Ever hear of the book, “The Compound Effect?”
It’s by a guy named Darren Hardy and it is a really good book that I highly recommend reading.
In it he talks about his friend, Big Mo. He states:
“Have you met my friend Mo, or “Big Mo” yet? You can’t see or feel Mo, but you know when you’ve got it. You can’t count on Mo showing up to every occasion, but when it does – WOW! Big Mo can catapult you into the stratosphere of success. And once you’ve got Mo on your side, there’s almost no way anyone can catch you!”
Mr. Hardy is talking about momentum.
He adds that by taking small, seemingly insignificant steps, you are slowly putting momentum into action.
The problem with almost anything we do is that Big Mo never shows up because we quit before the real results start to happen.
Years back I wanted to teach my sheltie Sam how to do a motivational retrieve. I wanted her to retrieve a dumbbell and give it to me. The way I had been taught was through using negative reinforcement.
I had never taught the motivational retrieve before and felt like quitting a few days into it. You see, to teach the motivational retrieve you spend a lot of time just getting the dog to touch the dumbbell.
Then you have to get the dog to open her mouth and hold it. The she has to pick it up off the ground. When I started teaching Sam to do this the results were pretty bad and I almost quit.
BUT….
…..I soldiered on.
And Big Mo did show up. Sam started to retrieve my car keys, my wallet anything I asked her to.
She even fetched a tissue when I sneezed.
Which became a trick that we used for years starting my first dog training business. Here is a video of Sam doing the famous tissue trick.
So if you’re training your dog and feeling discouraged, the worst thing you can do is give up.
The best thing to do is get help if you feel stuck or frustrated. And the best place to get help is right here:
Dog Training Inner Circle
Best,
Eric