This week we are starting a “spring cleaning” of sorts for our training with a decluttering and organizing theme, but I’m not going to talk about how to store all your platforms and treat pouches. It has come to my attention that the biggest pile in my dog training life that is desperate for some attention is made more of information rather than equipment. I’m talking about all the information that we have hoarded, particularly over the last year – training books, classes, webinars, conferences, and even podcasts like this one!
Sorting it out and hopefully even actually making use of the knowledge and APPLYING it to actual training.
You know that quote… something about, if more knowledge were the answer, we’d all be millionaires with 6-pack abs? Ugh.
I am assuming you are here because you are deep enough into dog training nerddom, that you are probably also sitting on a hoard of training resources, and can’t pass up the temptation to buy one more class or webinar, because THIS webinar will totally be the one that solves all your training problems. And if you are as bad as me, your “to-watch” webinar stack may be quite tall and even something of a source of shame…. because you feel you really SHOULD be reading/watching/doing the things.
So let’s address that learning & information doom box and apply it to something we actually care about… our training, by using what we know about learning and behavior.
In this episode we discuss:
- Curating your collection and organizing it into useful categories.
- Steps for processing the information in your resources so that it gets out of your computer and into your head.
- Possible obstacles that get in the way of applying that information.
- Ideas for removing those obstacles and implementing new training knowledge.
- How we might make use of “accountability” in ways that are reinforcing and, hopefully, not aversive.
Links mentioned:
- Episode 148: Episodic Memory with Marsha Penner
- Episode 149: Memory as Behavior… What? with Stephanie Keesey-Phelan
This podcast is supported by: Zero to CD
Zero to CD is an online group mentorship program designed to provide support, structure, and accountability for people who are new to competition obedience and looking to earn their Novice level title AND to make competition obedience accessible to all dogs and handlers through force-free, positive reinforcement-based methods.
