Hazel (my Belgian Malinois service dog) and I have been practicing her detection training since we took the detection course in Calgary last year.

Lately, we’ve trained every single day.

Hazel understands German, so I give her commands in German.

While at my mom’s recently, I was telling Mom a story and said a word in English that SOUNDS like the German word for “search.”

And Hazel, who’d been sleeping peacefully in the sun, suddenly shot bolt upright and raced over to me, trembling, her drive instantly at a 10 out of 10 as she waited for her next command.

When she didn’t get it – because I was telling a story to my mom, not training my dog – Hazel suddenly BIT me on the leg!

I was wearing a dress, so it REALLY didn’t feel good.

But I didn’t get mad at HER for biting me…

Because it was 100% MY fault that she bit me.

Here’s why I say that.

If you don’t know much about working dogs like her, you wouldn’t have any way of knowing that training them can be dangerous. Their drive is STRONG. It’s what makes them good at what they do, but you can get hurt while training them if you don’t watch it.

(For example, you should NEVER train them in a dress, because there’s a chance you could get bit. You should wear cargo pants, boots, and even gloves, depending on the exact training you’re doing).

You also probably don’t know that these dogs are ALWAYS “on.”

Even asleep, they can wake up and be ready for action in an INSTANT.

I know all this about Hazel. I know that if I give her commands, she’ll go instantly into high drive mode.

So even though I said the German word for search by accident, I still said it, and in so doing, I set her up to fail, and she bit me.

In a way, what happened with Hazel reminds me of the way we trigger ourselves into self-sabotage.

We typically don’t do it on purpose, just like I didn’t tell Hazel the German command for search on purpose.

But whether by accident or on purpose, the outcome is the same: Hazel bit me, and your self-sabotage “bites” you with another setback.

And when self-sabotage happens over and over, eventually you reach a point where it feels impossible to come back…like climbing up a steep cliff where you can’t even see the top…it can be hard to even care about starting.

If that’s how you’re feeling, then here’s what you can do.

Pick ONE little thing you can get better at, and just do that for a while.

Don’t try to get back on track all at once. Just pick one thing and get better at it.

Something is better than nothing, so just do SOMETHING.

Then, when you’re doing that first thing regularly, add the next ONE thing and get better at it.

Getting back on track a little is better than not getting back on track at all!

Plus, it’s way better to build up slowly than go hard for a day or two and drop off. 

Bottom line: Even when self-sabotage takes you by surprise, and even when it feels hopeless, there IS a path back.

Best of all, you can walk that path more slowly if you’re more likely to stick to it!