Helen's training experience today has prompted a question as it sounded like a bit of a marathon in unfamiliar territory. How long is the ideal training session? I've heard 'little and often' frequently but I guess it's a balance between the dog getting it and stopping before you wear either of your brains or patience out. What does everybody do? My latest experience with a trainer has been to do quite short sessions which always end on a successful note. Sometimes they're as little as 15 minutes. But formal classes were an hour and sometimes I felt Riley was done before the end.
Re: Ideal length of training sessions? I think that depends on the age of the dog and how long his/her concentration span is. When I first started with Murffi he was just over a year old but he could only cope with very short sessions similar to a puppy, no more than 5 minutes at a time. The advantage of having several dogs to train is that I can change dogs whenever necessary and give everyone several short sessions.
Re: Ideal length of training sessions? I do a few minutes a day around thenhouse and garden, and also when out on walks. Our training class lasts for one and a half hours! But since there are eight dogs there, it's not too exhausting - there's a fair bit of hanging around and watching the others at times. It seems to work for us.
Re: Ideal length of training sessions? I do quite a few sessions throughout the day with my two, depends what we're doing, I guess some stuff is more fun as well as being training and they do that for a bit longer, but about twenty minutes seems to be the maximum for Brodick to not lose focus, whereas Cuillin never seems to want to stop...This morning I knew it was time to stop doing dummy stuff when Brodick returned from his turn at Hidden Dummy Find at high speed with a wicked grin on, his tail going like the clappers, and my mobile phone in his mouth instead of the dummy. and then flew round the house with it...anything more 'thinky' or new and they both get quite tired much quicker...
Re: Ideal length of training sessions? Ours vary with what we're doing, how interested the dogs are, how quickly they respond etc. But anything from 5 mins to half an hour, rarely more. We have a hide'n'go-find session as well, outside or inside. Fantastic for me when the weather is dire and/or my legs aren't working and it keeps the dogs on their toes.
Re: Ideal length of training sessions? Naughty Brodick! ;D Looks like we're probably on the right path with a few short sessions a day, some on walks and some at home. Thanks all
Re: Ideal length of training sessions? When I first took Sam for one to one, he was about 9 months old and found the hour far too long to concentrate, after half an hour he began to mess about , lost his spark . We then began to do the same, one or two shorter times, in the garden, in the field , wherever . Now, at 20 months, he will happily do training all day, if I had the energy :
