Dog Training At Home: What’s Missing From Your Plan?
Since Covid hit, we’ve all had to pivot and find new ways of tackling old problems, situations and challenges. And whilst we’ve all been stuck at home, dog training, of course, has been no exception. We’ve always been allowed that one critical outdoor excursion per day, but we’ve spent a great deal of time unable to attend not only training classes, puppy parties and canine competitions… but our own everyday social events too. Dog training at home has been literally our only option, and for seasoned owners and new-puppy parents alike, this has posed its own unique set of challenges.
The Perks of Dog Training At Home
First of all, let me be clear… skipping out on those noisy church-halls filled with squealing pups, squeaky chairs and sneaky side eyes from your fellow students is not all-bad. In fact, it’s a pretty awesome opportunity to do some incredible dog training at home that you will really see the benefit from.
Why? Because training classes can be an overwhelming, and distraction-rich environment for your dog… and this is not an optimum situation to learn in.
The truth is, you go to the training class not because your dog is going to learn a new behaviour there and then. You go so that YOU can learn exactly how to teach that behaviour, and then implement your training at home.
Imagine teaching someone to drive a car for the first time. I doubt you’d deliver the first lesson with the radio turned up, at night, in the rain, and ask them to simultaneously follow sat-nav instructions, whilst you ride shotgun and explain the basics of clutch control.
Think back to your first driving lesson, and how you needed a quiet (deserted!) road and a silent distraction-free car, to deal with even the tiniest nugget of info from your instructor. Sure, 3 years down the line you can change gears and switch lanes on auto-pilot, with the radio on and your best friend nattering beside you. But it wasn’t the environment you learnt in. And the same goes for dogs.
In the world of dog training, this is often referred to as the ‘proofing’ process. New cues and behaviours are taught in familiar-distraction-free environments, where your puppy or dog is set up to succeed! The distractions and challenges are added later, one by one, to build a truly bomb-proof dog. Sounds like training your dog at home certainly ticks that box, right?!
Next up: humans can find training classes overwhelming too. Comparisonitus can often kick in when the poodle next to you seems to be excelling in comparison to your pup, and it can be tricky for instructors to give quality one-to-one advice when there is a large group of owners and dogs to manage.
Dog Training At Home: What’s Missing?
So we’ve established that training your puppy or dog at home can provide a better environment for both the dog to learn in, and for the owner to teach in… but now you’re on your own! What do you teach your dog? And how do you teach it? And how long should it take? And how often should your ‘lessons’ be?
We obviously live in an age where we’ve grown accustomed to turning to our good friend Google for answers to any and all of our questions. And the internet can be a great resource – but of course, when it comes to dog training, you can easily find yourself instantly overwhelmed by the plethora of opposing opinions, arguments and training methods out there. You could read one article, and immediately follow it up with a second, on the same topic, that contradicts the first entirely.
Crate training is good. Crate training is bad. Punishment is cruel. Punishment is effective. Punishment is great. Punishment is dangerous. Feed dry food. Feed raw. Never mix the two. You can mix the two! I could go on all day.
In all honesty, it’s up to you which approach you decide to adopt. Obviously here at Listen Dog Training, we advocate a reinforcement-rich positive approach to dog training, based on the science of concept training (you can read more about that right here!) but if that’s not for you, you’re bound to find an approach that fits your own training philosophy in readily available books and articles produced by qualified and respected trainers.
But once you have done your research, and you have all the information you need on what you want to train, and how to train it… there’s something else you need. And without this, it doesn’t matter what method you plan to use – you will not get the results you’re hoping for. What is it?
Consistency.
Persistence Will Get You There; Consistency Will Keep You There
The fantastic thing about dog training classes, is they keep you very accountable when it comes to making progress with your pup. You have to keep going back, week after week… it’s embarrassing if you haven’t put the work in and your dog isn’t shaping up quite as progressively as all the others! This fear of not measuring up in class, keeps us persisting, and practising those exercises, and building on our successes.
And without this, consistent, repetitive approach to training, you cannot expect your dog to consistently deliver strong reliable reactions to cues, or good behavioral choices in everyday life. It’s the difference between cramming for an exam the night before, or putting the hours of revision in, for months beforehand. Which one leaves you feeling confident in the exam room? Which one means you can trust your dog off-lead in a park full of tempting distractions? The recall you practised for a day, or the recall you taught slowly, from the foundations up, proofed and proofed some more, and rehearsed daily?
At Listen Dog Training, we are all about keeping you persistent, consistent and successful – which is why so much work goes into our dog training planner range!
Designed to help you turn your four-legged fiend into your next passion project, and guide you through an easy, enjoyable and addictive way to transform both of your lives for the better, our planners have been utilised by dog trainers and pet owners around the world.
No matter where you and your dog are at in your dog training journey, there is a planner for you, packed with training games, exercises, training methods and more to ensure you achieve your goals.
Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day… but it was built! Which means you can achieve incredible results, if you put the time in, and stay consistent!
