I’ve been training professionally since the early 1990s, and much has changed in the industry during that time. When I first started, positive training methods were largely focused on lure-reward. Of course, we have many more strategies and techniques in our toolbox now! Over the years, I’ve changed many of the techniques I use to teach behaviors in favor of clicker training strategies that are faster or more effective. However, I’ve also made some broader changes in my approach to training as a whole. Here are four:
1. Giving Dogs More Time to Mature
Allowing dogs more time to mature can prevent problems with both public access training and task training. Introducing certain tasks too early actually makes some aspects of the training more difficult. For instance, attempting to teach a retrieve when a young dog is still mouthing excessively can lead to unwanted behaviors like chewing on retrieve objects. This can be a difficult behavior to reduce once it is in place. By waiting until the dog is past the early mouthing stage before working on retrieves, this problem can often be completely avoided. Similarly, teaching alerts to adolescent dogs who are exhibiting a lot of attention-seeking behavior risks the dog offering false alerts simply for attention and rewards. These can be difficult to fade for some owner trainers, for instance with a hearing alert where the handler may not be able to readily confirm whether there was a sound.
Allowing for time for the dog to mature is also important for public access training. Adolescent dogs may go into fearful or more sensitive periods at times that can be difficult to predict. A scary public access experience during this time may lead to long-lasting fearful behavior. While some service dog programs and individuals hope that their dog will “graduate” at age 2, the reality is that many dogs need more time to fully mature. Focusing on environments where the dog can succeed builds their confidence. This can lead to a smoother, faster training process once the dog is truly ready for more challenging settings. Additionally, it may reduce the risk that the service dog has to be retired early due to stress-related behavior problems.
2. Spending Extra Time on Foundation Skills
Behaviors like nose targeting, chin rests and paws on a platform may seem simple, but they’re essential for many more advanced service dog tasks and skills. Often, trainers rush through these foundation skills because initially teaching them does not take long. However, taking a shortcut by not fully working on fluency and reliability with these skills will ultimately slow down the task training process. These basic behaviors serve as building blocks for many more complex tasks. If they are not trained to fluency, they will need to be retrained each time they are used to teach another task. Taking the extra time to ensure they are solid at the outset makes training more complex behaviors go much faster. The end results are also cleaner and more precise.
3. Planning Before Training
It’s tempting to dive right into training, but taking time to plan the training process in advance makes a difference. Consider the sequence of the skills you will teach, in addition to how you will teach them. For example, as I mentioned, foundation skills are critical in the training process, so it is a good idea to keep in mind which skills require which foundation behaviors. If your dog will need to learn to back up, but will also need to learn to pull, it makes sense to train the backing up skill first, because it will also be useful when you start to teach the pull. On the other hand, be mindful of skills that could lead to confusion for the dog. For instance, spending a lot of time on a “take and hold” behavior and then immediately moving to a task that requires a nose push makes it likely the dog will offer a grab instead of a nose touch
Additionally, consider details of the training session itself. For example, plan out how and where you should deliver rewards to get a smoother training loop. For some behaviors, you may find it better to toss the treat or deliver it at a distance from your body, while other times rewarding in position will offer an advantage. Every aspect of the process can be important: the flooring, the temperature of the training environment, distractions, and your position relative to the dog. Also, think about the type of treats you are using, as well as the activities and exercise the dog had before the session. Lastly, how long will the session be and what type of decompression activity will be implemented afterward? While this list seems lengthy, it only takes a few moments to consider all the pieces, and this planning can make a big difference in the success of the training.
While it’s impossible to predict every challenge, and adjustments will be needed during sessions, planning in advance often saves time and helps make training more efficient. Owner-trainers with limited energy or time due to fatigue in particular will benefit greatly from this increased efficiency. This is also very important for trainers who work for service dog programs in large kennel settings where there is only a limited amount of time the trainer has with the dog.
4. Recording My Training
One of the biggest changes I’ve made is recording and reviewing my training sessions consistently. Trainers often focus on the dog’s behavior, but to train efficiently and effectively, we need to pay attention to our own mechanics. Video review can reveal subtle mistakes—mistimed clicks or small positional changes—that can hinder progress. Recording sessions allows trainers to catch mistakes and habits that are easily missed in the moment. By reducing mechanical errors and becoming more precise, the training process becomes faster and more effective.
Ultimately, training a service dog is a dynamic and evolving process. By staying open to change and continuously refining our approach, we set ourselves, our clients and their dogs up for long-term success.