By Kendall and Chandler Brown
Friday, April 22, 2022
Dear Kendall,
I am feeling frustrated about training our dog Buttons. I understand the importance of practicing the skills learned in training classes, but between work, being a parent, a husband, maintaining a household and a meager social life, I am finding it impossible to set aside an hour a day for training. I’m afraid I’m letting Buttons down and would appreciate your insight.
–Dad in Despair,
Dear Dad in Despair,
It is a wonderful goal to set aside an hour a day to work with Buttons, but don’t feel frustrated that you are struggling to achieve it. While it is important for Buttons to receive practice in the skills he learned in training class, I find, as a professional dog trainer, that it can be very difficult to set aside large blocks of time for that purpose. In fact, over the past decade I have stopped asking clients to practice for a set amount of time, and instead suggest that they weave reviewing the skills they learned in class into their daily lives.
For example, if Buttons is learning to sit, you can practice by asking for the behavior throughout your day. Ask for sit before opening the back door, prior to mealtimes, whenever Buttons would like attention or getting into the car. The more repetitions he receives in a wide variety of distractions and situations the better, therefore making “sit” the magic word to receive treats, affection or to start adventures.
In addition to using my daily activities to practice the day’s lessons, I make an effort to transform a mundane, monotonous walk around the block into a review session. While on your walk, stop at random mailboxes and ask Buttons to sit.
Request he lie down whenever you see a blue car, practice shaking paws at street corners and rolling over at every blooming tree. Strengthen your heeling by walking slowly past several driveways and then quickening your pace, zigzagging or doubling back, for the next few driveways. This is all to help him learn to mirror you and focus as well as making walks more exciting.
When you incorporate training into your daily lifestyle, you will find that you go through a lot of treats as you are asking for more behaviors and would like to reinforce their occurrence. To help preserve Button’s waistline and your pocketbook, I suggest putting aside a portion of his total food allowance to use for training throughout the day. You can also use low-calorie snacks such as baby carrots, blueberries or green beans. If Buttons doesn’t enjoy food as a reward, then you can also use meaningful, quality petting or a game of fetch.
Additionally, if you do not feel like training that day, skip it. A frustrated, frazzled mindset will not make a training session productive, or make you or Buttons want to repeat the experience the next day. So, if you would like to sit down and work with your dog for a set amount of time, wait until after you have had a glass of wine, completed your errands or sent that last work email. You will find that even though you may not train some days, the days that you do train will be more productive and enjoyable.
I hope my insight as a professional and a fellow dog lover will take you from a dad in despair to a fantastic father.
Kendall and Chandler Brown are owners of Custom K-9 Service Dogs, a dog training business serving Minden/Gardnerville, Carson and Reno. For information go to customk9servicedogs.com or email customk9servicedogs@gmail.com.
