How Often Do You Train Your Dog?

[tigerlily46514]

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THREE QUESTIONS:​

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~How often do you train your dog?​

~How long is an typical training session for your dog?

~How would you rate your own dog's ability to "get a trick" or "understand" a trick, or "learn a trick"??? How hard is it for you to get your dog to learn a trick? (usually)

You can rate your dog 1 to 10, if you want to:
1---my dog does not get most tricks, and the tricks take a long long long time, it's very difficult to teach my dog a trick, (usually)etc
to
10---my dog almost always "gets" the trick, and fairly readily, i think my dog is pretty easy to teach a trick to. (usually)

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO REPLY!!!
(there's no "wrong" answers, i am just curious)

The attached poll above, is not about how long each lesson is,
but just how OFTEN you give your dog a lesson----so even a Quickie 5 or 10 minutes sessions would count, when you say how often you train your dog.

 

[tigerlily46514]

well, darn, now that i've posted it, i see there is no option for me,
which is often more than once a day,
but i do skip days now and then. duh! Now why didn't i think of that as a possible option before i posted the poll!?

My dog's average lesson is about 10-15 minutes long, but can be repeated a few times a day. Sometimes, i just give him a spontaneous 5 minute lesson, too. Just a quickie, mini-lesson.
I can train him longer, up to an hour, but, i keep it fun, usually breaking it up with playtime, usually. but usually i only give him long lessons about once a week or so.

I would rate my dog an 8 to 10 on ease of teaching him a trick,
but, if i have slacked off for very long, like a week or more, (it's happened)
he seems harder to teach a trick to, gets too excited, etc, and then it seems to take a few days to "get him back into the groove" again it seems, if i haven't been training Buddy regularly and often.

 

[bekah1001]

My goal is to have at least 3 training sessions a day. I train for around 5-10 minutes. Brody is probably a 8. he picks up tricks pretty fast sometimes I can teach him a trick in one training session. It also depends on the trick more physically demanding tricks/building muscle memory take a little longer. For example, bow, that took Brody a while to get and others like spin, and play dead were easier.

 

[Anneke]

I am a lazy trainer I don't train my dogs every day. It probably comes down to 3 to 4 times a week, that includes the dogschool.
My training sessions don't last that long. About 15 minutes, not spend on just one trick. Mostly one new trick and proofing older tricks.
But twice a week I go to a trainingclass. Thirsday's obedience and saturday's agility. Those are an hour. Jinx never gets tired of agility, but she does get tired at obedience at the end of class.
Actually when training agility, I train tricks as well. Because we have to wait for the others to do their rond on the course and Jinx gets impatient. So I make her do stuff. It's where she learned how to speak, where we build up confidence and hight for the backstall.

I would rate Jinx an 8, I guess. Most tricks she gets pretty fast(she would do even better if I trained more...)
Cooper would be a 7, he's very smart, but is lazy. So he has to be pushed a little

 

[JazzyandVeronica]

I voted 5 -6 times a week; sometimes it will be a couple to times a day on the weekend. Sessions usually last 10 - 20 minutes; I know I go too long and I'm working on shortening training sessions. I was thinking of breaking them up into 2 short sessions; but on weekdays I really can't because by the time I get home, we have dinner, we train...V. gets comfy for the night. Once she is on the couch and in "evening relax" mode...forget...it!

I would say she is about a 5 in terms of getting it. I tend to be a perfectionist, so my definiton of "getting it" means you can do it pretty reliably and flawlessly with just the verbal command. She gets hand signals much more readily and if we counted with hand signals/and or coaching...then I would say she is about an 8...but knowing it with just a verbal command...it takes a long time and many repetitions.

 

[JazzyandVeronica]

For example, Veronica just made a huge stride in saying her prayers; which I've changed to "say Grace".

I had to remind her to come around and sit at the little table we're using, then she knew to put her paws up...but I had to ask her "where does your bridge go"? and when I did for the first time ever she tucked her head down without my having to ask her to target my hand!

Woo hoo!!!

But we're still not there yet. I am still providing some level of coaching to get the completed behavior.

(I should also add that I've added in the distraction of making her sit at the table with a plate in front of her and a treat on the plate...which she has to ignore and "say grace".

 

[dogcrazy]

I train Carmel about 1 a day for about 5-10 min. She is a 9 at getting tricks ( she would get a 10 if she wasn't as lazy)

 

[southerngirl]

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~How often do you train your dog?​

~How long is an typical training session for your dog?

~How would you rate your own dog's ability to "get a trick"

I would say 5-6 times a week and 1 or 2 training sessions sometimes more. I usually train Missy for 5-10mins. A lot of time it takes 3 or 4 training sessions for her to get it than I may make a few tweaks to make it better. Though there are some tricks that take weeks.

 

[Dogster]

I voted more once a day because she is ALWAYS learning. I do try to train here everywhere I go, but I try my best to have a trick training session once or twice a day. It depends on how busy I am, sometimes I don't get to a trick session for three days, but I make up for it the next day, LOL

I usually have a 5, 10, or 15 minute training session, depending on her ability to concentrate at the moment.

I would rate Shivon as an 8-10 when learning tricks, depending on how lazy or excited she is, lol

 

[SD&B]

I voted more than once a day.

