I thought this week I would be very authentic so that people get a feel of what a dog trainer does with their dog.  You can get a feel of how much training is good to do in a day and how much exercise is good for your dog.  Remember I have a very active dog, a Border Collie.

First of all I don’t have a consistent schedule by any means, however training my dog and exercising him is very important to me!  This is a generalized schedule:

I get up in the morning anywhere from 6:30 to 9:00 AM.  I play fetch with my dog indoors, run with him outside on or off leash, or take him for walk.  Generally this lasts anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour.

In the afternoon I play another round of fetch or walk my dog.  Sometimes I will go on a short hike.  If I get too busy at times this will not always happen.  However, fetch is generally pretty easy to do if I am on the phone. This can last 10-20 minutes usually.

In the evening I play fetch, walk my dog, or go on a hike.  This generally lasts 20-30 minutes.

On the weekends my schedule is a bit different.  The morning exercise is mainly the same.  Saturday I may go on a longer hike or run for an hour or longer.

Sunday is definitely off leash time at a dog park and flyball, a dog sport.

During all of these walk and play times I train my dog.  So I incorporate training when I am already doing a fun activity with my dog.  There are times where I may do trick training for 30-60 minutes.  Generally I do short training sessions within the playtime, walk time, run time, or hike time.  I always work on loose leash walking during on leash hikes and recall work during off leash walks.

Training can be fun and easy to fit in your day.  Allow it to be easy!  If you are overwhelmed with training contact me and I am happy to come over and help you train your dog while you are away during the day 🙂  Support can create dog training to be easier than if you are doing it all alone.

Happy Training

Johanna Teresi, Owner and Professional Trainer of Four Legged Scholars LLC