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teaching multiple dogs in household
HI
Second question of the day! I am a new trainer and recent CATCH grad. I met with a new client yesterday for a ‘meet and greet’. She has 2 Labs 1.5 and 2.5. I know they need to be trained separately and we have discussed that. And while I usually schedule 1 hr sessions would it make sense to expand the lesson to 90 minutes with roughly 45 minutes per dog in interval across 2 dogs. Thank in advance for your input
Elaine Noll
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8 Replies
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OOh great question, @EJN – it all really depends on how you and the client want to go about it. For a first lesson I might run it longer (and charge for that time) but ongoing I had better success keeping lessons to an hour max because after that people’s brains are fried and the dogs are exhausted. If there are two pups, you may want to schedule something like:
10 min – greetings and goal set for the lesson (including looping them in on the below schedule)
15 min – dog 1 review, practice new item
15 min – dog 2 review, practice new item
15 min – set weekly plan for practice and answer questions. Set goals for next session
5 min – buhbye…. 😉
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Also, check out our Coaching Channel for some nuggets that may help you design your first sessions – there’s a lot of great info there.
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Thank you so much – Your input is fantastic – I am loving Digging dogs! I will also look at coaching section that you mentioned – so far have only been looking at the Q+A
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Of course, it’s why we are here! Happy to help. Keep us posted on your decisions and how this works out! @EJN
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First off, CONGRATULATIONS on betting a new trainer. Hope you are loving it so far!
Training with multiple dogs in the household can actually be arranged like a mini-group lesson, as long as there are enough willing and able handlers and every dog is leashed and maintained in a set spot. I did this will two black Lab mixes recently and they were HIGHLY motivated. We had two grown male sons (the owners) being the main handlers and the parents took turns, too. It was quite fun!
I run my private lessons shorter than most, 30-40 min per dog. So the back to back half hour lessons with each dog started as separate lessons, but morphed into a full hour with both dogs. I do half hour lessons because I am also a dog walker and pet sitter, but I started as a new trainer right at the onset of the pandemic. Most people glaze over if I tell them I need an hour of their time, ha ha. I keep lessons short and we do 2-3 behaviors for 5-10 minutes each, then end with a fun trick or enrichment game. It keeps me at the 30-40 minute mark and I can give people easy tasks to fit into their lives!
Be creative as a trainer; it’s great to get “everyone’s” take on how to do things, but ultimately, you will learn what your clients like and need best.????
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Love it Paula, and I totally agree. If there are multiple folks who are willing to participate you can absolutely run it like a small group. It can be a lot of fun especially if the family dynamics are healthy and the dogs get along well.
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Yeah, I never thought about doing this in my first few years of business. We would always switch dogs out at the 10-15 min mark, the “resting” dog had either a Kong or licky mat in their kennel. I like that way, too. Sometimes it’s good to switch things up and that’s what I always love best about private lessons!!!????
Of course, I also enjoy when you, as the trainer, can teach two well-paired dogs at the same time. I had one client who learned to be quite good at this with her two athletic dogs.
There is no “wrong way” to do this…it depends! I find that you always have to know the client and dogs well, though.
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Thank you so much for you input these suggestions have been very helpful
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