How is Dog Training Like a Diet?

I know this may sound funny at first, but its an analogy that will make great sense once understood.  During my many years of teaching martial arts, my students came to understand it quite well.  Simply stated, as long as you're on a diet, you're ok.  Once you stop, you start gaining weight again.

So lets apply that to dog training.  The basics to training a dog is to get the dog to understand what you want him to do and then have him do it.  If I tell Spot to sit and he sits, he gets rewarded and knows he did a good thing.  If he hears the command repeatedly and does it correctly, he gets rewarded repeatedly.  Are you starting to see the pattern?  If, after the initial training phase, I assume my dog knows his commands and then don't repeat them, Spot will forget.  It will be a slow process, but eventually the training will deteriorate.  

It is highly unfair to teach a dog something and expect them to remember it without continually reinforcing it.  If I ask you your first phone number, I bet you can't remember it.  That's kinda how it is for your dog.  The best thing you can do is repeat the training commands often, and make a game out of it.

Many times when I walk my dog, I will, for no reason put him on a sit stay, a down stay, have him heel, etc.  When I say for no reason, I mean that it is not necessary for anything but reinforcing his training.  By repeating his commands and rewarding him for correctly doing what I have taught him, I am strengthening his core ability to respond when and if I need him to.  

The amount of effort people spend on getting their dogs trained is contradictory to the amount of effort they spend maintaining that training.  Of course, coming full circle, people spend thousands on diets and gym memberships in January only to have to start all over again the next year.

If you'd like to be sure that your dog maintains his abilities, repeat his training regularly.  It is a fun exercise and bonds owner and companion very well.