Do you make New Years’ Resolutions? I have broken enough of them that you’d think I would give up, but I really like doing them and I DO keep quite a few!
I used to make way too many; now I give thought around the beginning of the year to every aspect of my life — definitely including dogs! — and make some notes about what’s REALLY important. A program I did a few months ago, and liked, is free: www.simpleology.com, for focusing on what matters. It’s a little corny, but hey, it works!
So… what about dog training in 2008? What do you most want to do? Most need to do?
Here are some tips on how to work dog training into your life:
[1] Use the Tuesday morning arrival of my newsletter as a reminder to do some training, or at least to give some thought to how things are going and what you want to do. Subscribe to it here if you don’t already get it. (You can unsubscribe from the link at the end of any issue. Also, you get a free ebook I wrote on clicker training dogs.)
[2] Do your training as early in the day as possible. That way, if you get sidetracked, you have more time to get around to it.
[3] Put it on your calendar. Make a date with your dog and if you have to break the date, tell your dog out loud in English just why you couldn’t get to it. This is less for the dog and more for you to hear whether your excuse is lame or not!
[4] Make a list of dog training goals and put it on your bulletin board or refrigerator.
[5] Have any dog training books? Leave one lying around where it’s easy to pick up and browse for a few minutes.
[6] Ask your dog what it wants to learn and notice what, if anything, pops into your mind.
[7] Take a class, find an online forum you really like (and please tell me if you find a great one!), go to a Clicker Expo or other training event… one way or another, hang out with others who are into dog training! Here’s a link to Clicker Expo 2008: http://www.training-dogs.com/links/expo7.html
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