24/08/2025
This is how I train, but if it written down you can go back to it, which I hope you will.
The Power of Habit in Dog Training: A Double-Edged Sword
Habits Drive Change
If there’s one thing both humans and dogs have in common, it’s this: we’re creatures of habit. You and I have rituals we don’t even think about, brushing our teeth, checking our phones before bed, grumbling at the kettle for taking too long. Dogs are no different. Their habits might look like sitting politely for a biscuit, or, less charmingly, pulling you down the street like a sled dog.
The point is this: behaviours repeated often enough become automatic. That can either work brilliantly in your favour, or it can make your life considerably more difficult. Training is nothing more than the art of steering habits in the right direction, yours and your dog’s.
And yes, your habits matter every bit as much as your dog’s. If you’re inconsistent, if you allow certain things “just this once,” you’re shaping habits whether you mean to or not. The question is: are you shaping the ones you actually want?
Why Small Steps and Consistency Matter
Think of training as compound interest. You don’t dump a fortune into the account overnight; you put in a little, regularly, and the results snowball. With dogs, starting small and staying consistent pays off far more than heroic bursts of training followed by neglect.
• Start Small: Teaching loose-lead walking? Don’t expect a flawless 30-minute stroll on Day One. Begin with five minutes in a quiet area. Reward calm, correct positioning, and quit before it falls apart.
• Consistency is Crucial: Dogs don’t thrive on “sometimes.” If you don’t want your dog to jump up, then the rule must hold every single time. “Just this once” is canine code for “always.”
The magic lies not in massive sessions but in short, repeated, reliable patterns. A habit formed through 100 small repetitions is far stronger than one haphazard attempt at greatness.
Why Handler Habits Matter More Than You Think
Many problem behaviours don’t arise because the dog is stubborn, wilful, or dim, they arise because the handler has unwittingly allowed poor habits to take root.
• Owner Inconsistency: One day you correct pulling because you’re feeling patient, the next day you let it slide because you’re in a rush. From your dog’s perspective, it’s Russian roulette.
• Reinforcing the Wrong Thing: If a dog jumps up and you give attention, be that laughter, fussing, or even scolding, you’ve rewarded the behaviour. Dogs don’t discriminate between “good” attention and “bad” attention; it’s all data that says, “this works.”
Solution: Develop your training habits
Handlers need habits every bit as much as dogs do. Decide how you’ll respond to a behaviour and stick to it religiously.
• Ignore unwanted behaviours like jumping.
• Reinforce the ones you want, such as sitting calmly.
• Avoid emotional outbursts, dogs read patterns, not moods.
Make your responses automatic. If you need to stop and think every time, inconsistency will creep in.
The Double-Edged Sword of Habits
Habits are either your greatest ally or your fiercest enemy. Good habits give you reliability, calm, and cooperation. Bad ones give you frustration, chaos, and more retraining than you care to imagine.
The Trouble with Bad Habits
Once an unwanted behaviour has been practised enough, it takes on a life of its own. Dogs don’t need you to approve the rehearsal, they’ll self-reinforce simply because it’s rewarding in itself.
• Pulling on the lead: Each time the dog drags forward and gets to sniff that lamp post, the behaviour strengthens.
• Jumping up: If it’s ever greeted with a pat, a smile, or even a squeal, the dog learns that this is a legitimate way to engage.
• Door bolting: If racing out gets them the thrill of the chase, it’s a jackpot habit.
Untraining is like chiselling away stone, it’s possible, but it’s far more labour-intensive than preventing the carving in the first place.
Prevention is King
It’s much easier to prevent than to cure. From Day One, you are either reinforcing the behaviours you want or unintentionally fuelling the ones you don’t. Every repetition, good or bad, leaves its mark.
Practical Tips for Building Good Training Habits
Here’s where the theory meets the field.
1. Set Clear Goals: Decide exactly what behaviours you’re reinforcing. For example, “dog must sit before meals” means meals never appear without a sit, no exceptions.
2. Short, Regular Sessions: Five to ten minutes, repeated often, beats one marathon session. Frequency builds fluency.
3. Consistency Over Perfection: Don’t chase perfection in one go. Chase consistent practice. Small wins, compounded, become habits.
4. Everyone On Board: Training fails when rules vary by household member. If one person sneaks food under the table, your “no begging” rule is doomed.
5. Reward What You Want: Dogs don’t magically know which behaviour pleases you. Make it obvious, food, toys, play, or praise, whichever motivates your dog most.
6. Manage the Environment: Don’t give bad habits a stage. If visitors cause your dog to leap about, keep them on a lead until you’ve installed calmer greeting rituals.
Final Thoughts
Habits are the bedrock of dog training. The good news? With small, consistent steps, they can work wonders. The bad news? Allow the wrong ones to form, and you’ll be spending months unravelling them.
Your job as a handler is twofold:
1. Build reliable, positive habits in your dog.
2. Build disciplined, consistent habits in yourself.
Get both right, and you’ll enjoy a partnership rooted in trust, predictability, and mutual respect. Get them wrong, and you’ll be endlessly firefighting behaviours that were preventable from the start.
Remember: it’s easier to form a habit than to break one. So start small, be consistent, and never underestimate the power of those everyday choices. Your dog is always learning, whether you’re paying attention or not.
Or, put more bluntly: your dog’s habits are a reflection of your own.
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