Session Length

[ness]

A friend just passed a comment about one of my training sessions amounting to less than 3 minutes that it was a bit long. Just wondered what views others might have when they are training something new about how long you might make a session.

Edited November 19, 2009 by ness

[Seita]

How long is a peice of string? It really depends on the dog, it's age and what it's learning for me. Many of my early training sessions with Ella lasted 30 seconds tops but now (before the tick) a training session can last for up to an hour as long as I keep it moving. I try to end a session when the dog is at it's peak and really really keen to work so I kind of leave them hanging in anticipation of what's next. But it depends on the dog ultimately, some (especially young ones) have short attention spans or lack the stamina for a long lesson so shorter is best for them.

[Rivsky]

Ahh but it also depends on what you're training to an extent as well

If one of my two do something really well I've finally learnt to end that particular exercise there instead of trying to get just one more repetition and will either go onto something else or will call it quits depending on what we've done before etc.

Tollers are fantastic at teaching you less is more rather quickly

[Vickie]

Totally agree, depends on the dog, depends what you are training and of course how the dog is responding to the training.

I will often train my girls for up to an hour. If I saw anything that made me think they were not giving 100%, I would stop.

Other times it will be 5 mins at a time...

[ness]

I just figured the forum was quiet so I'd throw it out there. The context in this instance was teaching Kenzie to pick up her metal article or rather proving that she is just button pushing when she goes nope sorry can't do it. She has always had a long attention span, and I will often muck around for much longer then that with her so to me I considered it a "short" session. Just interesting my friends perspective on the session when I showed her the video. Edited November 19, 2009 by ness

[Nekhbet]

yup depends on teh dog. I used to train up to 4 hours, with breaks in between. Each session was a few minutes, break then again depending how the dog went

if it was lagging or not in the mood we didnt bother

[Aidan]

The way I look at it is "you get what you reinforce"

If you start to get sub-par responses, take a break.

[TerraNik]

My longest sessions have been 10-15 minutes... but often there's a lot of fluffing around involved changing equipment around, etc.

Usually I go 2-5 minutes.

[Bubitty]

My baby is 6 months and I go about 10-15 mins these days. I suspect she can go for longer. I have been told that this is way too long but she does stuff with so much gusto and spirit I really can’t make myself just cut her off.

I have tried cutting her off when she was a bit younger and she’d march in front of me and sit and stare at me until we trained some more.

We do a lot of silly stuff though so not sure if she’d go for that long doing serious stuff!

[Vickie]

This is the way I look at it. If someone told me that I was playing & having fun with my dog for too long at a time, I would think they were insane. Since our training sessions are really just one big play session, I don't see the difference.

[The Spotted Devil]

This is the way I look at it. If someone told me that I was playing & having fun with my dog for too long at a time, I would think they were insane. Since our training sessions are really just one big play session, I don't see the difference.

I like that, Vickie

For Ziggy, I keep the sessions pretty short - particularly if we are in a new environment and/or learning something new. It's much more effective to release him to sniff and pee for a bit then call him back to recommence. The more I do this the more I find he comes back to me before I call him as he is is ready to start again. I have to be quite insistent on giving him regular breaks at agility training as Ziggy appears to be extremely enthusiastic to the average observer but I notice early signs that it's all getting a bit much. With my old ACD, she would have been happy if we'd trained all day

Edited November 19, 2009 by The Spotted Devil

[dogdude]

My training sessions with Brydee typically last 15 to 20 minutes. After that time, she is panting so hard that she is almost exausted, so I never train past that point.

Oscar is never trained past the 10 minute mark, as his drive starts to wain after that period. His training always focuses on just one exercise only, now matter how small. He seems to last the duration of a trial, but I would'nt want them to go any longer.