So Navy won again.
They beat Army for the 14th year in a row.
As I watched the game I noticed something interesting. Late in the game Army quarterback Trent Steelman fumbled the ball as it was hiked to him.
When he went to the sidelines I watched as Army coach Jeff Monken give Trent instructions on how to handle the ball.
This may seem like a trivial incident to the untrained eye but as a highly skilled observer of human and canine behavior I was shocked by what I saw.
Are you familiar with legendary Coach John Wooden of UCLA Basketball? When freshman players came to his team for their first practice Coach Wooden would start by showing his freshman how to properly put on their socks.
He would then show them how to properly tie their sneakers. He would take his time and make sure everyone was doing it properly. Eventually someone would ask the coach why he was taking so much time to teach something they all knew how to do.
Coach Wooden would explain that if they did not put their socks on the correct way, that if they didn’t tie their sneakers correctly they could get a blister. Blisters result in missing practice. If they missed practice they wouldn’t play. And if they don’t play they can’t win.
Coach Wooden made sure everyone knew and followed the fundamentals, stuff that you can’t teach in the middle of the game, stuff that should be second nature to you by the time you walk onto the field for a big game against Navy.
To me it looked like the Army coach was going over fundamental playing with quarterback Trent Steelman.
Fundamentals are crucial in everything we do.
The definition of fundamental is:
“Forming a necessary base or core; of central importance.”
And fundamentals are crucial with dog training. Would you like to know what they are?
Excellent.
Here they are.
Leadership.
Communication.
Simple, but most fundamentals are.
The first one has to happen if you want your dog to listen to you. A lot of people have a difficult time establishing leadership. It is easy and you just have to let your dog know that you control the resources. Food, games, sleeping areas, social contact, etc.
Communication is a little more complicated but nothing you can’t learn and teach your dog.
Basically you have to teach your dog the word “YES” and “NO.”
These two words will help you communicate to your dog when they are doing acceptable AND unacceptable behavior.
Your dog has to know the word “NO” when someone knocks on the door. Most dogs goes bananas and become uncontrollable.
Which is why I put together this holiday special together for you.
But you have to act quick. It’s not going to be available much longer. So if you want Sparky controlled this holiday season you need to go here NEXT:
Best,
Eric