It's not an 8 week program

One of the biggest mistakes people make is assuming that they can get their dog perfectly trained in an 8 week course at the local recreation center. Nothing could be further from the truth. Many also believe that sending their dog off to boot camp is the answer.

I find that people are so lazy when it comes to training their dog that they become very unrealistic. Training your dog is like exercise:
1. you can't have someone do it for you
2. you've gotta be serious about it
3. it may take 8 weeks to see results, but those results will disappear when you stop
4. you've gotta be realistic. you may never look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, and your dog may never be a champion.

I've written countless articles and blog posts on the importance of a good relationship with your dog, and if you don't have that, your training is gonna suffer. If you think having a trainer come by a few times is gonna do the trick, think again. Your dog sees the trainer as someone who is going to teach and enforce the commands, you however, he sees as a push over.

What is so unfair is that the dog suffers. We want the dog to come to us when we call him, but we've never practiced enough with him to teach him what it is we want, or what COME means. And, if we've taught him, we haven't proofed it under various circumstances.

Training your dog is a relationship, not a training exercise. We start out by showing our dogs that we are fair, we are firm and that we have his best interests at heart. We teach him what we want, we make sure he understands it 100%, then we enforce what we ask him to do. That is to say, if he doesn't do it, we make him do it. There is no room for negotiations. Listening to us is his responsibility, as it is our responsibility to care for him, love him and respect him for his entire life.

If we can strip away the emotions behind it, we can be very fair to our dogs. We can expect certain behaviors from our dog and we can be realistic in what we can teach our dogs. Seeing our relationship with our dog as a lifelong commitment is the fairest way to approach it. If you have a fight with your spouse and apologize, you know it's not going to carry over into the next fight. You may have to suck up all over again. Your relationship with your dog should be a fun one. Once you learn how to train your dog and you teach your dog how to learn, practice constantly. Every day for a few minutes, even if only to have your dog sit before you feed him or before he walks out the door. Be fastidious, be realistic, but above all, BE KIND to your dog.