How long will it take to train my dog?
Seven weeks, and six days, twelve hours and fourteen minutes.
Well, what am I supposed to say?? “It depends” seems to irk people. I wish I could hand them a time line. That would make things so easy for us all. “It takes thirty-five minutes to teach sit.”
Ummm - you meant thirty-five seconds, right?
And yet. I can’t do that because training depends on so many things. Number one – what are your expectations? What do you mean by trained dog? Some people say if they pee on their puppy pads and come when called most of the time, I’m happy. And that is just Fine.
Others want them to ‘stop’ a certain behavior. “Quit jumping on people” and when they learn another behavior to do instead of jumping, then their dog is trained.
Down is so easy! Up? Nah. Not today.
Some want More. “Dock dog!” “Agility!” “Service dog!” When their dog learns those skills, then they think their dog is trained.
Some think the first time their dog does a behavior “Down!” they ‘have it’ and thus are ‘trained’ to that behavior.
We have a few dogs that are Just Fine after an eight week beginner class. They got all the basics and that’s what mom was after. Others need to run through the eight weeks again before they even act like they are starting to get it.
I've done puppy, beginner, intermediate (twice) and advanced classes. Now I'm considering agility! Yay!
You are going to have these dogs for years- ten plus – another couple months simply isn’t that much of an issue when you look long term. It doesn’t mean your dog is ‘stupid’ mostly it means, I’ve found, is that they are exuberant. There is SO much to look at that isn’t You!
Just like us, dogs get stagnant. They like to learn and like to do and like to play new games. Training is learning. School is fun for them – new skills – how can I please you – are things your puppy really enjoys. There is not a short list of things we can teach them.
First, I'll learn this, then that, then something else and then some more and then....
Some people don’t have much time. I KNOW – hard to believe, yes?! I understand – five kids, two jobs, yeah, I get that no time thing. However. I manage to make time for things that are important to me. So do you. If you don’t have time for a dog – don’t get one. Or rescue an older dog who doesn’t need as much time intensive focus as a new puppy does.
But -if you only have three or four minutes a few times a day to train new skills, your dog isn’t going to pick things up as quickly as someone who has more. No one’s fault – its just going to take longer.
Sometimes breed makes a difference. I love it when I have a lab or golden in class because they make me look SO good. They want to please so badly that they will do about anything for you. NICE. My little doxie will look at me, roll his eyes and say “fine. I’ll do it, but I’m not happy about it.” Bulldogs – they will do it in bulldog time. Huskeys? Yeah, good luck with that. Teasing! We have to get their motivation, and then they will, too! But they won’t ‘have’ it, reliable, every time, as quickly as a lab simply because, often, they see no reason to.
Let me get back to you on doing that, okay?
So – when I’m asked ‘how long will it take to train my dog’ and I say, “it depends” don’t sigh at me. Please! I know Cesar does it in fifteen minutes, but man, I left MY magic wand (and road crew who worked with the dog for three weeks before he even arrived) at home!
Let’s just work till we are happy with the results, okay? Okay!