To plan to teach your dog something new
We’re giving you quite a challenge for this penultimate one!
Find something new to teach your dog.
It could be a trick, such as roll over, or beg, or touch a target.
It could be a useful cue such as go to your bed, or lie on your mat.
It could be something basic you’ve never got round to teaching your dog, such as down or wait/stay.
The reason for this challenge is so I can tell/remind you about the steps you need to go through when teaching your dog something new.
Have you chosen what you want to teach your dog?
Good.
Here are the steps you need to think about – write down your answers in your diary.
- What EXACTLY do you want to teach your dog to do? Define it.
- What might be a good way to get your dog to do it? There are no right or wrong answers here. It’s a good idea to have a couple of ideas so that if something doesn’t work, you have an alternative to try.
- Can you teach the whole thing in one go or would you be better breaking it down into tiny steps?
- Plan how you will start your training. It’s always best to start as simply as possible.
- Decide on your success criteria. What they are will relate closely to what you’ve written down under step 3.
- Plan how and when you are going to do the training. Short, frequent sessions are much better than fewer longer ones.
- Plan analysis time. After each training session, make sure you review progress against your plan – then tweak things where you need to.
Complicated? Yes and no.
Training is simple but not always easy.
But a good plan is an essential.
Keep training,
Carol