Training Is A Celebration of Progress

Training is a Celebration

Training any animal has its ups and downs. But, in my years of training, I’ve learned that training should celebrate the trust, connection, and relationship you’ve built with your learner. 

Build Trust

Each time you’re training; you’re asking your dog to trust you! Each time you train, you show them they can trust you to listen and respect them. 

Make training fun by using a variety of food, training in locations your dog enjoys, and doing training that they enjoy. 

Celebrate Approximations

Humans love to “lump” behaviors together. This means we sometimes want to jump to the finished behavior or expect the animal to learn large chunks of the behavior without breaking it down. Adding challenges in small increments shows your dog they can trust you when you ask them to do something more complex. 

Celebrate the approximations! The more we acknowledge our dog’s effort, the more we communicate with them, “Hey! I saw what you did, and I liked it! Thanks for trying!” This acknowledgment also prevents us from lumping, too. 

Find the Right Reinforcement

The learner decides what is reinforcing. By reinforcing your dog with things they enjoy, the more they can trust that you follow through with the good stuff! If your dog loves cheese, give them cheese! If they like tug games, play tug!

This is one I learned much too late in life. I often focus on training and push for one more repetition. Not anymore. I celebrate and throw parties for the dogs I work with abundantly. I give them praise, pets, scatter treats, play games-whatever they want to do! 

The more I focused on these concepts, the more accessible training got for me and the dogs I worked with in my career! 

If you’re ready to start training with us, contact us for more information. We work with clients in-person and online.