It's Not About Finding Time...It's Building the Habit

Let’s run through this scenario. We just completed an 8 hour (or maybe 12 hour) shift. You are home. Which means there is laundry, dinner, bills, and maybe kiddos to take care of too. So where does that leave you with time for your dog?

In my experience, there is always time to train your dog. Whether it be the commercial break, the time while the instant pot cooks, or maybe that moment while the laundry does it’s final round of drying. The real issue is making the commitment to train. Taking that step to break past the “I don’t have time” and making the time to train.

Habits are a difficult thing. They take many days to create and there is a reason most dog trainers don’t work through behavioral modification. Behavioral change is really hard! We take habits that we’ve been making for months and possibly years and attempt to foster a change. This is a rough thing on anyone!

So how do we begin? How do we create the habit?

By starting small so that the change is sustainable. Let’s face it, the last time you tried to create a gym routine and made it a week….well you likely pushed too hard too fast.

To begin, identify one time during the day that you can commit to A) train your dog for 5 minutes or B) train your dog for X number of repetitions. For example, Let’s say I want to work towards a polite greeting at the door. Rather than drill my dog and try to work for a half hour, I’m going to work for a handful of treats. Once the handful of treats is gone, we are done! I get to go back to what I’m up to AND my dog gets to take advantage of latent learning. WIN WIN for both parties!

So, before you fall into the excuse of “I just don’t have time and I’m exhausted,” take a moment to think about a small commitment of 5 minutes or a handful of treats to begin the habit of training your dog. It’s a small sustainable amount of change. Then watch the difference that adds up to over a months time. In the end, a tiny bit of training every day is better than 1-2 hour marathons. So choose your behaviors wisely and make the effort to change your training habits!