HOW OFTEN SHOULD I TRAIN MY DOG?

One of the questions I’m frequently asked by clients is how often and how long do I have to practice each day?

Well, the answer is not quite as straightforward as you may think.

I don’t suggest you drill your dog for 30 minutes at a time as this will probably bore you and the dog and who amongst us has 30 minutes spare floating around during the day??

Whether you realise it or not, every interaction with have with our dog is a teachable moment. So, we can seize these opportunities to incorporate micro training sessions if we’re on the ball.

How often should we train? Specific structured training should be in small frequent bursts. 3-5 sessions a day for 2 to 5 minutes. As long as you and the dog are both engaged in the exercise you can keep training for longer if you want. But be careful of staleness and boredom creeping into the training. We want to build on success, which is why keeping repetition down is a good thing.

Take some time while your dinner cooks, while the ads are on TV, while the kettle is boiling, when the dog asks to go outside or come back in. Making sessions short and sharp keeps you and the dog engaged.

How long until the dog is trained? That depends!! The age of the dog will make a difference. Are we introducing new habits or changing old ones? Basically, we can keep training until the dog has acquired an understanding of the task required of them and their response to a cue is fluent.

Training should be happening organically, it should become part of your normal daily routine when living with a dog and is often an ongoing process throughout the life of a dog. There are always things that will pop up as distractions that we may need to work on.

Remember that your dog’s response to training may also be influenced by their physical and their mental state, just the same as us. If training is just all going to pot and you’re getting frustrated or your dog is getting frustrated, STOP. Just sit down, have a cup of coffee, glass of wine or a beer and give your dog some treats and remember how much you love your dog. You’ll get there, and if you feel like you’re not, talk to your trainer.

Training goes a bit like this:

If you are persistent – you will get it.
If you are consistent – you will keep it.

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