Anyone who has ever embarked on the journey of starting a savings account knows that it takes a while to see the benefits of regular deposits. It takes time and tenacity to build an account that yields appreciable interest. However, when the effort of saving begins to pay off it is definitely rewarding and makes us want to keep saving!
When we begin a training journey with a dog it can seem like we are getting nowhere. We do the exercises, we go to class, we read the notes, we try the strategies at home. And sometimes nothing changes. At this point, many people give up. They decide that training just doesn’t work or they try a different trainer in the hopes that someone else knows the magic secret to success.
There are certainly times when a trainer and client are not a good fit and making a change is the best course of action. However, switching trainers rarely makes up for the real cause of unsuccessful training ventures. And giving up certainly doesn’t get you where you want to be!
If we look at training dogs like making deposits into a savings account we will see that it’s those regular, steady deposits that finally yield interest, or in the case of dog training, RESULTS!
So how does a busy person with many responsibilities fit consistent dog training into their schedule?
Anyone who has time to brush their teeth on a daily basis has time to make deposits into the training account.
The fact is, you are training your dog every single day whether you realize it or not! No, you did not consciously train your dog to jump on people, but the behavior has been reinforced (it pays off for the dog) in one way or another. If it’s possible to reinforce jumping, it’s possible to reinforce something else like paws on the floor. It’s possible to reinforce the behavior you want in a way that the dog finds rewarding.
If you make deposits into the “paws on the floor” account it will eventually pay off. But here’s the deal. The “jumping up” account has already had MANY deposits and so you may be seeing compound interest at work. It’s going to take some time and a lot of regular deposits before the interest starts to show up in the “paws on the floor” account. Remember that just because you don’t see the interest right away, it doesn’t mean that the deposits are worthless or that they somehow didn’t get into the account.
A switch to making deposits into the “paws on the floor” (or other desirable behavior) account might take a little planning, but when things are set up for success it’s not hard to make several small deposits every single day! Will you see magic results the first week? Probably not. But when the interest begins to grow and compound you’ll see those payoffs!
A note here for anyone with a puppy. It’s so much easier to make small regular training account deposits before there is an accumulation of deposits into undesirable behavior accounts!
It’s definitely a mindset shift from “training” 30 minutes per day to making small deposits into the training account. However, we promise that it’s a lot less stressful and the results over time are worth it!
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