January – National Train Your Dog Month!!!

Ronan retrieving the paper at 8 1/2 weeks old!

Yes it’s TRUE – January is National Train Your Dog Month!  What a great reminder of what we should be striving to do each and every day.

Training doesn’t need to be long and drawn-out.  Simply try to take advantage of a few free moments you can find throughout the day to practice. Commanding your dog to down/stay before meals, or sit/wait at the door before going out are a couple of examples of how you can easily incorporate a little training into your daily routine.

If you feel ambitious teach your dog something new like to sit up and beg, down/head down, or Ronan’s favorite – to retrieve the daily paper! (see above video!) Dogs really are happy to work for us.  When they’ve done something well and we praise them, there is no better sight than to see the tail wag and that glorious eye contact!  Some people (including me) actually think there are times when we see our dogs smile:)

Training is fun. Training is smart.  Training is important. Training not only keeps our dogs safe, but it also promotes a strong bond between dogs and humans.  So…what are you waiting for???  Show your dogs how much you love them. Take some time today, tomorrow, and every day to train your dogs!

Give them all a big hug from me~

Stacie