Your life on a boat with a dog is so fascinating – you have some very unique training challenges and sweet Honey seems to take it all in stride!

My treat tends to be a glass of wine…or two…definitely not the healthiest of treats! Next after that would be some kind of sweets like cake or donuts. Again, not good, like you said!

I’m glad you are all doing OK. Honey reminds me a lot of Sheba…timid in some ways…but strong and brave when you least expect it.

You are so right! They are much harder and my husband sounds exactly like yours! LOL! 😀

The hard thing for humans is to find healthy and positive rewards. Some of the ways we “treat” ourselves can be bad for us if we overdo it (binge watching tv or junk food are two I’ve been guilty of).

But yes, Honey is far more confident than I ever expected. And we’re doing okay too.

” …we hold onto the fear and shame of things going wrong much longer than the dogs do! ”

That is so true. We definitely find the humiliation of making a mistake in front of strangers tough. It’s why boaters find docking with an audience terrifying.

Dogs like to learn and are less likely to feel stupid (although I think some dogs might experience humiliation in some circumstances). It’s why they’re such fast learners.

From your mouth to Neptune’s ears, Mel. 🙂

I’d love to read a post about using positive training techniques on yourself.

For me, I find that building up lots of successes and not moving too quickly is important. Just like with Honey.

And yes, I don’t think we’d be able to do the things with Honey we have without being steeped in positive reinforcement.

People are a lot harder to reinforce. They get in their own way too much.

For example, I tried praising my husband in the middle of a good docking maneuver but he swears he can’t concentrate when I’m talking to him. 🙂

And that’s why I love kayaking. Almost anyone can get into a kayak and make it go forward the very first time.

The good news is that the second time rowing went much better than the first.

As I commented to Barbara, it’s RANDOM positive reinforcement that has the best effect. Perhaps I should invent a coffee maker that randomly makes coffee on a timer and sell it at the Karen Pryor clicker expo.

On the other hand, I’ve seen how some people behave when they don’t get their coffee. So maybe it’s not such a smart idea after all. 🙂

Heck, admin assistants are bosses. It’s just that not everyone knows it. 😉