"Don't let them quit on a hard day. Do let them quit if they're all hard days."

- Amy Wilson, author, friend, & mom about her kids and the activities they pursue.

This morning my dog ate something gross off the street.

Again.

Twice.

And I lost it.

I wasn't a good dog trainer. I wasn't a good dog guardian. I wasn't even a very good person. I didn't hit but I yelled, I yanked on the leash, I name called, and a few other things I wasn't so proud of.

After I called a H.A.L.T. (Hungry? Angry? Lonely? Tired?) I fed my body, did some light meditation, read a good book, and took several thousand deep breaths and I assessed my options:

• Quit dog training (over reacting much?)

• Re-home my dog (still a little over the top?)

• Blame myself for not training his leave it and drop it enough (because I'm not allowed to be human?)

• Blame everyone who just leaves chicken cutlets and half sandwiches on the ground (valid but again maybe not the thing?)

• Give myself a freaking break (just so crazy, it might work!)

I'm human. Sometimes I'm trigger stacked as much or more than my dog. We've been traveling and away from work so our routines are all off kilter which means that Watson has been doing little annoying things because he's trigger stacked so I'm low level annoyed, and we're in an endless feedback loop.

Have you ever been here with your dog?

If you said, yes, congratulations, you're human!

We aren't robots. We can't do the right thing all day every day for the rest of our lives. Life will be annoying and frustrating and sometimes we just won't have the grace to handle it. That's ok.

Your dog won't understand that, though. All Watson knows is that I got scary today. Fortunately he's a pretty optimistic guy and he's pretty much over it already. This is a blessing and a curse because it won't set our training back but it also didn't move it forward so it's pretty likely that the next time we go out he's going to try to eat something off the street and I haven't had enough recovery time from this morning so I might just lose it again.

The last thing I want to do is make this a habit for either of us so...

What should you do when you're in this situation?

Step 1 is always to give yourself an emotional break. You're not a terrible human. You did have a bad experience. What do you need in order to recover from that and regulate your emotions again?

Next, know that it's ok, even smart, to take a literal break from your dog or from the situations that set you off. Can someone else in the family or a friend take the dog on an adventure or cover the dog responsibilities for the rest of the day or a couple of days? If you don't have someone to help and have to do all the dog things yourself, you don't have to go right back into the same situations that tripped you up. Choose simple things, calm walking routes, avoiding as many triggers as you can manage. And make that choice for a few days. Rest, recovery, and regulation is training.

Make a plan for the long term. Do you need some training help from a professional? To dust off your existing training plan and re-commit to it? To go back a few steps in your training or to do something brand new to give yourself some success to build on?

As a bonus, look for the things that might be making it hard for you to do your everyday training. It might be as simple as a new treat pouch, a food puzzle prep day every week, or marking a specific time of day on your calendar for your dog. If you set yourself up for success you'll have fewer of these frustrating human moments you need to get through.

We're heading into a whole new year, it's a great time to wipe yours and your dog's slate clean and decide what you'll do to make your lives and your training easier and more successful. That's what I'm doing and I'm excited to have you join me!

Ready for some help with your 2026 dog training goals? I'd love to help!

New clients head over to the short contact form on the website.

Returning clients use this link to book.

Wondering about classes?

FREE Ask the Trainer Zoom on Saturdays at 11a (some holidays excepted).