There are few things in life more joyful than having a dog as part of your family. From cuddles on the couch to long walks in nature, our canine companions have the ability to infuse our lives with so much love, playfulness and affection.
But if you're anything like us, you probably already know that there's one major drawback to being a pet parent — and that's training. Whether you're in the process of learning how to crate train a dog or figuring out how to stop a dog from jumping up, teaching your pup any new skill takes a whole lot of time, patience and consistency.
Thankfully, Bethany Johnson, founder of Walking Dog Training, gets how tough training can be and has shared a helpful post to Instagram where she reveals the one trait we all need to be successful when teaching our dog a new skill or behavior. So, what exactly is that trait? Read on to find out!
"The toughest part about dog training is that you have to be disciplined and that's not easy for a lot of us," Johnson explains.
To highlight how easy it is to slip into bad habits with our dogs, Johnson uses the example of place time. She says that many of us hear trainers talking about replacing couch time with place time, but at the end of a long, hard day, couch time with our dogs often feels more appealing than doing place training.
"I feel the same way about working out," Johnson says. "But if you want to reach your goals you must show up for yourself instead of choosing what's easiest in the moment and we have to do the same for our dogs.
None of us are perfect and sometimes we will choose the couch over place — sniffing over heal - head out the window instead of down in the car — but please start to ask yourself if it's a lack of information that's hindering your progress, or a lack of self discipline because once you take back control of your actions, it's a whole other level of owner empowerment on the other side."
Johnson says to remember that when it comes to training, a little each day adds up to a lot over time. If you're looking for a bunch of great training tips to help you get started, why not check out our guides to how to calm a reactive dog and three of the most common loose leash walking mistakes (and how to fix them).
