It's Consistency, Not Training!

What is all the fuss about? You don't want to get a puppy in the winter because it's too cold to train your puppy? "Puppy Training" is probably the most misunderstood phrase in the dog world because of one simple reason....It's not training!!

Training your puppy does not take special knowledge. All it takes is common sense and most importantly....are you ready for it.....consistency. This is where we all fail. If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, that road begins at the door of Puppy training.

We all have "good intentions" when we get a new puppy. We've seen videos of German Shepherds doing amazing things and we want a German Shepherd just like that. So what's the problem? Is your Shepherd just not capable of doing all those amazing things? Nope! We are the problem because we are not consistent. Of course we start out with good intentions, but after a day or two, things come up like; getting the kids to school, or working late, and there just isn't enough time in a day to fit in training your puppy. I get it! We are all busy people, but training a puppy isn't about taking huge chunks of time. It's about taking small chunks of time AND BEING CONSISTENT!

A puppies brain is like a sponge. They can, and will gain a vast amount of knowledge when they are very young, but just as their brain is like a sponge....it's attention span is short. Now here comes the common sense part....If you've ever had kids, or do have kids, or plan to have kids (especially if you plan to have kids) think about what their attention span was like when you tried to teach them something. How much time went by before their little minds started to wander and then it was off to the next adventure. A puppy is no different, and while they are eager to learn and even more eager to please, their little minds will wander, and fast. So if you want to maximize your efforts and get your puppy to do all those amazing things....K*I*S*S....KEEP IT SHORT STUPID. Puppy training should not consist of more than 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon. Do not push your puppy beyond their attention limit. If you do, the training becomes a dreaded chore and they will avoid it like the plague. Those 15 minutes have to be filled with fun....and reward. Now certainly we can all squeeze out 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon. If you can't...don't get a puppy. They need you and just like your kids, you are responsible for whether or not they turn out to be good citizens.

Time and knowledge is never an issue when training a puppy, but consistency always is, and I promise you that if you will do your part and just be consistent and give that little bit of time devoted to working with your puppy, your puppy will pay you back with tremendous and wonderful accomplishments.