Patience, Consistency, & Follow Through - These three terms are a part of every single lesson I teach, and they are the most important keys to being a successful trainer and pet parent. Patience is key for allowing your dog time to understand new rules and behaviors, and your patient approach will pay you back in the end when you have a well behaved dog that loves you. Rules without consistency leads to misunderstandings that don’t need to happen; being consistent will allow your dog to learn faster and not slip up in the future. Always following through when giving your dog a command is important so that they don’t learn they can get away with ignoring you, a great dog will only stay great if they respect you. If there was only one thing I could tell all my students one last time, it would be - “Remain patient, maintain consistency, and always follow through.”

Patience is so important because we are trying to teach an animal with an approximate intelligence of a 4 year old child that cannot speak or understand our language. When using that frame of mind it becomes obvious that even when not successful with a new behavior, the mind of a dog is constantly working to figure out what we want. It’s only fair that we understand any shortcomings on the dog's part in regards to not learning a new behavior, falls directly on us since we are their teachers. The idea of patience applies to all scenarios, short and long term, and there are infinite examples of how it can benefit both the dog and human in this symbiotic relationship. It is hard to put what “patience” means into words in regards to working with dogs because it encompasses so many things, but the best way I can explain it is to always remain calm and forget about the passage of time. You cannot rush the learning process and getting frustrated never helps. At first it is difficult for many people to be truly patient, but it gets easier, especially when you see the results.

Being consistent has very different challenges from patience, but it is just as important. The best way to be consistent is to create routines and rules. (I know, sounds like fun, right?) For example, if you are trying to teach your dog to stop jumping on guests, but no matter how often you practice, you aren’t getting results… Your problem may lie in a family member coming into the house and playing with the dog allowing them to jump up and thus destroying the consistency. Even if 1 out of every 10 times the dog is rewarded for this jumping behavior, it will never stop because they know there might be a benefit. Letting everyone know the rules and creating routines to avoid any mistakes, creates rules in the dog's mind that they're aware they always have to follow.

Follow through can be one of the most difficult pillars of this lesson because it goes against the natural human instinct to be lazy (you all know what I’m talking about haha). When you tell your dog to leave something alone and they look you right in the eyes while continuing to chew on that thing, and then you decide it’s not the end of the world that they’re chewing up some arbitrary object, you just lost. Your dog needs to respect your word and know that it’s as good as gold because as soon as they figure out your word carries as much weight as a bag with a hole, they’re going to walk all over you. If you are laying down new ground rules and teaching new behaviors, your dog needs to know there is always a reason to do what you are asking. Follow through is the insurance policy that reinforces the fact that we are in charge because we are smarter and have the best interests of everyone in mind, otherwise your dog will run on pure instinct and react to whatever they feel like. For example, even if there was an old pair of slippers you didn’t care about and your dog decides to destroy them, use them for “leave it” training and never let your dog chew on it as a toy or they might start destroying other things that aren’t theirs.

If there is only one thing you take away from my lessons, let it be “Patience, Consistency, & Follow Through”. This mantra will carry you through your dog training and so many other things in life, and it makes me a stronger and better person every day. Patience will help you understand your dog and allow you to truly enjoy every second you spend together. Consistency will help your dog understand you and the rules that they need to follow. Follow through will provide the respect necessary for your dog to listen to you the first time you ask them to do something. When you master these three pillars, you will be the best dog trainer you can be.