Top 3 Ways to Ruin Your Dog's Performance

When you invest time and effort into dog training, it can be discouraging if you don't see desired results. To avoid ruining your dog's performance, here are my top three not to teach your dog when starting training;

1. The worst thing is to have your dog FOCUS ON YOU from the source. This breaks the flow of energy, as most dogs need to extract energy from something else, not you. It's important to let your dog be attracted to the source of energy that they love and then extract that energy for useful purposes later on.
2. The second mistake is to LOAD A MARKER before your dog has actually learned anything. Shift the priority to developing the technical movement first, otherwise, you are potentially marking nothing, likely confusing the dog and most often diluting the power of a mark. Introducing a marker had been proven to be one of the easiest concepts for a dog to comprehend. Focus on developing the skills and techniques first
3. The third mistake is to think that you need to TRAIN YOUR DOG TO STAY in position early on. This is a skill that can be introduced well after building up your dog's performance techniques. It's better to reward action, dynamics, and speed rather than passive behavior, otherwise, you are actually slowing down your dog.

By avoiding these three mistakes, you'll set yourself and your dog on a path to better long-term results with your dog's performance.