We all have busy lives and trying to find extra time to train your dog or puppy can seem overwhelming at times. But it doesn’t have to be that way. By using these tips to incorporate short training sessions throughout the day, your puppy will learn reliability in her commands in many situations, not just when it’s ‘training time’.
1. Train Your Dog by Being Ready to Reward them When you See Something you Like
Rewarding a dog’s good behaviour quickly is paramount to learning. Always have a few training treats in your pockets so that you can present a food reward to your dog in a timely fashion when you see something you like.
2. Be Aware of your Untrained Dog at All Times for Another Easy Way to Dog Train
When your puppy or dog is out of her crate, be committed to being aware where she is at all times. Use baby gates or a leash to keep her in the same room with you. Being able to prevent poor behaviour from occurring is an important part of the learning process.
3. Have a Management Plan in Place for Times you Can't Watch Your Dog is Good Dog Training
Do not feel guilty when you have to crate your puppy. Properly introduced and used, puppies love their crates. It’s far better to give your puppy your full attention for a few minutes each hour of the evening than to allow your puppy to make mistakes due to lack of supervision on your part.
4. Practice Short Stays to Train Your Dog During Practical Times
Sit stay and down stay ideas: it might take a little longer to get things accomplished in the early weeks of training but these are great ways to teach a puppy to happily maintain either a sit or down stay.
- preparing dinner or putting away groceries
- watering plants in back yard
- take your puppy with you to the mailbox, ask puppy for sit or down stay while you open mailbox.
- while transferring laundry from washing machine to dryer.
5. Use Your House to Train For Your Dog's Recall
Practice recalls in the front hallway of your home. As training progresses put out toys, shoes etc. as distractions to tempt your dog to ‘shop’ along the way. ALWAYS reward your dog for coming to you.
6. Multiple 2 Minute Sessions is a Great Way to Train a Young Dog
TV commercials are a great time to train your puppy. Short, fast, happy training moments are often when long term learning occurs.
Hopefully this has given you some good ideas of when you can train your dog each day. Perhaps you can add to this list as your training progresses. When you use your dog’s trained skills in daily activities, you are well on your way to having a dog who will be a trustworthy companion where ever you go. Happy Training!