It comes back to this.
Almost every single time.

When someone is struggling with their dog and making very little progress, most of the time it comes back to these two things. Our enthusiasm often takes over when they're doing well and we sometimes forget the very basics.

We cannot just keep pushing through and hoping the dog will cope. Yet that’s exactly how many people decide to train their dogs and that is a much longer and harder “battle”.
It’s also completely unfair.
We've set them up to fail, but often can't see that we've done this and they haven't.

Are they able to think clearly and make good choices?
Can they even hear us?
Or have we put them in a situation where the connection between us is already lost and all training has gone out the window?
That is not their fault, it’s ours and yet we don’t stop and look at our own choices that we've made and how they’ve contributed.

These two fundamentals are so easy to forget, especially when we have had a great few days and they’ve done well.

When things suddenly start falling apart, before changing the cue, the method, or the reward, step back and check these first. These two areas are the stumbling blocks we have popped in front of our dogs and we are now tripping over them too.
Enthusiasm is fantastic, but too far too soon usually backfires and then we struggle to work out why.

More often than not, the answer is right there.