I have an English Staffordshire Bullterrier (her name is Sunny). Why is her breed important? Because of their character. A staffie is a most human loving dog, whose only purpose in life is to make us, the owners, happy.
When I got my staffie as a puppy, I realized fast that she was smart and learned fast. I did not realize that her main drive was to make us happy. She works for the praise: when the owner is happy because she’s done something well – this is the most invaluable reward for a staffie.
We went to a dog school where she immediately proved smarter and faster learner than any other dog. After we passed all the exams in the school, the next step was competition. We started to train and – as expected – Sunny performed without any mistake in the ring in training.
I entered our first Rally Obedience competition with the unbeatable confidence that we were going to win.
Sunny did not share my enthusiasm. She was lost already at the start line; she didn’t seem to know what she was expected to do.
I was frustrated, disappointed and angry at my dog, who kept performing so wonderfully in training and let me completely down in competition.
We repeated the exercise another two or three times: brilliant performance in training, confusion in competition.
It was our instructor in Rally Obedience and dog training who held me the magic mirror and showed me the reality that I would never reach anything in competition with Sunny until winning was the ultimate goal for me. His wise opinion:
“Your ultimate goal is winning. Sunny’s goal is to make you happy. You two are completely out of sync.
You get to the ring, you want to win. You’re nervous. Your dog is confused about what is going on, she only knows that something is wrong and she doesn’t know anymore what she should do to make you happy.”
I took the advice, and we went to one more competition. I gave up on competing, I went to have fun. From the start line onward I was jumping, dancing, celebrating, shouting bravos every time Sunny performed well at an obstacle. From the total of 150 pts, we got 147. And I got a special praise from the judge for the great relationship with my dog.
We never went to compete again. I realized that Sunny did not enjoy it. It was only for me to prove that we can win. Surely, after one or two more competitions for practice, we could have won. But it would only serve my drive for winning. It was not worth it.
I always thought of myself as lacking ambition, lacking the drive for winning, that I was more a supportive person to others. I needed my dog, Sunny, to teach me how strong my winning drive was.
What do I do about it now? I am aware of it, and I consciously evaluate in each situation: is it worth it?
