Training whislt working full time.

I am curious as to how people find the time to train their dogs when they work full time?

I've had Shadow since she was a pup and found it mightily difficult to find the time to train her. We went to obeidience classess which helped a lot, but she is still not trained to the level I would like.

Personally I would never get a puppy again whilst working full time, as I found it (and still find it) hard work fitting in time to train my dogs.

I now have two dogs Shadow (my almost 2yr old Staffy) and Bandit (a not sure how old xbreed from a rescue). Shadow is fairly trained she knows:

• sit
• stay
• leave
• come
• paw
• down

Bandit knows:

• sit

and thats it.

I am having a nightmare of a time trying to get them both to walk nicely on a lead, walk times have become seriously unenjoyable, I dread them now. The reason I say this is becasue 2 weeks ago whilst walking shadow and bandit, they pulled me of my feet an d I cracked my head on the pavement (trip to casualty).

Trying to seperate them to train them is like pulling teeth, and training them together just doesnt work, e.g i'm trying to train bandit to do down, and shadow tries to steal the treat!

Felling a bit down at the mo, I haven't been on her in ages, and now i bore you all with my rantings, sorry *sigh*.

I just took all mine individually to training classes. Always do a bit of 'training' when out on a walk to so you can fit it in whilst working full time (I used to do that) so dogs got early morning training and whenever I got in in the evening training too.
It can be done but I feel it is better to train a dog individually and making an efort to go out to classes helps enormously.
Becky

It must be hard with two. Have you got a friend who could walk help you walk them taking one each. They only recommend short training sessions 3 times a day of 10 minutes. I did used to walk our last 2 dogs seperately sometimes but it takes longer. Some of the trainers will do one to one sessions to so it is focussed on your dogs only. Good luck.

Hi Rachel it's good to see you.
Firstly considering the health problems you had with Shadow and the chance of a happy life that you gave to this little dog you have done remarkably well

You really do need to train each dog individuallly, once you have got throught the initial training it can form part of the everyday routine to keep it 'topped up'.

Here is Shadowboxers article to puppy training to help with Bandit, and a reply to recent thread on pulling but you will need to be patient and give the method time to work.

Don't be defeatist Rachel, you and your dogs have come a very long way..
http://www.dogsey.com/dog-articles.php?t=14526

http://www.dogsey.com/showpost.php?p...0&postcount=14

I guess I have been lucky, in most instances wherever I worked my dogs went too and training was part of the daily routine .

I train for 15-20 minutes when I get home from work and have had dinner. Don't always feel like it after a 12 hour shift but those days we just do useless tricks that Rupert finds fun and I find it relaxes me. Serious training is done on my days off and the days I'm not exhausted from work.

Can you not put one of the dogs in another room while you train the other? That's all I used to do with the 2 I owned together and it worked well as long as someone didn't let the other in.

hi there,

i work full-time too and i know how difficult it is to fit the training in esp if you have 2 dogs and with the dark nights and mornings too!! but i try and train mine separately. i put them in separate rooms, or have one in the garden and do it that way. i also take sam (my rescue doggie) to training classes 3 times a week in the evenings. on the nights i'm not at training class i play silly games with them, like hide and seek, or putting treats in a plastic tub and they have to work out how to get the treat out! works with mine and tires their minds too! i also teach them both tricks, and maybe do some heel work to music so its a bit of fun for them

A lot of training can be done indoors, or at least started off indoors in between the adverts on telly - honestly

Some of he best training to my mind is done in short bursts of up to maybe 5 minutes at a time. This tends to come naturally if you use a clicker

Good luck

Wys
x

It isn't easy is it - especially in winter.

However, I work full-time and do bits of "obedience" training whilst out on walks or in the house. Training the dogs separately is a must.

I used to go to obedience classes every week - which helps with motivation and is also quite a social event and where you can discuss any problems you might be having. We also attended agility on a Sunday morning which was great fun for owner and dog.

When I got my pup, my older dog was fully trained and that really helped.

I now attend herding classes on a Thursday night, although don't go to formal obedience or agility classes any more.

I think it is all about doing a little every day. You will get there in the end. Sorry you are feeling down It will soon be Spring though - and lighter mornings and evenings and better weather, so that will help

I train our two together and seperately and also have to work. I find each dog needs to know whats required before doing it together, but Bunter will be eager to copy Ronin for down stays etc. I also find they learn at different paces and need different techniques.IS this true for Shadow andBandit?
Classes are out for Ronin and I ( his fear aggression has excluded him from the 2 good classes locally). It would be nice to have a training buddy.an external view...