How Often Do You Train?

[dogdude]

I take it we are talking formal obedience training with trialling in mind Myszka? Like to train a new exercise being learnt about 5x2 minute sessions a day until the dog has a clear understanding of what is required.

When we have achieved that level I tend to drop the sessions back to around 15 minutes every second day for the proofing (maintenance) from there on in.

In Summer I will decrease it to every third day during hot weather unless its right before a trial. In Winter I will often increase the proofing as I find it hard to keep bull breeds motivated in hot weather.

I think its most important to tailor a program that keeps your dog motivated 100% and I quite often quit before I start if I think its not there. The biggest challenge is keeping it.

[Guest Tiggy]

Obedience training at my club for an hour on Tuesday nights and at home usually 5 minutes to 15 minutes tops most days. I agree with the others who said we're always training whether it's a sit for dinner or a recall at the park.

[sas]

I train the foster puppy everyday, nothing longer than 10 minutes.

Then out on walks, it's a training walk so to speak.

Then there's all the inhome training on how we would like to the puppy to behave and interact in the home.

What I want out of it? For him to be a happy well balanced puppy that can utlise his mind in his new forevever home whether that be in agility/obedience/flyball etc.

[Rusky]

Great minds Rusky Do I recall correctly that you are interstate? I'm thinking Perth or QLD but I have been known to be delusional so I could be wrong

I am in Perth, I too am delusional, you get it from your dogs

Now I will be singing that ruddy song all day

[TangerineDream]

I train every day in very short sessions depending on location, mood and purpose..

the other night, training consisted of throwing a knotted rope (working on stays, find, recall)

last night we worked on 'take' and 'give' (while I was sitting on the loo) and on our walk we worked on focus and long downs.

Each of these only takes a few minutes, but I've found it the most effective way to teach a 'multi-tasking adolescent' with the brain of Albert Einstein and the attention span of a gnat

Eventually (probably when he is old and spends more time at ground level) we will get our show title, a CD and do agility and I'd like to get into tracking too....

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

I train with at least two of my dogs every day (different sessions). With a foster dog, it's important to know what they need and how to achieve that rehomeable behaviour as effectively as possible while ensuring the dog enjoys training. With my own dogs, the sessions are usually quite short (no more than 10-15 minutes at a time) whereas with a foster it's usually combined with a walk of between 30-40 minutes duration.

With my own dogs, I want them to respond to basic commands most of the time, be polite, and respect boundaries. With fosters, it's usually a lot more work than that!

But my end goal is to ensure the dogs and I enjoy the training and to that end, I keep sessions short and fun. If I notice the dog is tired, not responsive, or seems bored, we stop on a positive and try again later. I feel that is so important.

[helen]

My big effort was tracking training this year, training nearly every week out in the paddocks/bush for a few months and did a bit of article work inside.

Agility - If we can do things without training we will - only train to fix any problems that crop up with Bella. Due to the need for equipment my youngsters train once per week during school terms. The training here depends on the experience of the dog and the standard already reached.

Obedience - stated training for open at the beginning of the year and stopped due to tracking, am about to do some more training. The plan is to train a couple of times a week in short sessions. I have 1 thing though that will need some work as the trial season approaches next year.

I think the training required depends a lot on the age of the dog.

Edited December 7, 2006 by helen