Too Busy to Train? Simple-Yet-Effective Dog Training for Busy People

Date: 2024-10-17   |   Author: Beth Dowbiggin

Many of us are busy and overwhelmed with our ever-growing to-do lists. Devoting extra time in our already-jam-packed day to train our dogs can feel totally impossible. So how do busy, caring humans find the time to meet our dog’s training needs throughout the day? Here are some tips for building behaviours and giving your dog mental enrichment without adding extra time.

Capturing: a Simple-Yet-Effective Training Technique

Capturing is a training technique that refers to marking and rewarding a behaviour that your dog  Think of capturing like taking a photo of the behaviour you want, but instead of a camera you are using a clicker (or verbal marker) and a treat or other reward.

Benefits of capturing: no need to shape complex behaviours; helps us hone our observation skills; focuses on positive reinforcement; a great relationship-building exercise; and a great way to integrate a new dog or puppy into the household.

Kathy Sdao’s SMART x 50 Protocol is a structured training protocol that uses capturing to build desirable behaviours quickly and easily. SMART stands for See, Mark, and Reward Training, and the “50” refers to 50 times a day.

Easy, Valuable, and Versatile Behaviours to Teach Your Dog

1. The Whiplash Turn:  If you only teach your dog one behaviour, it should be this! Instead of training separate cues for recall, leave-it, eye contact, and redirecting, you can train just one behaviour that covers it all. The key to success is choosing a novel, unique recall cue.

• toss a treat a few feet away from you for your dog to eat
• wait until they turn back to you; click the moment their head swivels to look at you (we are clicking for re-orienting to the handler)
• toss another treat to reinforce and to reset the dog
• repeat x 5
• when your dog is reliably turning to you every time after eating their treat, add your verbal cue (hint: try a brand-new cue such as a funny sound): toss the treat away and allow your dog to eat it, then call your dog using your chosen recall cue
• click and treat for them turning back to you

 2. Hand-targeting (the “touch” cue) is easy to train because it takes advantage of our dog’s natural curiosity. It can be used for recall or redirecting a dog, to maneuver your dog without pushing or pulling, and to teach nervous dogs that an extended human hand is an opportunity for treats.

• Hold your hand out away from your dog, palm flat
• Mark and reward for your dog touching your hand with their nose; aim for 5 reps
• Now add cue ‘touch” as your dog moves towards your hand

 3. Ping Pong Pattern Game: This game uses calming, predictable movement patterns to build attention and focus in highly-distracting or worrying environments.

Additional Time-Saving Tips

1. Keep training sessions short and sweet: break training tasks into 30–60 second sessions. Aim for 5 minutes total per day.
2. Train during walks or during games of fetch: no need to add additional time to your day.
3. Hire a professional: if you want to check “train the dog” off your to-do list, consider a day school program.