There are three types of training that you need to turn your puppy into a well-rounded, well-behaved, and well-mannered dog.
When we think of training our dog we usually think about teaching our dog to “listen to me” I want him to come when I say come and stay when I say stay. Or we don’t even think about training until a bad behavior starts and we want to correct it.
In this episode, I talk about three different types of training that you need. My goal is to get you to approach training your dog a little differently. Instead of it being something that you do when needed it’s actually something that is integrated into your everyday life with your dog.
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Here is a summary of each type I talk about.
Skills training
This is the type of training that we think of. It involves formally training your dog to do something on command. The most common example is obedience training. This is the training we gravitate to because it's really easy to see. We tell our dog to do something and we do it. The feedback is obvious.
Preventative training
Stop bad habits before they start. When we put our shoes away so our puppy doesn't discover them or when we take our dogs for a walk before they use their extra energy to dig up the garden. This is a more subtle type of training but it is just as important.
Habit training
Where preventative training is stopping bad habits before they start, habit training is creating everyday good habits on purpose. Potty training is teaching our dog the habit of going to the bathroom outside only. When we play with our dog when they pick up their own toys to chew on we are teaching them to always play with their toys.
All Three
There isn't one of these that is more important than the other. In fact, they all work together and most of the time you will be using more than one. So, you don’t have to know which one you are doing when.
The point here is that training is more than just teaching your dog to "listen to me." Sometimes training is done in the everyday subtle things like closing the front door or putting the remote on a high shelf or consistently not allowing them on the couch or bed.
It's also important to know that just about everything we do with our puppy means something. This can help in those moments that you feel that nothing is happening and your puppy isn't learning. Remember those little things count just as much as the big stuff.
Press play to listen to the full episode with more details and examples. Enjoy!
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