I like things organized.
Orderly. Labeled. Planned.
One manifestation of this obsession is with daily planners. You guys, I live by my day planner. I plan out everything: daily to dos, shopping lists, appointments, cleaning, and so on.
Most recently, I started planning dog training.
We’ve been hardcore training with Lucas on two different things. The cat, of course. And we’re crate training him–which we skipped in the past because he was SO terrified of the crate and it wasn’t a necessity–but now we need him to be fine in one in case of a hurricane evacuation.
As we worked, John and I went back and forth, trying to figure out if we were making progress, stalled out, or backtracking.
The best way to answer those questions and plot a road forward?
Planning! 🙂
But planning is only effective if it’s simple and strategic. You need to know what’s working and tweak as necessary.
OK. So all that was swirling around in my head.
Meanwhile, there were conversations between bloggers about how much time we spend training our dogs. Many people said that they use opportunities throughout the day to train.
And I kept coming back to one question: If we’re utilizing times throughout the day to train, but we’re not really seeing progress, how do we know if what we’re doing is working?
LIGHTBULB!
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We need a way to track those training mini dog training sessions!
A darling dog-loving friend who is an incredible designer helped me put together a super cute, simple worksheet to track all of those dog training mini-sessions. I’m seriously so excited about this because it’s all those ideas coming together in a useful way!
Click here to download the Training Mini-Sessions worksheet! (Opens a PDF in another tab.)
I have a bunch printed out that I hole punched to go in a binder (I like this kind because it’s made from recycled material instead of plastic), though I’m going to print some resized to fit in my planner (of course). I’ve been using them for a few things: Cooper’s barking, Lucas’ crate training, the cat training, and a series of tricks I’m working on with Coop. I need to start something with Emmett… his section of the binder is bare!
Bonus: If multiple people in your home train with the dog, you can each write entries as you see in the example above. Stick it to the fridge so everyone can keep a record of their work, which helps you figure out what the other person is doing and if they had any successes.
I hope you find it as useful as I have! There’s another thought swirling around that this might be the first step in what could become a bigger dog training journal project (more on that later).
In the meantime, what are you training these days? Do you use any tools to plan out your training?
More dog training inspiration:
Is your dog ever “trained”? Is dog training ever finished?
Where do you find the time to train your dog?
When training takes years, don’t forget to celebrate the small victories
Very cool, Maggie! But I think the download link isn’t working? (At least, it takes me to a “Page Not Found” page…)
ACK! I moved it to another location where you should be able to get it now… Oh, how I wish I understood WordPress 🙂
THANK YOU for letting me know!!!
Wow – this is so useful. We are guilty of lazy training – maybe using this will help me be more consistent. Thanks for sharing.
I totally fall into lazy training, too. It’s tough to squeeze it into an already busy day! Let me know how training goes for you!
This is a great idea. Thank you so much for sharing. I can also use this for our dogs progress on the raw food diet and wish I would have started this each week from when we started. It would be interesting to see where we started and compare that to where we are now.
Kim
Oooh, good point! You could track progress on all sorts of things. I think sometimes when you’re enmeshed in a process of some sort, it’s so easy to lose sight of the light at the end of the tunnel!!
Brilliant idea, Maggie! We did this for a while when we first found Buster and I was feeling overwhelmed with him. (Of course, I was significantly less organized about it!) But, it really did help to track our progress and see that things were improving. Sometimes it’s easy to forget how far you’ve already come when you’re constantly focused on where you want to be.
Absolutely!! And I’ve found that success, especially with Lucas, is soooo gradual that it’s sort of like watching the grass grow! I’m hoping that by keeping a written record, I’ll be more conscious of that progress.
That is so great! I am jealous of your organizational skills! I used to be more organized like that, but somewhere along the way I lost that skill. Maybe this will motivate me to find it again! It’s so great you had a friend to help you with it, I usually try to do those things myself, and it takes forever before I can get it right.
It’s more of a “compulsion” or an “obsession” than it is a “skill.” 🙂
Wonderful suggestions!
Now if only I could stick to the schedule…..
Thanks, Dad! 🙂 Otto’s a smart little cookie… He’d make progress with just 5 minutes a night!
I just came across this – THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I just got my first dog-that-is-my-sole-responsibility a couple of months ago & she has been much more of a challenge than expected. I’ve been working with dogs in daycares & pet sitting for a little while & thinking of becoming a trainer, but a short time with her has made me realize how crucial planning & consistency are, which are not my go to style. I think this will be a HUGE help. Off to read all the rest of your blog now! 😀