If You’re Not Having Fun, You’re Doing It Wrong

It’s easy to forget how much fun dog training can be. Last weekend we had nice weather and it was a holiday. I took some time to practice outside with my own dogs, and wanted to catch some video for the website tutorials. Caffeine had other plans.

She knew better than me. We hadn’t had a chance to play in a long time, and she gave me a polite and very funny reminder. (As staged as that looks, it wasn’t at all. My wife cracking up behind the camera is very genuine.)

On Sunday I had the privilege of volunteering at an obedience trial and watched my friend and mentor Liz Catalano title Nevar, one of her Australian Shepherds.

One of the things I really love is the way Liz uses play as a reward and a way to keep him focused on her. Nevar is having fun. (By the way, he’s also deaf. Pretty impressive.)

Training should be fun. Obviously it’s not always going to be fun, and some work does need to be taken very seriously, but take some time to play a little and if you feel yourself getting upset, take a break and try putting a tug toy in your back pocket.

Visit my training tutorials page for more training videos.

Related Posts

1. If You’re Not Having Fun You’re Doing It Wrong, the Sequel
2. Help! My Dog is Crazy! Part 2: Play
3. Attention: How to get your dog to pay it to you
4. Help! My dog is crazy! Part 1: food toys
5. Book Review: “Am I Boring My Dog?” by Edie Jarolim