Funny thing is, when I need pointers on clickers, and someone said, you need to try it this way, I took it as just that. Advice. However, when I ran into a glitch, I didn't run in saying that clckers don't work or wrong. Maybe because the science and method is clearcut and simple, with an elegant mathematical simplicity. I might go as far as to say that it's binary. (Had to sneak in a math term. Bad Ron, bad Ron ...) But, I haven't seen many here complain that we are telling them that they are doing it wrong with a bad attitude or intention of making them feel less than capable. Now, if someone is throwing the treat then clicking, they are doing it wrong and there's no way to say that it's not wrong. Maybe it's just the way I take advice. I don't assume that I know everything and I lack the right vanity to feel affronted if someone says I was doing it wrong. Maybe, I'm just lucky, having had success with it from the start, even with some of my stumblings or self-perceived mistakes.
But not once did someone say that I was incapable of using clickers, even if I had expressed doubt previously. No one said I couldn't understand how to do it when I was not into clickers before. But, I have been told that I can't be trusted to do the pushing exercise because I have theoretical problems with it and I didn't do it exactly as described. I have been told that I stuck in a paradigm. I've actually been through more than a few paradigms. "You know I've been to the edge. And I stood and looked down. I lost of lot of friends there, baby. Got no time to mess around ..."
I used to defend Cesar Millan, even though I wasn't using his techniques. Now, I take issue with his techniques and some of his philosophy and that has cost me, as well as putting me "in the other camp."
So, in the end, it doesn't hurt my feelings that I didn't do it right. And perhaps, I am stuck in a paradigm and the experiences of Kim and Chuffy seem to confirm my thoughts. Kim, our Lady of no Labels, And Chuffy, who mentions previously using physical pressure as a needed barricade, something I have not done in quite some time. People that I would trust to "give it the old college try." Balanced with Four's positive experience and evident adherence to the procedure. Yet, I wonder, with the positive results, she still went to see about CAT. No judgement there, just highlighting her "salad bar" approach, and there's nothing wrong with that. Dogs do what works, so do people.
Maybe I just have a tough hide and, as I have said before, most of my feelings have been burned out or surgically removed. I do have a few feelings left but they are well-guarded.
The way you treat your dog in this life determines your place in heaven. - chukchi proverb
