What do singing practice and toilet training a puppy have in common?
At the start of the pandemic, I was feeling inspired and motivated and somehow wrote a few new blogs. They flowed from me effortlessly, and I felt certain that I would continue writing blogs on a regular basis from then on.
That didn’t happen. The reason for this? It wasn’t a habit that I was truly committed to yet and with all the challenges and change that the pandemic brought about, I got distracted and let it drift.
Can you relate to this?
One thing that I HAVE committed to since the pandemic started, is house training my gorgeous puppy Roxy. If you’ve ever had a puppy, you’ll know that the first few months are difficult. (BITING. CLEANING UP POO. SLEEPLESS NIGHTS. WAITING FOR THE VACCINES TO KICK IN. I’m so glad those days are over…) Finding time to shower took planning for the first few weeks, and I must admit that some of my previously held routines disintegrated under the pressure. (Goodbye Yoga with Adrienne.)
I had a puppy once before when I was a teenager. I wasn’t involved in toilet training him, and as he lived to the grand old age of 12, I have very few memories of this early phase of his life. Because of this, I approached house training Roxy with rose tinted glasses. I expected it to take a couple of weeks and had no idea how much persistence, planning, and patience that toilet training a young puppy would require.
(As an aside, I live in a flat with an unenclosed garden, so toilet training Roxy involved a full collar and lead situation, with me waiting around in the freezing cold for her to ‘get on with it.’)
The goal of house training Roxy was to instil in her the habit of only going to the toilet when she was outside. After much research and trial and error (aka cleaning dog mess off the living room floor,) I settled upon a method. I would take Roxy into the garden once every hour. This was time consuming, but by decreasing her opportunities to ‘go’ indoors, the desired habit was very clear, and I hoped that this clarity would result in a speedier training process for her.
This system of hourly trips to the garden culminated in around 15 garden trips per day, every day, for 4 months, and is ongoing.
I initially saw progress immediately and was encouraged. She’s a clever pup and caught on pretty quickly. However all it took was for me to miss one garden trip whilst busy on Zoom doing an online singing lesson, and Roxy would be thrown out of the routine, resulting in an ‘accident’ in the flat. At this early stage, she was certainly capable of doing what I asked, but the habit would require more time and patience in order for it to withstand changes in routine and unclear signals.
Now that my pup is 6 months old, she is pretty much house trained and the trips to the garden are less frequent. But we are not ‘out of the woods’ yet! As we are in a pandemic I haven’t been able to teach Roxy how to apply these habits in other environments. I will need to be extra vigilant and even go back a few steps in her training when it comes to visiting other people’s homes…
THANK YOU FOR STICKING WITH ME THROUGH ALL OF THIS CHAT ABOUT DOG POO. I’m about to get to the point.
How is this similar to singing practice?
Improving your singing is all about creating very clear habits. These require a lot of repetition and the process isn’t always fun.
If you don’t have a system in place for your singing practice, it will be messy and your progress will be hit and miss.
When you do feel you have made progress, you will need to retain your vigilance so as not to regress.
New situations and environments can throw you off course. (Think- having a cold, or an echo-y gig location.) Plan for this, and it will be easier to manage.
It will probably take you longer than you expect to reach your goal. Accept this, dress appropriately for the weather, and look forward to the eventual reward.
So here I am, writing another blog. I currently have around 10 drafts and 42 ideas for future ones. I love writing, but I know that isn’t enough. Just like training a puppy, seeing them come to life will require persistence, planning and patience.
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