How Using a Dog Training Journal Changed My Life
Updated: September 9, 2024
Until a few months ago, I never used a journal for dog training, never wrote down what were working on. With some of my puppies, it had been truly a, “let’s just power through, they will be fine” mentality. I am just an average dog owner, sure, I have watched some dog training videos, enrolled my puppy in puppy class, and read a few dog training books. But a professional dog trainer, I am not! I heard and read where a dog trainer would over and over again say, “Write down how training is going.” but I never did. I mean, I love a good journal, but I thought that I didn’t have time and that I really didn’t need to journal my dog training, that dog trainers were just extra in this regard. Well, turns out, they were right. Journaling my dog training made a world of difference.
When we got my puppy, Clover, back in February we knew that we would have to be more purposeful in our training (she is intended to be my Service Dog) than what we had been with our other dogs in the past. Before she even came home, we had already enrolled her little one floppy-eared face in puppy school. But, even then, I didn’t use the puppy log sheets that were provided by the school. I have a good memory, so surely I could remember to keep up with training. I am a self-motivated person, surely I will keep up with my training goals. And sure, I did, to an extent.
Clover is a bright puppy, she loves to train, she will often start doing tricks, tasks, and behaviors that we normally train in the morning before I have even had my first sip of coffee. Her love of training has made it easier to remember to train, but honestly, I was just muddling my way through it each morning. Yes, we trained. Yes, she did well, but I was missing the small wins or the mistakes we made. I was overlooking what could be improved, I didn’t always see the moments that I was training as training, and this made me feel like we weren’t training enough and that my training wasn’t good enough.
Later that first month with Clover,
I decided to give keeping a dog training log book a try, I honestly didn’t think it would help me. The only reason I was willing was because I had read logging my training could help me if there was ever a legal question and I had to go to court to prove that Clover was trained. By keeping a journal, I would have complete records of her training. So, I decided that this made it worth the effort, but what I didn’t realize was the impact it would have on me as a dog owner.
Sure, it improved my dog training. Yes, it helped me be more consistent with training. But what I didn’t expect was how it made me more confident. I was more confident because I could see that I was training, I could see the difference. I became more confident because now I can prove to anyone that I have worked hard at training my Service Dog in Training. With every hurdle that we have overcome, from crate training to jumping on people, my confidence has grown. For the first time with owning a dog, I could see the successes that I was having, and that is so empowering. That confidence and empowerment, that I got from a simple dog training journal, are what have changed my life. This changed my life so much, that I designed my own Service Dog Training Journal, you can learn more about it here.
Should you try keeping a training log for your dog? I think it is worth a try. Maybe it won’t change your life the way that it changed mine, but you might have a better relationship with your dog and you might even have a better-behaved dog after a few weeks. Who knows?
Thanks for sticking with me, we got this.
Jena
