You’re a great dog owner – dog parent, if you prefer – and your dog is lucky to have you.
How do I know?
You’re reading this dog blog, probably others too.
You’re actively seeking information that improves your training, care and overall enjoyment of life with your dog.
You also know that you’ll never say, “Okay, I’m done. I’m a perfect dog owner. I can improve no more.”
Because you know that never happens. You enjoy becoming a better and better dog owner and sharing what you learn with the dog lovers around you.
Here’s my dog training New Year’s resolutions for 2016. Feel free to chime in with your own in the comments section!
1. Train a new trick every month.
By 2017, your dog could know 12 cool tricks.
Your dog might find some tricks challenging – she might feel uncomfortable rolling on her back, or she might not have the structure that allows her to easily sit up. As you train new tricks throughout the year, you’ll uncover your dog’s capabilities and learn to work with her strengths to build up a repertoire of skills.
Need creative trick ideas? Sign up for email updates to get free access to our e-book, 5 Cool & Easy Tricks To Teach Your Dog.
You’ll also get updates on our Trick of the Month – so you’ll have new trick ideas all year long.
2. Always be training.
Whenever you’re with your dog, especially when you’re not home, remember: you’re always training. Carry treats and have your dog sit, stay, down and come at the park, at your mom’s house, at the vet… everywhere.
Dogs don’t generalize – they’re not capable of automatically applying their training at home to every situation.
If you only have treats and ask for her obedience while you’re at home, she won’t realize that you expect her to listen to you regardless of where you are and what’s going on around you.
3. Play with her every day.
Playtime is so much more than a fun diversion.
The more you play with your dog, the stronger your bond. Notice how closely she watches you when you’re about to throw the ball. Pay attention to how she learns your patterns and you learn hers.
When you’re in-sync with your dog, training comes much more naturally, and you appreciate having her around even more.
Playing with your dog also provides exercise and mental stimulation to help prevent bad behaviors caused by boredom.
You can even incorporate training into your playtime. Use hide and seek to make recall exciting. Have your dog sit and stay before you throw a toy to teach her to be patient.
4. Talk to her even if she doesn’t understand.
Say, “I’m sorry,” when you accidently step on your dog’s toe.
Tell her she looks beautiful when you put on her collar or sweater.
Thank her for being so patient and well-behaved during your four-hour flight delay.
Tell her you love her before you go to sleep.
Nobody knows how much human speech your dog can understand.
But everyone knows how a few sweet words make her face light up.
Additionally, you can discover your truest human friends when you openly talk to your dog. Ditch anyone who gives you crap about it. You don’t need that in your life.
5. Stand up for her – Be her voice.
Never let anyone mistreat your dog.
Don’t even let well-meaning children squeeze her – especially if you know it makes her feel stressed.
Flattened ears, a lowered head, yawning, lip-licking and a sideways glance are all body language signs your dog might show if someone is making her uncomfortable. She can’t scream, “STOP IT!” in plain English, so she needs you to be her advocate at all times.
Don’t let anyone tease her. Nobody should purposely scare your dog. Nobody should handle her in a way that makes her uncomfortable.
That means making a child cry when you pry your terrified dog from their grubby little arms.
That means saying, “Please stop, she doesn’t like it!” even if you feel awkward, or don’t want that person to dislike you.
What’s your doggy New Year’s resolution for 2016?
She also uses her pet copywriting business to make sure the best pet products and services get found online through catchy copy and fun, informative blog posts. She also provides product description writing services for ecommerce companies.
As a dog mom to Matilda and Cow, she spends most of her days taking long walks and practicing new tricks, and most nights trying to make the best of a very modest portion of her bed.
You'll also find her baking bread and making homemade pizza, laughing, painting and shopping.
I swear, these articles help me out sooo much.
So glad to help Janie, good luck this year with Classified!
One of my goals for the year is just like you said, to play with my dog every day even if it’s just for 2 or 3 minutes. I do play with him most days but not necessarily every day and as you said it really helps improve our bond. Since my dog is a senior with joint issues, strenuous exercise is out of the question for him, but we can still play fun games inside that he enjoys.
