Develop a Training Habit
Taking a few minutes, a few times a day to train your dog will not only improve their connection and attention on you but also build behaviour and work their brain. Training doesn’t need to be time consuming or intensive. Little and often will yield results and help keep your dog engaged in the process.
What to Do
How many times a day do you make a cup of tea? Visit the bathroom? Open the fridge? Think of an activity you do a few times a day, position a jar of treats nearby and every time you do this activity call your dog over, grab a few treats and train a new behaviour or practice an existing one. Two or three repetitions is all we need. Then release your dog with a mini treat scatter to get that nose working.
An easy but very useful behaviour to teach your dog is a hand target use, the link below to view a demonstration.
Hand Target – Demonstration Video
Hand Target – Written Hand Out
Behavioural Benefits:
Brain work – your dog is having to think about what you are asking
Social connection for your dog
Relationship building