Abby and I reflecting on life

Everywhere in life we have a plan. Think about it, you have a plan for the night, a plan for the weekend, a plan for vacation, and a plan for dinner that evening. You even have plans for how your children will grow up or maybe how the world will end one day. Why wouldn’t you have a plan for your dog training session??????

Get with the planing program!

It doesn’t have to be documented in official memo style and approved by the president (though if you are working with a professional dog trainer they will help you get your plan solidified and ensure that it is beneficial to you and the canine) but at least know what you are going to do and how you plan on doing it. Now with that being said……….i change my plan a hundred times a day!!! That’s ok though, because i’m changing it based on my dogs AGENDA and the FEEDBACK he is giving me while we are training. You do not have a plan so that you have to stick to it like gorilla glue, you have a plan so you can keep focus and maintain CONSISTENCY in your training session.

Depending on the time of day, what i have already accomplished with my dog that day, and both our moods i will pick what the object of our plan will be. If i have been gone all day and Raina is crazy full of energy I will not jump right into long downs, that is not fair to her to drill such a static exercise. I would do something fun first like go outs where she gets to use her energy bursts for good. THIS is the main factor in working on the dogs agenda for your plan. I already know the process on how to train go outs, so i will start where we left off in our last session and see how she performs. Following my plan allows me to focus completely on the dog and keeping these as CONSISTENT as possible so we both learn with fewer mistakes.

I know this may  be confusing at first, or even extremely complicated and overkill, but you cannot be upset or mad at a dog who doesn’t have good obedience if you never bothered to train him right in the first place.

PLEASE remember bringing a dog into your life IS A LOT OF WORK. I can vouch first hand that it is fully worth the work you put into your pup or dog to have a wonderful canine copilot for the rest of your life.