The #1 human trait that is ruining your dog training.
Trainer Jen here - to let you in on a little dog training secret.
Whether you sent your dog off to a board & train program and you received back a ‘trained dog’… or you just finished up going through training classes where you trained your dog yourself, your dog isn’t trained.
Let me say that again.
Your dog isn’t trained.
Wait. What?????
That’s right. If your dog has just recently finished up a training program, your dog is not yet actually ‘trained.’
Instead, your dog has the foundation of training. The beginnings of training. The tip of the iceberg, so to speak.
Why do I say this? Well, that’s because dogs (and humans) need TIME to really ‘learn’ new skills.
It takes consistent repetition, patterning, practicing, and polishing for true, deep learning to happen.
What do I mean by “deep learning”? I mean the dog is not only familiar with the skill or command, but actually understands it and responds under all types of circumstances.
Let’s take the ‘sit’ command as an example. Almost every owner I meet tells me their dog “already knows how to sit.”
But these owners don’t mean ‘the dog knows sit’ the way a dog trainer means ‘the dog knows sit.’
When I (or other reputable dog trainers) say a dog ‘knows’ the sit command, we mean the dog sits:
The FIRST time the owner gives the command (no begging, nagging or repeating commands allowed).
In a NORMAL tone of voice (no yelling, begging, or whining allowed).
WITHOUT a cookie bribe.
EVEN in the face of distractions.
Every time.
The dog who responds to the sit command with the list above, really KNOWS that sit means sit - no exceptions.
But to get a dog who responds to the sit (or any other command) with this level of commitment to right action takes more than just a few weeks of training time.
In fact, I go so far as to say the dog needs at least 6 months of consistent, useful repetitions, practice, patterning, and proofing to have deep learning of any given new skill or command.
6 MONTHS? I can hear the internet, armchair dog trainers’ heads spinning as they scoff. I can hear the dog owners groaning. That’s ok.
When you feel the urge to complain about your dog’s inconsistencies in training BEFORE the six month mark, take note of how far into training you are, and then check back with me (IF you keep up practicing consistently) when you hit that six month goal.
The first two months are the teaching phase. No matter what method of training is used, we have to first teach the skill or command. The teaching phase may include showing the dog what you want physically, luring, shaping, rewarding, and any other number of successful methods. But there is no way around it - you have to teach what you want.
The next two months are the practicing phase - this is where the dog does recognize the command, but needs continued positive, successful repetitions in lots of locations and under different distractions to cement its understanding.
The last two months are the polishing/proofing phase - this is where we continue to expose the dog to the command or skill under all sorts of different situations, making sure the dog really does respond under even the most distracting, stimulating circumstances.
Of course, my ‘6 month rule’ is just an average. For dogs and trainers really out there working every single day, the timeline may be shorter. For those of you only practicing once or twice a week, the timeline is going to be much, much longer.
If you’ve been consistent with your practicing and polishing, you’ll be downright amazed at the difference in your dog when you hit six months. If you’ve slacked off, you’ll be revisiting the same issues you had six months earlier…and depending on YOUR commitment to keeping things up, you may be fighting those same issues for the life of the dog.
So - the title of this post is “the #1 HUMAN trait that is ruining your dog training.”
Can you guess what it is?
Impatience. In our world of instant gratification, fast food, fast google search answers, fast everything - we’ve forgotten that some things still take time, and practice, and patience.
To make matters worse, there are a host of internet sensation, celebrity "dog trainers” (I use the title dog trainer loosely for many of these people) flooding social media with content about how they can train your dog in weeks, days, or even hours. If you believe this line of b.s., I’ve got a nice bridge in Brooklyn to sell ya.
The reality is, There Are No Shortcuts in Dog Training. Your dog deserves your patience. After all, with your fences, your house with walls and closed doors, your leashes, etc. - your dog has no choice but to live in your fast-paced human world.
So slow down, and do the work. Put in your due diligence, and do the repetitions and practice and polishing. You need to keep working and training after the teaching phase of dog training is over.
You can’t push the river faster than it can flow, or you’ll have a flood. Floods are messy and unpleasant to clean up.
The same is true of your dog training.
Follow the flow of Teach ——> Practice ——> Polish/Proof with all of your dog training skills and commands, and you can’t go wrong.
Jennifer Hime is the Owner and Training Director of Front Range K9 Academy in Wheat Ridge Colorado. She and her staff have been helping Colorado dogs and their owners since 1990.
