photo courtesy of Flickr.com/itsholly
I’m willing to bet that at some point in time, the words “I just don’t have time to really train my dog” have come out of your mouth.
I’m also willing to bet that time is not REALLY the reason that you can’t seem to get much training done. Because whether you’re training Sparky to be the next Skyhoundz world champion or teaching him that your arm is not, in fact, a chew toy, significant progress can be accomplished with just a couple sessions of FIFTEEN MINUTES per day (okay. Maybe a little more for Skyhoundz). Surely, even the busiest of us can do that.
Speaking from experience, I know that the real issue is almost always a simple lack of motivation. You know what you’d like your dog to do (or not do), but actually getting out and making that happen can be a challenge.
“Motivational hacks” for general productivity are all over the internet. I put together this list of hacks specifically tweaked for helping you find the motivation to make Sparky the best dog in the world and put Lassie to shame.
Just five minutes! The most difficult part of doing any project is just getting started. But once you’re past that initial hurdle, it gets easier. If the thought of your next training session is an annoyance, and you’d rather flop down in front of the tv or computer, just tell yourself you’re only going to work for five minutes. “I’ll do a couple rounds of ‘sits,’ and then I can finish.” By the time you’ve collected your training gear and have your eager canine student all ready for the lesson, it is much easier to continue for ten, fifteen, thirty minutes.
Take a class. If you have a hard time setting goals for yourself, you can enroll in a dog obedience class. Your instructor will provide the goals and homework on a week-by-week basis.
Students can cheer each other on and provide friendly competition, giving you reason to keep up with your homework. Because hey, fear of public embarrassment is an excellent motivator!
Break it into bite size goals. If you have a big goal, like earning the Canine Good Citizen title, or being able to have your currently unruly dog hang out nicely with guests at parties, it can be hard to get started because there are many parts to such goals. So instead of looking at the big picture all the time, break it down into smaller goals and write them down checklist style. The vague “nice dog at parties” goal will then become a precise plan of action that looks something like this:
Teach Sparky…
Youtube! any time you need a boost of inspiration, watch some dog training videos on Youtube. Whenever working with my dogs starts feeling like a chore, I just watch some videos of beautifully trained agility or disc dogs who are much better at what they do than mine are, and I’m reminded of why I love this stuff and what I eventually want to accomplish with my dogs. Talk about motivation.
A word of caution: Youtube is great for inspiration. But as anyone who has ever spent any time on Youtube knows, it can be great big time-sucking vortex. You sit down to watch a couple of videos and next thing you know, three hours have passed. Keep track of the time while surfing the videos and remember, Youtube should help you with your training, not replace it.
Tell everyone your goals. It’s the public embarrassment factor coming into play again. If you brag to everyone you invite to that party that your dog will be a perfect gentleman (or lady) for the occasion, it’ll be hard NOT to follow through on your training.
Keep all training equipment conveniently located.
You don’t want to have to hunt for all your stuff every time you set out on a training session. Spending all your time trying to remember just where you put that leash or treat bag can cause your motivation and energy to fizzle out before you even get started. Keep everything you’ll need together in a box or bag, somewhere you can just grab it and go.
Get a white board. I just bought a couple of dry erase boards to keep track of my dog training progress, and let me tell you, I’m in love with them already. Why didn’t I do this sooner? You can get a basic dry erase board for six bucks. Put it somewhere you’ll see it every day, preferably when you get up in the morning. Write down:
A simple tactic, but since I started doing this, I’ve gotten a lot more dog work done every day. Out of this whole list of hacks, this one has been the most effective for me.
For some great general productivity hacks that can help with dog stuff, too, check out this list from ZenHabits.net
Your turn: if you try any of these tactics, let me know how they turn out for you. Also, what did I leave out? What works for you when you just don’t feel like training?
