Where can you train your dog?

We’ll describe all the places where you can do dog training with your dog, starting with dog training in your home.

Dog Training in your Home

Your home is where your dog is going to be most comfortable and most naturally “good” or “bad” or in between. Other settings like in a pet store or in a classroom can make a dog nervous or defensive, especially if he is surrounded by other badly behaved dogs. This will be a huge distraction to an untrained dog and you’ll want your dog’s focus to be on you and not other dogs.

Most of your dog’s behaviour issues are going to be associated with where he lives. Issues like barking at the sound of the doorbell, at people outside your window or in your backyard can only be worked on at your home. Once you’ve learned the techniques of how to manage your dog indoors, then you can take these same skills outdoors.

If you need help with house-training or marking in your house, counter surfing, jumping on guests we can get you started on managing these behaviours in a controlled environment and then you can take your dog elsewhere with the basics under your belt.

We’ve worked in all kinds of homes from one-room apartments to vast multi-million-dollar mansions. Each situation has its own set of factors affecting behaviour. Such factors may be:

• Size of living space
• Interior floor plan whether closed or open
• Proximity to neighbours whether apartment or rural
• Number of people who live with the dog – single person to multigenerational or multiple roommates
• The age and ability of each person – are there young children or seniors, neuro-divergent or physically handicap family members?
• If there are any other pets in the house – multiple dogs, cats, birds, etc.

These are just a few of the details that a “one size fits all” classroom situation cannot cover. So as long as you keep your expectations low, that less expensive option may work for you and your dog.

We should also talk about where else you can do dog training. If we understand that the purpose is to have a well-behaved and responsive dog at all times, then it is necessary to look at all the places your dog will be during his lifetime.

Why in your home?

We’ve made the case for training in your home but it’s important to realize why you need to do the training yourself in your home. This is where you have the most influence without the distraction of the outside world.

We’ve come across many families where living on a deserted island would have been the perfect solution. In one case their mini schnauzer was well-behaved with them as long as there was nobody else around. He didn’t bark, he didn’t jump up, he never growled, he never stole food, he came when he was called. He was a happy camper.

But as soon as some distraction entered the picture – a visitor at the front door or someone outside the window (dog, human, squirrel or magpie), the barking and growling began. There was even some marking at the front door that was totally intolerable. Going for leash walks or a ride in the car was a nightmare. Since the deserted island solution was a fantasy, that sweet puppy needed dog training.

Dog Training in your Backyard

Earlier we talked about how indoor training comes first. The next logical step is to take the training to an enclosed outdoor space like a backyard. In this location you can do training off or on leash. You may wonder why you would use a leash in your own backyard. Isn’t it just for walking?

If you have trouble on walks with your dog pulling all the time, the yard is a great place to practice. There are fewer distractions than out in public but also different ones from indoors. Your goal should be to have your dog walk loose leash by your side. Not using physical force to restrain him from dragging you around or following six feet behind because “he likes” to be in front.

A dog who leads on a walk is less likely to listen at home or anywhere else for that matter.

And vice versa – a dog who listens well inside walks better on leash outside.

A close call

There is also a safety issue of course. We once watched a person walking her tiny Yorkshire Terrier on an extend-a-lead probably 15 feet out in front while she looked at her phone. The dog was way ahead of her crossing the entrance to a back lane.

Exiting the back lane was a huge truck that had the driver sitting high up where he could not possibly see the dog. Although he might have seen the women who was oblivious to everything except her phone, he might have missed the fact that there was a dog out in front of her. If he had not decided to pause for traffic at that moment, he would never have known that he had tragically taken a tiny life through no fault of his own.

Back to the question “Where can I do training with my dog?”

 The next step would be to go off-leash in a dog park.

Going Off Leash

Do you see how this is the last option on the list?. If you cannot manage your dog previous to this, then you and your dog are going to have a lot of trouble out there. This may sound extreme to some, but remember good dog behaviour starts in the home. If your dog can’t behave properly at home, in your yard or on the public sidewalk, you would be ill-advised to go somewhere where you will have even less control over your dog’s behaviour and absolutely no control over other people’s dogs’ behaviour. Does this make sense?

We understand that many dogs live in a situation where there is no enclosed backyard. We are very lucky in Calgary where we have several dog parks with fenced areas where you can take your dog to do individual training without the interference of other dogs but still be out in an open space.

Sniffspot https://www.sniffspot.com/listings is an interesting app where you can rent a backyard or fenced field for on average $10/hour. We have not used this ourselves so we cannot vouch for it but the reviews look good. As with any contract, read the fine print and check out the yard yourself for safety issues.

So there you go! If you have any questions about our training, please feel free to contact us at www.furrylogic.ca.