We always have a 5+ minute session after the first potty of the day where they get treats for tricks.
They usually have to do at least one trick for their after-dinner piece of banana.
If they get any other treats during the day, they usually have to do at least one trick.
Sometimes I will ask for tricks while out walking for potty, which is only a minute or two of tricks.
Or, if we meet friends or new friends while out and about, I may ask for the dogs to show tricks, usually only a few minutes at most.
When photographing or filming the dogs, I will ask for a lot of sits, downs, stands, stays, sometimes on objects, etc....
Today, I took Sundog to Lowe's and asked for a few tricks in a distracting public setting.
Sundog usually does a hold while I am fixing their dinner. Since I feed raw, this can take 10 or 15 minutes or more, depending on if I try to fit something else in. Sometimes she holds a little metal bucket, a newspaper, a small fabric tote bag, a screwdriver, a pen, or whatever else I might happen to pick up.
Both Barney and Sundog must wait to be released to eat their food.
The other day, I left my retractable target stick downstairs, so Sundog's Dad gave it to her and she brought it upstairs to me. Sometimes we do something spontaneous like that.
Finally, I think I am settling on an every-other-day schedule for a heavy duty training session which lasts about an hour. I alternate between Sundog and Barney. While one trains tricks for a few minutes, the other one is practicing a calm settle lying on the bed or in the chair (don't know if they know that, though ) Sundog in a very busy dog who has an incredible work ethic and really enjoys "doing", while Barney is energetic and has a bit of a jealousy streak, so he enjoys the entire session also.

As you can see, I try to work in a lot of small sessions here and there with a long training session on a more sparse basis. Of course, the schedule is always subject to change.

I would rate Sundog as an 8-10, depending on the type of trick. Some tricks she picks up immediately and we can start working on duration and distance within 1 or 2 sessions. Barney is a 6-8, depending on the type of trick. He gets too excited for some tricks, but that helps him excel at some tricks too.

 

[648117]

I picked daily.

In the evening Holly is extremely anoying so I have to give her a training session (obedience and tricks) to calm her down a bit, the session usually lasts about 15 minutes.

I also randomly sometimes ask her to do a few known tricks during the day (especially in the weekend) and on walks, usually just a spin or bow or down or weave around my legs (I love that trick )

She also has a 1 hour long obedience class on Saturdays and a 1 hour agility class on Tuesdays, she finds agility boring because there is a lot of waiting around and it's not very challenging for her yet (she's nearly finished the first 6 week course so we'll be moving up next week, hopefully it will better)

It's hard to rate how good Holly is at learning because I don't have a lot of dogs to compare her to.
But I would say an 8, but keep in mind that she is only 8 months old so I think she is doing pretty well and will probably get even better as she gets older.

 

[Amateur]

I would say continuously. While most times I dont train specific tricks daily or even weekly ( I'm pretty lazy), everyday is a consistent reaffirming training session of things I want them to do all the time. i.e. sit before dinner wait for ok, don't dive out an open door, sit for leash, stop before going into big field etc.

 

[Mr-Remington]

I train Remi usually 3 times a day for about 5-10 minutes. Since he is only 9 weeks he gets bored fast. I would rate him an 8 for how fast he learns. He will usually pick up a trick pretty fast, it normally takes one or two short sessions for him to know it by hand signal. But if its just verbal it can take up to a day in a half. It just depends on how much he cares to learn at that moment.

 

[Tâmara Vaz]

How often do you train your dog? ​

I train daily!! Everyday in the end of afternoon I'm training!! In morning and at night she's very sleepy!!And in hot times she gets bored fast!!
How long is an typical training session for your dog?Depends on her mood! I think 10 to 15 minutes session with a great variety of tricks and rewards(types of food, tug and chase)!
How would you rate your own dog's ability to "get a trick"? I think she's a 9 on most tricks!! But some tricks take a loooong time like handstand, rebound, limp...

 

[charmedwolf]

How often do you train your dog? Usually just one formal training session every other day. We also have a training walk on the opposite day of the session. So 3-4 training sessions per week.

How long is an typical training session for your dog? About 5-10 minutes. Most of the time I'll count out 100 treats. When they are gone, training is done.

How would you rate your own dog's ability to "get a trick"? Kratos about 5, Jinx about 6 1/2 and Isis would be a 8 1/2.

 

[tigerlily46514]

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO REPLIED!!!

If anyone else sees this, and wants to post their answer, of course, they are most welcome too!

 

[GEORGE'SDAD]

My boys and I work on basic obedience and commands daily!!! My pit bull that we have had for 4/5 years knows all of his basic commands in English, Spanish, German, and Sign Language!!! Our friends and family can't believe it! they think we have the smartest doggie ever! George we have only had for 2 months or so, but he already has learned his basic commands and is beginning to get them in different languages. The reason we teach different languages to the dogs is that we have family that only speak Spanish or German, and as for the signing, if one or both of them ever become deaf for whatever reason, we can still control them.

 

[GEORGE'SDAD]

My boys and I work on basic obedience and commands daily!!! My pit bull that we have had for 4/5 years knows all of his basic commands in English, Spanish, German, and Sign Language!!! Our friends and family can't believe it! they think we have the smartest doggie ever! George we have only had for 2 months or so, but he already has learned his basic commands and is beginning to get them in different languages. The reason we teach different languages to the dogs is that we have family that only speak Spanish or German, and as for the signing, if one or both of them ever become deaf for whatever reason, we can still control them.

also, max is about an 8 on getting the tricks, but george, is about a 6 or 7...a little slower but he still retains the info.

 

[tigerlily46514]

Clever, G's dad!!!!
I can't even imagine having multiple words for same trick! I've never done that! I have swapped out some old words for new words, for a trick, but never had multiple words for same trick! I think *my* dog might just sit for most any word i toss at him then, if i had several words that all mean "sit"!!

I also use sign language for hand signals, partly because i ran out of ideas, so i use the manual alphabet for some of my hand signals, makes it easy for *me* to remember, when i use first initial of cue. My dog MUCH prefers a hand signal, or a foot signal, or a facial expression, or position of myself, more than a word.

 

[GEORGE'SDAD]

It was my wife's idea actually