Stop & Train
STOP and Train
A common complaint from owners who are training their dogs in the real world is they don’t get the same results they see when training at home or in a class.
Why should you?
When we’re stepping out into the real world we’re making focusing, problem solving and listening MUCH harder for our dogs – whether they’re young or old.
Be sure to take 5 or 10 minutes out of a walk to stop in a quiet area to practise the exercises you’re working on. When training in a class, or at home there’s a good chance the distractions you’re working with are consistent and not changing very much or at all. This is key to teaching your dogs the foundations and basics to the exercise you want to work on them with.
Whether that’s Lead Work, Recall, Sit-Stays and much more. You need to have invested heavily in each exercise before it can begin to work reliably when you’re on the move.
Being on the move means that your dog is being constantly refreshed with new distractions. Smells, sights & sounds! This is big, Dog’s are inquisitive creatures that notice EVERYTHING.
This means when we’re throwing lots of information their way,, offering them problems to solve, behaviours to perform it’s easy for that to fall on the wayside in favour of novelty or something that might be perceived as a threat.
It’s why we Trainers waffle on about the importance of training regularly at home to begin with. You’re investing in a behaviour so when you absolutely need it to work your dog isn’t thinking “What does he want me to do again?”
We want our Dog to think “I’ve done that! I know that! I LOVE that!”
Once you’ve invested time at home training a behaviour, find a quiet place on your walks to stop and take time to train there. It could be a Carpark, a quiet part of the park or a tennis court (which you conveniently ignore the “No Dogs” sign on). Taking these important steps can be integral to you and your dog succeeding and will allow you to start putting things on the move gradually.