Why it’s not so black and white. I think in the moment you should keep your training simple, but dog training is actually quite complicated. There are differences between each individual dog and you have to take those into account any time you’re training.
One thing I’ve heard over the years is that an owner will have this great older dog that does everything right. As soon as a puppy enters the picture, it’s a mess. Not all dogs train the same. You may have had a string of really good, easy-to-train dogs, and the next one may just not be. However, if you keep it simple from moment to moment with that dog, those complexities tend to go away.
So what are some things you should be doing? I like to narrow it down to these things. You should be teaching the dog how to stay where you tell it to. You first teach the dog. Then start introducing the dog from room to room in your home, teaching them where to stay. For example, let’s say you have a Zoom conference call today and you’ve taught your dog to stay already. When you have your conference call, put your dog into a stay for a portion of the call. As you’re doing it, reinforce them for getting it right. If you’ve never done any stay training, you should teach that first. Text me at (832)734-5189 if you need help with this.
If you’re looking to do some leash walking with your dog. Maybe walk them up and down the hallways of your home before you head outside. The neighborhood has many distractions. I’m not saying don’t take your dog outside. It’s just a good place to practice your leash walking in a long corridor of your home. Maybe a few times a day for 3-5 minutes. It’s a great exercise to show them how you’re going to use their leash and their food. I like doing that quite a bit with dogs.
I feel as if training dogs isn’t black or white and it is a really complex thing. However, if you can keep it simple and narrow it down to the things you want the dogs to do. Such as, stay, come, heel, and play. Some of those complexities can go away and you can really focus on being great at those things.
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Happy Training!
