January is National Train Your Dog Month

Have you thought about what training will look like for you and your dog this year? If not, National Train Your Dog Month is the perfect time to do so. The idea of traditional "obedience" training has largely gone by the wayside in recent years. In its place is a focus on teaching "real life" skills, providing enrichment, participating in dog sports, teaching cooperative care, and integrating choice into your dog's activities. Here are some ideas for making training fun for both you and your dog:

1. Trick Training
   Some of you may have seen our Tricksmas videos this holiday season (if you missed them, you can access all of them here). Trick training is a great way to learn how to incrementally train behaviors and can be a fun way for kids to get involved in training. Your dog can even earn titles through AKC's Trick Dog program (your dog does not need to be a pure breed to participate).

2. Scent Work
   Dogs have a powerful sense of smell. Even if you don’t have one of the breeds with the absolute strongest sniffer, scent work can provide a wonderful outlet for that natural ability, and it’s a great option for reactive dogs. Scent work is no longer limited to AKC or UKC trials, or even NACSW. There are a number of other options geared toward having fun with your dog, including C-WAGS, CPE, Performance Scent Dogs, & Wag It Games. Many of these organizations offer a number of other sports as well.

3. Barn Hunt
   One of the sports that seems to be growing fastest in popularity is Barn Hunt, a sport intended to provide dogs with a safe outlet for their hunting instinct. Happy Ratters, with its focus on fun and the dog-human bond can be an especially easy-going intro to the sport.

4. Cognition
   Cognition is a growing field of study with a number of labs at prestigious schools devoted to the topic. Our very own University of Maryland has a Canine Language Perception Lab where you can participate in studies with your dog, and more and more training facilities are offering classes or workshops to teach these concepts. Skye and I had a blast attending the weekend Brain Candy Workshop at Peaceable Paws a few years ago.

Or maybe this isn’t a great time for you to pick up a new skill, in which case you might consider easy ways to add enrichment to your dog’s routine, or simple management tools that will create a more peaceful environment until you have more time to train. Whatever you do, remember that training shouldn’t be stressful for you or your dog. If you’re finding it is, reach out to us to set up a training session so we can make training your dog a joy rather than a chore!