Have you ever wondered how to end a dog training session so that your dog knows it’s over? We’re looking at the rhythm of training and how a session’s beginning, middle, and end can bring your dog success. Having a clear finish to training time will help you avoid giving your dog a time out and help your dog understand what’s “dog time” and what is not.
In the episode you'll hear:
- How training always starts with a plan.
- Why a session begins with engagement.
- The structure of a training session and what to include.
- About keeping flow in your training time.
- Why I practice without my dog for new skills.
- How long a training session should be for your dog.
- About listening to your dog’s feedback.
- How to end a session and the rhythm that helps your dog.
- Why we don’t want our dogs initiating the training.
- The reason to change locations, even in a small space.
- About the importance of what happens outside of training.
Resources:
- Learn How To Play ItsYerChoice (IYC)
- PDF Download: Stages of Learning Progressions Chart
- Podcast Episode 35: Pro Dog Training Tip To Improve Your Dog’s Focus
- Podcast Episode 109: Project Calm Dog: Prevent Over Enthusiastic Greetings
- Podcast Episode 44: Using Coincidences and Positive Associations in Dog Training
- Podcast Episode 57: Why Balance Breaks Fast Track Your Dog Training
- Podcast Episode 97: Overwhelm in Dog Training: How to Take Action on Challenges
- Podcast Episode 83: The Dog Training You Do When You’re Not Dog Training
- Watch this Episode of Shaped by Dog on YouTube
So helpful, as usual Susan, thank you. I have been going straight into training, though my almost 2yr old rescue has just about learnt the word ‘training’ said in a fun way and it excites her to begin and hopefully puts her into the right mindset. From now on I will follow this plan and add a better structure to our sessions.
Great advice as usual! I am a recallers member, but still find this very helpful with incorporating the many and varied things I am learning. In a tricks class I was involved with for a number of years, we did use an end of session cue, as the class went for an hour and our dogs needed some time to relax to break things up . The cue was paired with putting our leads back on, taking our dogs to their mats, scattering a few treats, a couple of long strokes from neck to tail, and breaking eye contact for a few minutes while we had a chat about what we were working on. The verbal cue I used for this (that’ll do) became the signal for the finish of many things and I still use it now for a different dog. Of course the dog needs to learn what it means first!
Awesome information as always!!
The ‘how to finish a session’ question has been fizzing away in my brain for the last few days and then up popped this podcast. Perfect. Really useful, thank you. Also, I think our sessions have been a little too long so this has helped to clarify timings.
I find it so difficult to imagine how you manage to fit all those stages into just a few seconds of training? Engaging, something te dog really knows, new behaviour, engagement, brush up or whatever in such a short time.. Or does she mean that those few seconds are for the actual training of the new behaviour and that the total is about 3 min?
How long (or short) is the break time between the 30 second-3 minutes of training?
Lots to think about… I end training by sending my dog to her HZ and then hiding a cookie somewhere in our (small) house. I release her to Find It which can take a couple minutes. Loves this! So we end on a positive note. Thoughts or comments on this? Thanks for another super podcast! 🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