When Your Dog’s Best Looks Different Each Day (and Why That’s Totally OK)

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned over the years of working with Border Collies — and dogs with behavioural struggles in general — is that your dog’s best might look different on different days.

And that’s completely okay.

Sometimes your dog will breeze through a training session or a walk like a pro: “look at me walking past that other dog like a champ!”.  Other days, the simplest things feel impossible, “I didn’t bark at the bin this time!” (yes one of my collies was petrified of bins, which made walking on bin day really hard!). 

It doesn’t mean you’ve failed, or that your dog is being “difficult.” It usually means they’re trying, but they’re struggling, emotionally, mentally, or physically, and they need your support, not your frustration.

And honestly? That’s fine. We humans aren’t consistent either, if we were, we’d all be morning people who meal prep kale salads and enjoy it. But sadly this is not the case, well for me anyway! 

Rewarding the Try

I often reward my dogs even when they don’t get something quite right, because I can see they’re trying. That effort is what builds true learning and trust. When we work with dogs who have behavioural issues, we’re not “fixing bad behaviour”, we’re helping them regulate emotions, navigate fear, and feel safe. If I can see they’re trying, that effort deserves recognition.

My goal is always to make things easier, not harder.  If I can be their emotional support human for a minute, I will.

Jasper: The Dog Who Taught Me This

When I had my collie, Jasper, this lesson hit home hard, better than any textbook or course could. He was brilliant, sensitive, hilarious, and sometimes completely unpredictable.

He’d have amazing days where I’d think, “We’ve cracked it! We’re unstoppable!”

…followed by days where I’d be crying in the porch after a particularly bad walk thinking, “We’re absolutely stoppable.”. It always felt two steps forward, one step back with him. 

We once took a weekend trip to Whitby. It was heaving with people, and I went into full trainer mode, managing him carefully, rewarding frequently, giving him breaks. I was ready. I had treats, a plan, and the reflexes of a ninja. And you know what? He smashed it. We walked calmly through busy streets, even managed to sit quietly in a café like he’d been doing it his whole life. I was basically ready to frame a photo of us on the pier under the caption “Trainer of the Year.”. I was so proud of him.

Then, the next day back home, we went for a walk in our quiet area, and he completely lost it at an old man with a walking stick. In broad daylight. It was mortifying. Especially since, in Whitby, he’d calmly walked past dozens of old men with sticks!

At the time, I felt frustrated and deflated. But looking back, I understand why it happened so much better now.

Context Matters More Than We Think

There were three big factors at play that day:

1. My own mindset. In Whitby, I knew it would be challenging, so I was on my training A-game. Managing, rewarding, redirecting. At home, I relaxed, it was our normal walk, so I let my guard down. Jasper didn’t have the same support from me that day.

2. Contrast in the environment. In Whitby, the crowds blended together, it was chaos people everywhere, constant movement, so much so that people became background noise. At home, it was quiet. So when one lone man appeared on a quiet street like an extra in a horror movie. It was startlingly different.. That contrast made the trigger much more intense.

3. Trigger stacking. He was up to his eyeballs. The trip itself was probably exhausting for Jasper. Even though he looked fine, and he’d coped brilliantly in Whitby, it had been a lot.  The stress from the busy weekend may have still been lingering. His reaction was likely the tail-end of that buildup. His stress bucket was full, and that poor old man just happened to be the drop that made it overflow.
   

Progress, Not Perfection

The most important thing to remember is that each day, Jasper was doing his best.

Even on the hard days, the ones that left me crying in the porch after a walk, he was still trying. His “bad” days weren’t about defiance or failure. They were about struggle. Sometimes his best looked like a calm café dog. Sometimes it looked like me sobbing into my treat pouch.

But he was trying, and that’s what mattered.

And as long as my dog is trying, I will always reward, even if it’s not perfect. Because that’s what builds trust, resilience, and genuine progress over time.

Training Isn’t Linear

Training, especially with sensitive, intelligent dogs like Border Collies, will never be a straight line. You’ll have breakthroughs, setbacks, plateaus, and surprises. That’s normal.

So next time your dog has an off day, take a breath. Remember that “their best” might look a little different today. Support them through it, reward the effort, and know that real progress comes from compassion, not perfection.

Progress over perfection, always.

Ellen x