A Special Mirror

One of the cool things about training working dogs is that it is very self-revealing. It is as though a big mirror is held up in front of you , for you to view. Not just any old mirror that merely shows one's reflection. This is a special mirror. It will show you your insides, who you really are and what you are. Now, this can be a really good thing or a very bad thing. It is solely up to the person in the mirror.

All too often this special mirror will reveal to me that I am too impatient, too quick to get angry while training my dogs. Being a typical dork human, sometimes when I see that not too pleasant - but honest - reflection of myself, I ignore it. Pretend that I did not see it, or make an excuse to justify the reason for the reflection. Sometimes though, I step back and appreciate what the mirror has just revealed to me. I then make a conscious decision to change me, so as to change that reflection. These are the good and bad points of this special mirror.

When I am honest with myself and see an image in this mirror that I know should not be in there, I can change it right then and there. Right then I can make that decision. This I know, dogs are very good at reading our body language and looking at our insides and knowing what we are feeling. If we are angry...they know. If we are happy...they know. Scared, excited, hesitant, fearful, tired ...they do know. We cannot hide it, but...that does not mean we have to be that way. For example: When your dog does something or does not do something we want, do we always have to get angry? No. Do we get angry at times? Yes. But can we train and condition ourselves not to get angry? ABSOLUTELY!

This special mirror not only reveals if you are angry, it shows when you are impatient, miscommunicating, or treating your dog unfairly. It also shows you when you are happy, patient, communicating correctly and treating your dog fairly. The key to benefiting from this special mirror is to simply be honest with yourself when looking into it. This is a very valuable mirror if used correctly. On the other hand, if one disregards what they see in this mirror, soon their reflection will start to fade and eventually the mirror will not show you anything. This very useful tool will be gone. It is very hard and humbling sometimes to honestly look at the reflection that is presented to us. But in order to better ourselves, it is needful.

A funny thing about this special mirror is that if you choose to ignore the reflections presented to you, it does not prevent others from seeing them, including your dog. So, humble yourselves and look closely at this mirror. Not only will your handling skills increase for the better, you just might become a better person. You just might become a better husband, wife or friend.