Daisy Peel

And her ears dropped and her whole expression flattened and she left the room.

So I called her back and did it again.

I thought, well, that's pretty traumatic.

What the hell?

And she did it again.

So I thought, all right, I don't know what's going on.

Maybe she has to poop or something.

And I got the other dog and I did the same thing and got the same result.

And I had to stop.

And I was like, I gotta, I have to phone a friend.

I don't know what just happened.

This is bonkers.

In talking it like as I was telling my friend, I realized that for years and years as someone who has tried to be only a positive trainer, my no reward marker was no response.

which is the absolute worst thing you can do if you want to teach your dog to persist.

Because what I had taught them was if I do nothing, that means you're wrong and you should immediately offer something else, which creates a way different kind of dog than if I had more appropriately told them, look, I'll tell you when you're right.

I'll tell you when you're wrong.

If I do nothing, you should assume you're doing the right thing and persist.

So that was a big moment for me.

And that was 2024 and I've been doing this since 1998 and only just then had that realization.

Like, what?