MetroSniff's 5 Cs of Dog Training - Consistency

5 Cs, consistency, Fundamentals - By Staff Writer on Wednesday, June 23, 2010 - 16:08

Once you have delivered a confident and clear message you must remain consistent with your training.  Your dog will not get the lesson on the first try and once he does get it he will need ample reinforcement to get it in his head and make it habit.  Each time you have a training session with your dog you should keep your message consistent with how it was taught last time.  Never change commands on your dog, if you had your dog bark when you said the word "bark" do not change it to "speak."  If you have more than one person training your dog make sure you are on the same page and using the same commands, signals and techniques.  If you have two separate signals for "sit" your dog will never know which one to sit to, so stay consistent.

Because your dog is unable to understand different situations or people mean different behaviors you need to keep the training consistent for all situations.  For example if you are teaching your dog not to jump on people when they come in the front door you need to keep it consistent for everyone and every situation.  Even if you are coming home after an extended vacation and really missed your dog or your best friend comes over and says she doesn't mind your dogs exuberant hello, you need to make sure you do not let your dog jump or he will be confused thinking its ok to jump up any time he feels like it. 

In addition to a consistent message you should try to keep a consistent schedule for training.  Dogs have a very strong internal clock, it is how your dog knows you will be coming home for work at 5:15 every day, by setting this clock with a strong schedule you will help your dog learn quicker.  Keeping on schedule will engrain the training messages into your dog's life.  The schedule is particularly important if you have a puppy and are potty training.  The more rigid the schedule and training the quicker the potty training.