Top Ten Training Mistakes

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Modern Dog Magazine has a good article on the Top 10 Training Mistakes. I think we can all identify with some of these:

http://www.moderndogmagazine.com/articles/are-you-making-these-10-t...

For me, I think #s 7 and 9 have been my biggest challenges. 

[Leslie and Halas]

Those are good tips.  I could use work on a lot of those.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Most of us could, lol.

[Dawn Ross]

I admit it. I qualify for a few of these. At home, my dogs are the best. But in public, they are crazy. And it is my own fault. When we're home more in winter and because they are so good at home, it is tempting to overlook and put off dealing with certain issues. Thanks for sharing! Now that it is spring, I have no more excuses. ;)

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Karen, thanks for posting these....I really think they're perfect.  My two favorites are #7 and #10.  One of the things that I've learned with my guys is that it's so much better to avoid the "bad choice" than to have to correct it.  Most of the time now we can go for an entire one hour walk with no corrections....because I'm so much better able to anticipate what will be a problem for them.  A great example of this is in the car....Murph used to "freak out" when he saw other dogs.  I was often driving so it was very difficult for me to manage once he was in the middle of the reaction, so now he is in a down/stay on all car rides.  He knows that's the rule, and there are no more outbursts because he never even sees the other dog.  I also think #10 is really important.  Training is not a "one size fits all" process IMO.  Different dogs learn in different ways.  Often I think we get caught up in doing the same "method" over and over and get frustrated that the dog isn't "getting it".  With Murph when I taught "auto sit" he would always sit a few inches in front of me.  I corrected over and over, but he kept doing it.  Then I stopped correcting, taught him "side" and used high value treats for this.  It worked so much better and without corrections.  He just needed a different way of "learning" this.  There's so much value in all of these points...we could probably start a discussion on each one.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You read my mind. I was thinking we could have a discussion here on each one. "Training Mistake #1," etc. Maybe someone who has a story about any of them in particular could start the discussion about that one? 

[Leslie and Halas]

That's a good idea.

[Adina P]

I've had the opposite experience in that my dogs ALL responded really well to the same method.  What I learned, though, with each dog was that different dogs will fall through different cracks and that my understanding and application of said method was what needed fine tuning and improvement.  I'm not sure if the auto sit problem was while you and I were working on the same thing, but if it was, I know that sometimes if the placement and teaching prior to the auto sit corrections are slightly incorrect, then the dog may have learned the wrong lesson and thereby do it wrong.  So correcting more won't help, but going back a step or two fixes it.  What can I say?  I'm a 'methodist' through and through...*sigh*.  When something wasn't working, I'd send an email off to my training mentor or shoot a video and sure enough she could tell me why.  If i was able to do fix my mistake, the problem was solved and we'd move on.  Who wants to start a discussion on point #1 in the article?  OMD...I have been online far too long.  kids are sleeping and i better go do laundry!  i tried half the morning to pick up the house and other than vacuuming the kids would just mess it up again in a different room.  i'm feeling a bit stretched thin...

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I knew that was what you were going to say, Adina.....that's why I added the "IMO" in that comment...I know there are different views on this...just my experience in training Guinness vs Murph.

[Adina P]

uh oh...i've become predictable ;-p

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

LOL.....me too.

[Dana]

Good article - I'm guilty of #'s 5, 9 & 10. 

[Camilla and Darwin]

These are all excellent reminders... I am too guilty of more than one on this list!