Sprezzatura - zen attitude in balanced dog training

Are you familiar with the term “Sprezzatura”?

According to wikipedia, Sprezzatura ([sprettsaˈtuːra]) is an Italian word that refers to a kind of effortless grace, the art of making something difficult look easy, or maintaining a nonchalant demeanor while performing complex tasks.

“Sprezzatura” is the art of achieving effortless elegance.

And it is also what dog trainers can achieve with their dogs in everyday life - Not talking in very unnatural baby voices, not clicking and treating every few seconds, not looking really tense, not keep applying big dramatic movements in front of the dog to draw attention - yet the dog just stays really in tune with the human.

We train and prepare our dogs for everyday life.

When we spend time with our dogs, we should be able to act and dress like everyday people. We should be able to enjoy our dogs without looking like we are in a battlefield.

When we train with a Sprezzatura attitude, we can do real life stuff with our dogs - such as shopping, dining, watching a game, camping, staying in a hotel, hosting Christmas dinner with families - without constant stress and chaos.

“Sprezzatura” is a life style. And it is also my dog training philosophy.

We can be Zen rather than loud.

We can be natural rather than superficial.

We can be one with our dog with ease and grace.

And that is Sprezzatura.