.  Definitely goes against my nature!

The truly difficult thing about working through the process to reach a goal is that we still don’t truly control the outcome.  There’s still an element of chance and luck involved in every endeavor.  There are no 100% guarantees no matter what we do.  I wish there were!  I simply keep telling myself to do the next step to the best of my ability and let the rest fall into place.  Taking a step back from the process from time to time is important for my mental health.  So today I’m going out for tacos and shopping.   Though my shopping is usually just browsing, especially now that I have a tiny house to buy. 

To tie this all back to dog training, if we get easily overwhelmed and overloaded with information, how do our dogs feel?  Are we truly making the learning process as easy as possible for them?  Or are we lumping together too much information, cramming it into unrealistic time frames, and not giving them breathing space to process before we charge ahead?  I’m pretty sure I know the answer to that!  

Deborah Jones, Ph.D. is a retired psychology professor who now trains animals full-time.  She has been training for 30+ years and focuses on positive reinforcement based methods.  Deb has written 13 books on dog training and has helped develop several DVD series way back in the day.  She has also trained and shown multiple breeds to high level titles in agility, rally, and obedience.  She is currently teaching online training classes, workshops, and webinars at www.fenzidogsportsacademy.com.  Her latest project is the Cooperative Care Trainer Certificate course.  Visit her website at www.k9infocus.com for her blog and more information.