Dog Training Follow Through, the importance of Consistency.

When consulting with a prospective training client, I am often asked “How much training will my dog need?”. My answer, “That depends on many variables. Your dog of course, but mostly on your consistency and follow through in applying the techniques you will be learning.”.  Dog training follow through 

Dog training follow through isn’t rocket science, it’s knowing the dog, applying techniques repetitively and being consistent in following through to make sure the dog does as asked 100% of the time. You can speed up the training process for certain tasks by using Marker Training.

Oftentimes when meeting a new client, I observe them rattling off commands to their dog (often several times) and their dog does not execute the command and the owner does nothing. Of course, that is why I am there, to teach them how to have a dog that will listen. The problem however does not lie with the dog, but with the owner.

Say what you mean and mean what you say. Dog training follow through

The answer very simply is, say what you mean and mean what you say. No negotiation (of course given that the dog knows the commands). This is important when working with dogs because if you don’t follow through 100% of the time, it is confusing to your dog and not really fair either. Many people will say their dog is stubborn. If you don’t follow through you are teaching your dog that you aren’t serious and it doesn’t matter if they do as you’ve asked.

If you are not consistent in making the dog do what you have asked them to do then you’ll be the proud owner of a “Sometimes Dog”, sometimes they listen, sometimes they don’t. This is because sometimes you make them listen and sometimes you don’t!

We all make mistakes sometimes…

Hey, listen, we all make mistakes from time to time. So does your dog. Even the most highly trained bomb/drug sniffing dogs make mistakes. So even when you are 100% consistent in following through, there will be times when your dog breaks the stay or doesn’t perform a command or task that is asked of them. This is not as important as what YOU do following that.

What I mean by that is, if I give my dog a known command such as sit/stay and she breaks the stay (gets up), I do not repeat the command (I want my dog to listen to me the first time), I simply say “no” and take her back to the place of the original stay. I am never angry or frustrated (I wouldn’t want someone mad at me for making a mistake). It’s just matter of fact, she must stay until released.

Bottom line, want a more consistent dog? Be consistent and follow

through. Dog training follow through