i·de·al :existing only in the imagination; desirable or perfect but not likely to become a reality.
Every time I get house calls about how to “fix” certain behaviors of a dog, Usually the owners will start from the ideal condition, a picture that they had in mind. The perfect, how-it-should-be environment.
It is a good thing that at least we know what we want our dogs to do. The reason is so that we know how to “manipulate” the environment to be as ideal as possible to make that behavior happen eventually. But let’s admit it, there is no such thing as perfection in the world. So, I want to suggest solutions based on what is ideal, plus the reality. It has always been different for every case, it always needs a few tweaks and adjustments for different dogs.
Back to “manipulation”, what I mean by that, is creating a certain condition so that we don’t allow our dogs to make mistakes, or at least minimize it. In other words, we are going to set our dogs up for success. It can be for improving relationships, building up confidence, or anything, depending on the problem.
So if we try to fix certain problems with our dogs, we shouldn’t be afraid to try. Get creative. Look for guidance if you have no idea of what you’re doing. But we HAVE TO do it. The word “Ideal” is only to give us guidance, and done will always be better than perfect!