There are certain situations that may require you to schedule an in-home dog training session at your house.
For example, if you have a fearful or anxious dog who is becoming reactive towards visitors to your home and you have already been through some basic training.
However, most of the time you do not need to pay for training at home. One-off trainer visits at home are just not going to achieve the results most people are looking for. Whether you hire a trainer to come to your house, or use an online dog training course, commit to at least six lessons in order to make significant changes.
If you have committed to self-training, it is wise to find an online puppy training course that you can follow and commit to completing in it’s entirety, in order to see great changes. Research trainers who have a track record (we do!), and have an understanding of many different approaches and not just one. Remember that no two dogs and families are the same!
Remember, if you only train at home, your dog will only listen at home, and many people today want to be able to take their dog places. A good training program will tell you when and how to venture out in public.
Once you have selected the right online dog training program, he or she will instruct you how to practice at home. Now, you might say “duh, I already know that!”. But I like to go beyond the obvious and remind parents of a few guidelines.
A few tips on training your dog at home:
- Practice in every room of the house and various parts of the backyard at first, then move to the neighborhood and varying locations.
- Do it all ON-LEASH (yes, on-leash in the house too, because your dog is not yet off-leash trained).
- Over time, add variety of conditions (quiet, noisy, early, late), and then locations with slowly increased levels of distraction. This will generalize your dogs good behavior across multiple circumstances and locations.
- You will learn about what is your dogs Achilles heel which would be the most distracting thing for him such as dogs, squirrels, motorcycles, or loud noises for example.
In summary, your pet dog will only listen and behave where you have practiced until he realize you mean everywhere and all the time! So do yourself a favor and select a master dog trainer and then do your homework! Find yourself the best online dog training program available where you are guided by vast experience, videos, written instructions and diagrams such as the “Mann’s Best” online programs, you will be happy you did!
