In this video I'm going to tell you about an easy to remember acronym called the
T.R.A.I.N Principle.
It's basically a five step teaching plan for all of your puppy training basics.
Now, training will give you reliable results, but following our T.R.A.I.N.
Acronym,
we'll give your puppy reliable results no matter where they are and no matter
what kind of distractions are around.
I'm Ken Steepe and welcome back to McCann dogs.
In our training facility,
we've helped more than 90,000 dog owners to overcome their dog training
challenges. So if this is your first time on our youtube channel,
make sure you hit that subscribe button so that I can help you to have a well
behaved four legged family member applying this acronym to each step of your
training is going to get you reliable results.
So many times on the channel I'm answering questions or comments in the comment
section about a dog who has reliable recall in the backyard,
but as soon as the person goes to a bigger environment, that dog doesn't listen.
Someone who has a puppy who will sit on command on a verbal command,
great in the kitchen, but as soon as they go to the front yard,
it's a little bit less reliable.
And applying this train formula to your training is going to get those reliable
results. So let's jump right into it. Now,
the first letter in our train formula is teaching.
You would have seen that one in the thumbnail teach.
The teaching phase is the first step in teaching our dog a new skill or
behavior. You're going to use whatever method you want to show them,
ultimately how to be right. You're going to be luring your puppy into that set,
for example. So let's just use "sits" for example.
You're gonna show them ultimately what the position is or what the behavior is
that you want from them. Now,
something that you need to be really aware of is that you're doing this in a
distraction free environment to begin. You are, uh,
being very cautious and aware of how you're rewarding them when you're rewarding
your puppy.
But this is the point where you're going to start to show your puppy how to be
successful. The other thing you need to be very aware of is the, at this point,
your puppy is really going to be picking up on all of your cues,
so be very aware of what you're doing with your body that your timing is great.
Remember it's sit, then show your puppy how to sit.
This is the stage that is going. You're going to build on an actually,
this is the stage that most people stop training and that's why we need the rest
of the letters in the acronym. Next up is the R,
so the R in our train acronym stands for rehearsal.
Repetition is so important with your puppy training.
This is often why we suggest doing several five minute sessions over the course
of the day. Maybe while you're getting your tea ready in the morning,
you can do a short training session with your puppy and then at lunchtime or
after you get home from work,
you can spend a few minutes doing the same thing as,
because repetition is widely accepted as the best way for teaching your puppy to
have a reliable skill and have a reliable understanding of that skill. Uh,
puppies don't generalize like humans do.
So it's really important that we really show our puppies that every time I say
this word,
this is the expectation for you that you're going to do this behavior.
So rehearsal is so important.
The A and R train acronym stands for adding distractions. Now,
if you're training your puppy, uh,
with the expectation that they're going to do the same behavior,
regardless of the environment is there, you know, you,
they're going to sit in your kitchen, they're going to sit in the backyard,
they're going to sit in the park.
Then you really need to add distractions for your puppies so that they
understand how to be successful no matter what's going on around them.
This is something that I struggled with as a first time dog owner before I
became a dog trainer because I had Degan my black lab and she loved to go on her
crate when I'd say, Hey Dee, go to your crate.
But when I had some friends and family over and I said,
you guys are going to think this is really cool.
Hey d could go to your crate and she didn't know what to do.
What I realized now is that I had never practiced the skill with any other
distractions around.
This is where things seem to fall apart for a lot of people.
Don't underestimate your opportunity to set up some distractions.
So if you're teaching your puppy to sit, for example,
maybe you can set their favorite toy at a distance where you can be successful,
you can ask them to sit and then you can rehearse the behavior.
Use some of the things in your puppy's environment that they like or maybe at
some point that they love to increase the challenge for them a little bit.
And that brings us to the,
I now is a dog owner who loves to teach their dogs new skills, tricks,
behaviors.
The eye in the train acronym is going to be probably the most exciting.
I think it will be the most exciting for you as well.
The eye in the train acronym stands for increase expectations and increasing
expectations for your puppy means that you can have some fun.
You can be creative with your puppy training and I love this point. You know,
maybe your puppy, let's go back to the [inaudible].
Maybe your puppy understands the sit now and you've practiced it lots of times
and they're starting to do a really great job when there's some distractions in
the room, but can your puppy sit when you're crouching?
Can your puppy sit when your sitting on the ground?
Can your puppy sit when they're on carpet tile?
Maybe you can ask them to sit on a park bench. Whatever the thing is,
now's the time to, you know,
really start to get creative with your puppy training so that there's a deeper
understanding of that word.
Maybe I have the expectation that my puppy sits a little bit faster and if they
don't sit as quickly as I'd like, I'll just praise them.
But if they offer a really fast sit,
I might jackpot reward them with multiple treats.
Maybe I can increase the expectations by making the distractions even more
challenging. They did great when a tennis ball was 15 feet away,
but can they sit and remain in position when I roll a tennis ball by, you know,
you're really gonna start to see your puppy's confidence start to build at this
point.
This is where you're giving them the opportunity to make a choice and you're
rewarding them like crazy when they make the right ones.
So increasing expectations, uh, not only is it fun for you,
but there are so many important benefits to your puppy training that it's really
an important step.
Here's where the wheels fall off for most of our puppy trainers.
I would say the majority of the comments on our youtube channel and a lot of the
questions that we get asked in our puppy training school is about the end in our
train acronym that n stands for new places.
And that doesn't just mean practicing the same skill in a few different
environments.
Now one element of new places is working on these exercises in different
locations. You know, take your show on the road,
maybe you can go to your local pet store and work on that sit scale that we've
been talking about.
But the Anand new places is something that you can do with your dog for the
duration of their life.
This is really where you're going to have this opportunity to work in the skill
and remind your dog exactly what your expectations are, no matter where you are.
Uh, you know, no matter what the environment is,
dog skills are kind of like use it or lose it.
So you may find over time that you recall is just a little bit slower that your
cit doesn't really happen as snappily as it did.
This is the opportunity for you to identify a training challenge and then work
on it a little bit. This is where, uh, you know,
your dog may have had lots of opportunities to not respond to their name,
so you take two minutes and you just work on it.
This is something that cal and I will often do with our dogs when we're out in a
wide open environment.
Maybe we're walking around the McCann dogs training facility and we'll bring
some treats with us.
We'll call their names and we'll reward our dogs for coming in.
We'll call their names. And if they aren't successful,
if they're still distracted,
we'll put a long line on them and we'll work on that very specifically.
But the end is the opportunity for you to make sure that your dog has a great
response each and every single time dog skills are use it or lose it.
So really focus on practicing. Okay. Finally, some of these skills,
this is where your puppy is going to be that amazing off-leash dog that responds
reliably because you've had the opportunity to really, um,
reinforce the great choices that they make. And if they make a mistake,
you're there to give them the information.
If you're using food in your training,
then you need to have great timing so that you don't become dependent on using
food in your training. Make sure you click that card right there.
If this is your first time on the channel,
make sure you hit that subscribe button.
We publishing videos every single week to help you to have a well behaved four
legged family member. On that note, I'm Ken. I be training.