One of the biggest mistakes dog owners make when they train is training too long in one session.  Have you ever felt like your dog was going “backwards” toward the end of your training session?  This is probably because your training session was too long.  This is especially true for puppies.  After all you don’t expect a young child to have the same attention span as an adult.  By the same token a puppy may not be able to focus as long as an older dog.

It’s very easy, as a dog owner, to get caught up in training and want to keep going and going and going or work on various different issues all in one session.  This can be a huge mistake that actually holds your dog back from making progress.

Try breaking your training sessions up to much shorter time frames and do them 3-4 times a day vs 1 long training session.  You can get a lot done in just 3-5 minutes 3-4 times a day.  The breaks in between don’t have to be hours and hours and hours long, in some cases, an hour will do.

You may also see much better results when you work just ONE thing in any given training session.  The clearer your expectations are (what you want) the faster your dog will learn.  If you expect one thing this minute then something else the next you may just be setting yourself and your dog up for a lot of frustration.  For instance, if you want to work on stopping your dog from jumping up on people or on you, ONLY work that particular correction in any given training session.  Don’t work on jumping, barking, sitting, and staying all at once.  Just concentrate on one thing at a time.

This may not be an easy way to train, especially if you’re busy, but training your dog does take commitment and dedication from you if you want the best results!

Need guidance with training your young pitbull?  Your Puppy 8 Weeks to 8 Months is a great DVD that can give you exact instructions on training your dog.