As Pet Parents, we’re always trying to do the right thing for our dogs and be the leader they deserve. But it’s not always easy, and things don’t always work out how we envision when we first brought our furry bundle of joys home.
Every dog is different, and training them is never going to be an easy task or go exactly as expected. However, as long-standing Pet Parents ourselves, we have learnt from our mistakes – quite literally! This is why in today’s blog post, we wanted to discuss some of the common mistakes when training your dog, so hopefully, you won’t make the same mistakes we have.
Top 5 Common Mistakes When Training Your Dog
Starting Training Too Late
It’s always the case when you bring your furry friend home for the first time; you want to make them feel comfortable, give them lots of cuddles and love too. You also want to give them time to adjust to their new environment and get settled into their forever home and enjoy just playing with them and getting to know them and their personality too.
But training starts on day one, and we mustn’t forget that. Whether it’s laying down boundaries or starting on toilet training, it’s essential to introduce some structure and routine early on. Moreover, beginning with training early also puts you as the pet parent into a routine, making it more likely you’ll be consistent.
Not Being Consistent
One of the common mistakes when training your dog is not being consistent.
We’ve recently started doing Instagram Lives with trainers. Our latest was with Kimberly from the CityDogExpert, who stated that her job is to train pet parents, not their dogs, that means providing them with the framework to be consistent with training.
Much like going to the gym and working out ourselves, we have to be consistent to see results, and that’s what being a pet parent training is, too—being consistent means that we are setting our dogs up to succeed in the long-term with their training and meeting your training goals.
Not Being Flexible for Your Dog
Sometimes, it’s easy to get frustrated when you’re trying to train your dog to follow a specific command or action, and they simply ignore you. Or perhaps you thought they had mastered the command only to appear to have forgotten quite quickly.
With training, it’s essential that we as Pet Parents are flexible with our dogs and understand that they won’t always remember or won’t always get it right. Instead, it’s important to be patient, not to confuse them with constantly repeating the command if they don’t perform it within a second or two and be prepared to take a step back with their training.
Not Using Positive Reinforcement or Trying Different Training Techniques
Every person and every pet parent is different, so it’s safe to assume that every dog is different too. This means that while some dogs may be receptive to certain training techniques, some might not be.
It’s essential to be willing to adjust your training technique and see which works for your dog best. Our customer care manager Hannah recently altered her training technique and started using positive reinforcement training with her dog Oscar after her regular training regime didn’t work for him.
Training When You’re Not In A Good Mood
When we don’t feel well or aren’t in a good mood, we may notice that we’re not as focused or productive, and the same can be said when your training your dog.
Taking a break when you’re not feeling good or aren’t in a good mood after a bad day is more beneficial to you and your dog than persisting with their training schedule. After all, if you’re feeling bad, then this may negatively impact your dog and their training progress.
If you’re feeling run down and need a break from training your dog, then why not try one of the DIY happiness games for dogs instead so that your dog is still receiving the mental stimuli they need without adding more stress onto you?
Those are our common mistakes when training your dog that we’ve experienced, but what would you add to the list?