Aw, I bet he’s loving that. What kind of games can you still play with Ace?
I always talk to my dog – no matter who’s is listening 😉
And what fun it is to play with your dog – both of you benefit!
I do this too! I love it when he talks to me back.
This is for my dog recently posted…Firepaw Dog Treadmill
This is a great post and I love your blog, very original!
I think your post doesn’t just apply to dogs by the way, I own cats and do almost all the same.
#2! I need to train more. I’ve gotten a little lazy, and they’ve gotten naughty.
Ryan recently posted…#NaturalBalance for the Kitty Character in Your Family
I am determined to train a handstand this year. We shall see.
Our goal is to make each day special and active for my two dogs. We are striving to up our activity level and of course, stay fit.
M. K. Clinton recently posted…The Whistle Activity Monitor For Dogs – Take 2
I think my news years resolution should be to stop being such a Jewish Mom and relax a bit as all I do is worry that she is ok, playing enough, enough park time etc – thanks for the tips
Love these. I really like the idea of training a new trick each month!
Well, we are cats, but we still like your advice! Our Mom plays with us every single night, and grooms us too, no matter how tired she is at the end of the day! It is our special bonding time with her and we look forward to it so very much!
These are great and attainable goals! Kudos to all dat remember: you are always training! Whether your family member is fuzzy or human – you are always showing how to interact and be in the world, so do good and be joyful!
These are great tips. We love playing with our little ones everyday.
Pawsome tips! I love the one about talking to your pet even if they don’t understand. I talk to my kitties all of the time. Our pets are much smarter than we give them credit for. As I’ve learned from working with Autistic students, the ability to respond appropriately does not necessarily mean that they don’t understand or appreciate what you say.
Robin recently posted…5 Myths About Cats in Cold Weather
Whoops! I mean *inability to respond appropriately*
Robin recently posted…5 Myths About Cats in Cold Weather
Great tips for the new year. Pets are smart – even the cats have learnt a few tricks.
Pawesome Cats recently posted…Pet Blogger Challenge 2016
I talk to my dogs all the time and my neighbors must think I’m nuts but I also think it’s so important to tell them how awesome they are ALL the time!
Christine Caplan recently posted…2016 Pet Blogger Challenge: Bare All
These are great resolutions. I talk to my kitties all the time. I think they can understand more human speak than most people give them credit for. 🙂
Great resolutions- I talk to and train and play with Kilo the Pug every day. I plan to work more on desensitising him to things he reacts to this year – I got a bit discouraged and lazy recently. Also looking at more activities.
Talent Hounds recently posted…9 Things You Learn When You Adopt A Rescue Dog
Great resolutions! We are pretty lax in the training area but I know that mom is really trying to love me and Taffy equally if that’s a resolution. And for her it’s always about patience! Love Dolly
These are all wonderful. I admit I have full-on conversations with my dogs. #sorrynotsorry
These are fantastic! We will implement them – thanks.
Love these tips. I have and always will talk to my dog and I never really concerned myself if someone didn’t like it or not. The only problem I have is the new excuse my husband has to ignore me when I talking to him “I thought you were talking to the dog”. Yeah, I’m sorry but the sentence began with his name so…. LOL
This year the goal is not really for my dog as it is for my 14 month old granddaughter to learn to “pet nicely”. At that age they are grabby and Mary is a senior dog. Things are going very well as she is learning to pet not grab my dog and kitties.
Mom Paula talks to us all the time! We don’t think she’ll have any luck training us because we are training her!
Sweet Purrfections recently posted…Sunday Selfie
These are great goals!
Training and exercise are very high on my list this year! Great tips!
I love the one about standing up for your dog! I never really thought about this until I got a small rescue dog. When I was first trying to socialize him, so many people thought it was okay to back him into a corner and force-pet him, or shove their faces in his face. Yikes! Standing up for him has made me better at standing up for myself, too, so everyone wins! I’m happy to say that he rarely has to put up with that anymore (cuz I’ll be pissed), and is a very polite little gentleman!
Elena recently posted…My Entry for the 2016 Pet Blogger Challenge