thecorgi:

Little baby JP…

I had a moment of clarity yesterday at work. Thursday was obedience class, and it’s pretty obvious JP hates it. And it hit me: why does he hate it? Because it’s not any damn fun. He’s out there being dragged around by the neck, being forced to do as he’s told. But that’s not how we raised him. We taught him every goofy trick he knows with just a clicker and treats. We taught him to think for himself, to figure out what we wanted. We said “do this, and you’ll get a reward.” Obedience class is “do this, or I’ll make you do it.” And that’s not right for our corgi.

They were teaching us to do a competition “finish,” which is where your dog walks around behind you and then sits on your left side. They were teaching it by dragging each dog through the movement. JP was really fighting it. The next day, without a leash, I lead JP through the movement using a treat. Today, he already has the obedience finish down perfectly. He even sits without me having to tell him. Not only is he freaking brilliant, but I didn’t need to teach him my forcing him. He is fully capable of doing it himself, with a little extra time, effort, and treats.

I feel like I really let my little boy down. But now that I understand this, and know what we were doing wrong, I want make obedience fun for him. We still plan on going to class, but we’re gonna do it our way now. No more dragging and forcing! Only fun, praise, and food food food!!!

No better way to teach corgis than what you are doing. Make it fun and they will love it.