# Do you train your dog daily?



## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

Now that it's warming up a bit, when we walk to/from school I take a dog and work on a bit of rally here and there. So we'll stop and do sit, down, sit, and carry on, or sit and I'll walk around and then continue one. Oh and tie to the bike rack while I go in/out of the school (the classroom is the first one inside the door and it's fairly quiet, just other parents coming and going). I just do a bit of 'doodling' while we walk for now, which is all I can do with three kids along.

It was kinda funny today, Storee's turn and she did VERY well with being tied and left behind, kinda took a nap and had several people comment on how calm she is.... they don't know her 'normal' self!

Lana


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## Doodle (Apr 6, 2009)

Yes, but now that Brady is no longer a young pup, we don't hold "formal" practice sessions anymore. Now it gets incorporated into our daily routine so that he gets little bits and pieces throughout the day. For example, we practice our polite greeting manners (sitting for petting) whenever we come across any willing person in our travels. We practice recall inside (I'll call him randomly if I find myself in another part of the house from him) and outside during playtime. We practice "wait" going through doorways. I also throw out various commands randomly during the day, sometimes doing formal obedience commands and sometimes doing tricks to make it fun.


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

Yup, I generally do something everyday. A lot of times I will put Scout in a sit stay while I eat dinner and have gradually increased the time. I play around with that now requiring her to sometimes hold something but for a shorter duration. 

On our walks I have her do finishes, a recall, attention heeling for short spans, stays. If we run into neighborhood kids we practice tricks (the favorite is balancing a cookie on the nose) and stand-stay. I let the kids give her commands too. We are fortunate to go on off-leash walks nearly every day. On them I have been working on distance work in addition to the normal heeling, recall, etc. If she is ahead of me I will get her attention and ask for a sit or a down.

To mix things up some days I will do everything verbal and others hand signal only.


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## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

Nothing at all formal any more. Just keep reinforcing sits, stays, downs and comes.


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## Loisiana (Jul 29, 2009)

I don't train any of my dogs every single day, except what is just incorporated in basic living skills (things like don't run out of the crate just because I've opened the door). Younger ones get trained more often than older/more advanced dogs. Flip I'm training about 5-6 days a week, in addition to taking a weekly class. Conner gets a training session once or twice a week at most. Anything else is something I'll just randomly throw at him during the day, like I'll be watching tv and I'll have him do a five minute sit stay, or I'll be cooking and work on a couple of fronts. Annabel gets a training session about once a month, all fun stuff, just enough to keep her from becoming a total couch potato.I find my dogs need lots of repetition to originally learn a skill, but once they know it they do better and are more excited about it if I don't have them do it all the time. But again, that does not apply to things I just expect of them daily for good manners.


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## GoldenJoy (Jul 30, 2009)

Absolutely. Sometimes a formal 10 - 15 minute training session, outdoors or indoors, followed by some tug time or retrieving, everyday training all day - sit to be petted, come for a treat, wait when going up and down stairs with me, lots of drop it, leave it, stays.... I always have food in my pockets for her, which makes constant training a cinch! Even my 3 year old helps, which is adorable. He loves to do "sit" so that Joy will be right at his eye level for lovin'. A friend of mine said, "We're ALWAYS training our dogs, whether we mean to or not!" For instance, her daughters have trained their dog that "Drop it" means "Run away very fast with my toy and my sister and I will chase you around the house while we yell and it will be a terrifically fun game!!!!!!"  We like to laugh at that. It is a hoot - just say "drop it," and the dog's tail goes up, the play bow starts......


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

I'm trying to get back into more of a routine with the formal training. We used to have 3 10 minute sessions a day and now it's maybe once a week. Big surprise that his energy level is up these days! His life-skills training happens every day though. Waiting for before he eats (not a formal sit-stay), not bounding up the stairs ahead of me, sitting before going out every door/gate, walking next to me on walks, not playing in the office...everything that's expected of him.

I use playtime to reinforce commands he already knows like, drop it, give, fetch, hold it etc. I'm trying to spend the evenings training him new things like swing, drop on recall, etc. I think once it warms up it will be easier to get outside and do the formal obedience again. Right now I'd rather stay in by my fireplace reading my book while Ranger chews a kong.


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