Using Mind Mapping for Dog Training

For a very good guide to all sorts of dog training processes and dog behavior challenges, I use and recommend Clickertraining ...that link goes to the description of this terrific ebook you download immediately, wherever you are! -- Rosana

I’ve done mind mapping for many years, about as long as I’ve been training my dogs, but never until today did it cross my mind to combine the two activities.

So what is mind mapping, and why might you want to use it for your own dog training? If a picture is worth a thousand words, here is a mind map I just made for training Lola, our nearly year-and-a-half Rottweiler. It should give you an idea.

For this mind map, I used software I downloaded, but until recently I did all my mind mapping on paper with marking pens or whatever was at hand. You just start with your topic and put it into the center of your paper or screen. I put “Training Lola” in a cloud. Next, I listed what she knows. I’m sure I forgot a few things. She’s pretty good on “leave it,” for example.

The next thing that popped into my mind was “Why Do More?” so I mapped that out, with some thoughts. Then I did What Now? and Maybe Later.

The benefit of creating a mind map over just making lists is that the act of diagramming like this gets both the left and the right sides of our brains working together more than they normally might. Give it a try!

The software I use is at www.imindmap.com and it has a free trial for about a week. Or just dig out some colored pens and have a go! You might get some new ideas.

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