How to Prepare For Your Dog Training Session

Michael Baugh CDBC

Dog training on-the-fly can look too much like testing and not enough like teaching. Sure, there are some circumstances where a properly reinforced single-event training moment is acceptable, even preferred (example: randomly calling your dog to you for a click and treat). Most of the time, though, I recommend well-planned brief sessions for training with your dog, seven to ten minutes in duration, one to three times per day.

What Should You do Before Starting a Dog Training Session?

✅ Make sure you have all the props you’ll need nearby. (for example, your dog’s mat, or target stick)

✅ Have treats and your clicker if you are using one. (Carry your treat bag around for an hour before a session so your dog doesn’t automatically flip into “training mode.”)

✅ Create a low-stress, minimally distracting place to train.

✅ Imagine what a successful session will look like. Visualization works.

✅ Take a breath. Relax. I like to do a brief meditation before training. It helps me focus and pay attention.

Begin.

When we set ourselves and our dogs up for success, training is fun. It’s not always easy, but the challenges are easier to solve. Enjoy this moment. Keep in mind how your session connects to your larger dog training goals without getting lost in the future, or getting frustrated because you’re not there yet. Teach in the here and now. The days with your dog are passing, and this is all part of the joy you share with each other.

Michael Baugh teaches dog training in Houston TX. He specializes in aggressive dog training.

Dog Training – How We Show Up Matters

Michael Baugh CDBC

Let’s think about how we begin our dog training sessions. Are we scrambling around looking for that plastic bag of treats? Are we distracted by our phones, our spouses, our kids? Maybe we’re just caught up in our own heads, thinking about other stuff.

It is a disservice to both our dogs and ourselves to show up like a maniac on the run. Be honest, we wouldn’t tolerate that level of inattention from our dogs. We should do better.

And yes, I get it. We live in a fast-paced, everything all at once world. Life is hard. Things are changing, getting worse, rarely better. It’s a lot. Sometimes it’s too much.

That’s all the more reason to give yourself (and your dog) a nice, thoughtful time to learn together. Take a moment. Think it through. You deserve something good right now.

Here’s how I like to approach a structured training session with my dog.

Begin with wonder. You’ve heard me say this before. Our dogs are fantastic creatures. They are intelligent, emotional, athletic, and social. Begin training in awe of that. This is a sacred moment.

Come prepared. Have a proper treat bag — a fabric one that you can wear or attach to your clothing. Use healthful food. If you are training with props (e.g., a mat), have them neatly set to the side.

Be curious. Ask questions? Is now the right time to train? How does my dog look? Is he hungry, tired, excited? Should we burn off energy with active training? Do we need to play or take a walk first because we want to train relaxation? Your curiosity is a sign of awareness and your open mind.

Arrive. Take a few deep breaths. Let your shoulders drop. Smile. Look at your dog. We are here right now. Be present and joyful and relaxed. This is what our dog deserves: our full intelligence, our sharp attention, and our kind guidance.

Training is a conversation with a dear friend who will never speak a word to us. Consider that for a moment. Dog training is not a menu of commands. It’s not a list of problems to solve. It is a connection. Training is how we communicate with our dogs.

This is a gift — these morsels of time in a day or a week or a life that sometimes feels like it’s devouring us. How wonderful that we’ve set this time aside to teach and learn with our dog. How do we approach such a gift if not with humility and sincere joy? Show up. Time is slipping away. Show up like you wish everything else would stop and this one moment would last forever.

Michael Baugh specializes in aggressive dog training in Sedona, Arizona and Houston.

Change (The Nature of Dog Behavior)

Michael Baugh CDBC CPDT-KSA

Our dogs’ behavior changes. That’s good news, and it is bad news. Behavior changes in ways we want it to. Think: training. Our dogs’ behavior changes in ways we don’t want it to as well. Think: why is he suddenly barking at visitors?

Our dogs are always learning from us, from others, and from their environment. Changing behavior is inevitable. It is part of nature, like gravity and the rising sun.

One of my favorite authors, Octavia Butler, wrote: “The only lasting truth is change. God is change.” (Parable of the Sower). That might not set well with some of my readers. So, think of it metaphorically. Change is the one constant, from animals to plants to the landscape itself. Everything changes. For believers, it would be hard to ignore the hand of God in all that. For nonbelievers, it is awe-inspiring nonetheless.

Change, specifically the promise of changing behavior, inspires my work with you and your dogs. Of course, change is frightening sometimes. (Why is this happening? It hasn’t happened before.) I choose to look at change with wonder. (Look at what is happening now. This is new. How cool.)

“All that you touch, you change. All that you change changes you.” That’s Octavia Butler, too. We influence change because we are part of this living world. We certainly influence changes in our dogs’ behavior. I see that every day in my work and in my own home. It’s a marvel if you think about it.

My dog Charlie is a champ at coming when called and he loves lying on his mat. He’s also taking on air travel, long road trips, and hikes up desert rocks (no small challenge for a three-legged dog).

On the surface, it looks like nothing more than cues and treats. That’s part of dog training, yes. But zoom out. Change begets change. The little ways we set up our dogs’ world can have huge positive effects. How can we change the settings we create for them? What slight changes can we make in our own behavior to make learning easier for our dogs? Where can we change things to ensure our dogs’ success?

Join me this new year in embracing change. Some of it is scary. I get it. Much of it, most certainly the behavior change work we do with our dogs, is waiting with joy and surprise. Teach. Love. Teach again. Love some more. Marvel at the change. Our dogs are changing. We, too, are changing.

“God is Change — Seed to tree, tree to forest; Rain to river, river to sea; Grubs to bees, bees to swarm. From one, many; from many, one; Forever uniting, growing, dissolving — forever changing. The universe is God’s self-portrait.” Octavia Butler.

Michael Baugh specializes in aggressive dog training in Houston, Texas.