06/05/2026
One dog training concept is approximation — rewarding progress toward the final behavior rather than waiting for perfection. 🐾
In this video, we want Kai to stand on recall. Kai understands sit and down well, but he is still struggling to fully understand the stand command. Watch closely and you’ll see him begin to slow down on the recall. Before he has a chance to guess and sit, Tara calls him in and rewards that effort. 👏
That slowdown is important. It tells us Kai is thinking. 🤔 He is processing the command and trying to figure out the correct answer. Eventually that hesitation and deceleration will become a complete stop and a confident stand. 🎯
Too often handlers wait to reward only the finished behavior. But learning is a journey. 🛤️ If we reward the small steps in the right direction, we help the dog build understanding and confidence. Today it’s a slowdown. Tomorrow it’s a stop. Soon it will be a reliable stand on recall. 💪
The key is not to stay at the slowdown stage for too long. Each training session should ask for a little more. 📈 If we continue rewarding only the slowdown, the slowdown becomes the exercise instead of a step toward the exercise. Good trainers recognize progress, reward it, and then gradually raise the criteria until the dog reaches the finished behavior. 🏆
Reward the journey, but don’t forget the destination. 🐕✨
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