What demotivates you when it comes to dog training? Expecting to much to soon? Feeling like your dog isn’t picking things up like you had hoped? Do you feel like you just aren’t getting through to your dog?
Maybe, just maybe, your dog just isn’t quite understanding you enough. Slow down, take a step back and re-evaluate what you are doing and why. Even if it means going over already learnt behaviours to regain the confidence in you both.
Demotivation is completely normal for both Humans and dogs. We need to keep things fun for us to stay engaged. Work on the relationship you have with your dog (as a dog, not a cuddly little baby) Take some time out from training the specifics and just go have fun on the beach or in a field if needs be.
Training shouldn’t be distressing for you both, it should be a fun bonding experience. keep the sessions short until you can both put more in to it. Make sure there are no grey areas, it should be black and white, right or wrong. Praise the good and correct the unwanted behaviour.
What ever it is that you are trying to achieve with your dog, break it down in to small manageable steps. eg, if you are working towards a sit and stay command, don’t focus on that end goal, focus on that first step away without any movement from your dog, then two steps and so on, each time making sure your dog is being corrected and taken back to the original position. This may mean you use a place board to start with (for your benefit just as much as your dogs) it also may mean that you go down the route of clicker training to help you too. Make sure you are not man handling your dog, have a slip lead or a slip collar on to help you correct the dog and put it back in the correct position in a timely manner.
Just remember ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’