Most of us know that issues our dogs have are often related to us, as handlers. I’ll even admit that, in a competition setting, I’ve been told by a judge: “Your dog looks much better off leash than on leash.” Wow. Yes, that means that problems in how my dog performs are my fault! Probably one of the biggest mistakes we make as handlers is repeating ourselves. Our goal with any command should be to obtain one command, one response.

Every time we interact with our dog is a training exercise, whether it’s intended or not. If we ask our dog to “Sit. . .Sit. . .Sit. . .Sit,” our dog is learning that he doesn’t have to sit when told the first time. These repeated commands are not gentle reminders once the dog knows a command, it’s us being ignored! Often, we repeat commands without noticing it. The more aware you are of how many times you say a command, the easier it is to correct yourself. Once your dog has obeyed, think back to the command you just gave, count in your head how many times it was repeated, and be aware of it for next time.

If you find that your dog does not respond the first time you say a command, it may be best to re-teach it from the very beginning, luring them into position, and reinforcing your command one time, after the dog is in position, associating the word with the task. Along these same lines, whenever you go to a new location or provide new distractions, you may find the need to backtrack to more basic training to get the results you’re looking for until your dog has been “proofed” with a large variety of distractions.

Yes, training a dog is more like training ourselves!

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