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REPOST Secret To A Perfect Quit by Troutnut 1. August 2019
My dog Jack was totally untrained, at 4 or 5 years old, when we rescued him from the animal shelter. He was very strange, aggressive, and growled and snarled at nearly everyone. He was unsafe on walks. He didn’t have basic commands down like sit, stay, down, come, and heal. He was food aggressive and not safe to be around. He literally bit the hand that feeds him (mine!) twice during his training the past 12 months. He came real close to being euthanized as a lost cause.
Today Jack is a model citizen. He recently attended a three-day bluegrass concert with 1500 people, and hundreds of other dogs. And he was perfect. A couple of people that met him last year couldn’t believe it was the same dog.
The secret I used to train Jack was the same secret you can use to quit smoking.
Old dogs can learn new tricks. But for that to happen, we need to use this simple and very special secret training method. Lean in real close and I’ll whisper it in your ear...
The secret is: Consistency… 
Jack is an expert at all of his obedience commands now. And he also knows how to back up, heal on both sides, rollover, play dead, spin both directions, crawl, place, touch, weave in and out of my legs, circle me, play hide and seek, and herd our horses. Every one of these skills required dozens or hundreds of “consistent” repetitions, along with a good supply of patience. None of it happened overnight. And knowing these skills totally solved all of his other behavioral problems.
I don’t know any of Jack’s previous owners, but I know one thing for sure. None of them had consistency, and none of them had patience. Because this dog is smart. Scary smart! There was no reason for him to end up in the shelter, and almost get killed.
The only reason that happened was that most people don’t understand the power of consistency and patience.
Quitting smoking taught us consistency.
We pretty much get up at the same time. We eat the same breakfast. We work out at the gym on the same days. We do water aerobics two days each week. We take music lessons once a week and practice consistency.
We exercise good self-care. We eat clean. We practice with our dog to keep his skill level high. And we don’t take that FIRST puff, no matter what happens. Not even if our A-dash-dash falls off!
With consistency and patience comes predictability, and sanity for two recovering addicts, and their doggie, Jack and kitty, Turbo.
When you break consistency, either with your doggy, or with your quit, you send mixed signals. Your brain doesn’t believe you anymore. Y our success will suffer. And your dog will disobey you. It takes consistent practice to be a good anything…
Pro golfers are great because they have practiced that chip shot the same way hundreds of thousands of times. And great quitters practice saying NO to that FIRST puff hundreds of thousands of times, with no YES in between the NO’s.
Quitting is incredibly simple... with consistency and patience. Don’t take that FIRST puff, one day at a time, and it is physically impossible to fail! Don’t take that FIRST puff, just for today, and you are absolutely, positively, 100% guaranteed to go to bed a WINNER tonight!
Your friend in Montana
Troutnut1-dennis