Back to School...

Dog Trainer Adam Katz of South Bay K9 Academy says there are three simple secrets to dog training:

1. Timing (Consequences - rewards and corrections - must be timed correctly so that the dog understands your communication.) Using Katz's own example: If you got a speeding ticket 6 weeks after you were speeding (especially if the ticket were in a foreign language), it might not carry much weight with you. Timing your communications with your dogs properly makes all the difference in the world.

2. Consistency - Consequences must be consistent so that the dog understands there is a predictable pattern to the consequences related to the dog's behavior.

3. Motivation - Consequences must make the dog want to repeat an action (the dog must care about the treat, toy, praise, etc. in rewards); or the consequence (correction) needs to be motivational enough for the dog to NOT want to repeat the behavior.

While I agree wholeheartedly with all of the above. I must say, there is a definite - and most important - 4th Secret to dog training.

Drum roll, please...

... and the 4th Secret to Dog Training is...

... Maintenance!

As with a lot of my blog posts, this one stems from personal experience. As many of you know, my whippet girls have been in season for the past 4 weeks - meaning the whippet boys have been coming to work with me instead of the girls.

This means a month of 'vacation' time for the girls. Training has been at a minimum for them - no recalls, no stays, no downs, no sits to speak of - for a whole month! "Woohoo!" say my girls..."We can do whatever we want!"

Of course, this mentality quickly leaked into everyday life. The girls have developed selective hearing. Even Miss Lizzie, my Obedience titled whippet and the #5 Ranked Rally-Obedience Novice whippet in the country for 2010, was looking at me blankly when I gave a command.

Are you kidding me?!

Meanwhile, the boys...Jett, Feynman, Fermi, and Timmy...always known for their boyish, goofy, lack-a-daisical attitudes about obedience and being the demo dogs: Well, all I can say is that last Saturday, Jett (yes, you read that right, JETT) was even up volunteering to be the demo dog during classes. This is the same Jett that I normally have to crawl into the kennel and beg to come out and work.

The boys' recalls were beautiful, their heeling sublime (for whippets), their sits automatic, and their stays - well, their stays were truly something to write home about!

How did this happen?!

Well, of course, we all know how it happened. See above...Dog Training Secret #4.

Maintenance - even just a few minutes of training and enforcing and rewarding commands every day - is vital to continued results with your dog. Even dogs who 'know' their obedience commands need daily maintenance.

The good news is, maintaining a dog's training doesn't take nearly as much time and effort as the initial teaching part of training takes. Once the dog knows the skills, it takes but a few repetitions a day to keep the skills fresh. But skipping out on maintenance exercises is a recipe for headaches for any dog owner.

Some tips for keeping your dogs' obedience skills in tip-top shape:

1. Don't set yourself up for failure - forcing dog training time into an already packed personal schedule just doesn't work. Much like working out (unless you're really into it), you'll do it religiously a few times, but soon that favorite T.V. show, video game, or pressure to get a blog post done will take precedence. Next thing you know, it's been 3 days since you trained the dog, and well, he's just not being 'bad' so why bother?

Remember, it takes time to train, and it takes time for the dog to 'forget'...neither will happen overnight.

Instead of aiming for the lofty goal of doing 20 to 40 minutes straight of training, do your maintenance work in small bits throughout the day - 2 minutes here, 5 minutes there, when you'd be interacting with your dog anyway (practices sits and waits before going in and out of any door; 'leave its' before meal times; sit/stays when putting leashes on or taking them off, etc.)

2. In the same spirit, 'schedule' your training times for moments in your own schedule where life gives you little moments - do 2 to 5 minutes of training during TV commercials and at routine breaks in your schedule (after your shower, before your coffee...or after you've gotten home, but before you've sorted the mail, etc.). Training in this way allows you and the dog lots of maintenance training, plus supplies the added benefit of reminding the dog that obedience is expected any where, any time - not just during 20 minute drilling sessions.

3. Last but not least, remember that if you are teaching any NEW skill, then it doesn't fall into maintenance training and extended sessions and repetitions will be needed until the dog masters the new skill, then you can incorporate it into the maintenance routine.

The whippet girls' story has a happy ending. They are all out of season (and hopefully two will soon be mama dogs) and so they can come to work with me again and not drive all of my clients' boy dogs insane. :)

Today was Lizzie, Bella, and Polliwog's first day back to school. I managed to get 10 minutes of maintenance training time in with each of them (and also with Fermi and wonder dog Siobhan). Imagine that...they were delighted with the chance to work with me AND their everyday obedience attitudes came right back!

That's it from this end of the leash...

Jennifer Hime is the head trainer/behaviorist at Front Range K9 Academy & Horsetooth Whippets. She can be reached at www.k9counselor.com.