Training Journal

[pirate]

I have decided to start a training journal so that l can keep track of the skills that have been trained. Where we are up to in behaviors and the number of repetition for each behavior. As well as list of his favorite things.

I am looking for suggestions as to what else l could include in my journal.

[ness]

Time of day you trained, any distractions where you trained, what you used as a reward.....

[pirate]

I have decided to start a training journal so that l can keep track of the skills that have been trained. Where we are up to in behaviors and the number of repetition for each behavior. As well as list of his favorite things.

I am looking for suggestions as to what else l could include in my journal.

Biggest distraction Chooks or anything with feathers about quail size, then the Cats.

[corvus]

Ask yourself what you want to know and what you will do with the information. One of my pet hates is collecting excess information.

[Aidan3]

I have decided to start a training journal so that l can keep track of the skills that have been trained. Where we are up to in behaviors and the number of repetition for each behavior. As well as list of his favorite things.

I am looking for suggestions as to what else l could include in my journal.

One thing I like to do is plan ahead by thinking of everything I want my dog to be able to do with the finished behaviour. Then I break that down into steps along the way (not too detailed... yet). Then I want to be able to get four out of five repetitions if I just test cold (haven't worked on that behaviour in the last hour) before ticking off a step as done and moving up. 4 out of 5 seems to be about right, any less and he doesn't understand, any more and we're not making efficient progress.

If you have a look at Sue Ailsby's Training Levels program at www.dragonflyllama.com each "level" gives a good illustration of the sort of goals I would set (and to be honest, I would just use Sue's most of the time anyway).

[boxagirl]

What about just starting a training Blog online? It dates and orders all the info- you can include videos and photos of your training sessions, and can just write what you did like a journal entry if you like. I'm thinking of starting one of these when I get back into training with the sibes this year.

[Staranais]

I used to keep one, but now I don't bother - it got too complicated, plus I already know what my dog can do since I ask her to do it regularly.

But I do find video records to be useful. You can examine it at the time to see what you'd look like to another person (heeling etc) or what unintentional cues you're giving, and look back at it later to see how you've improved (or haven't).