Advantages of Virtual Training for Dogs
Photo by Ayla Verschueren on Unsplash
We get it. If your dog has any response to Zoom at all, it’s to bark, paw, or persistently drop toys in your lap whenever you’re in a meeting.
How could your dog possibly learn anything from a Virtual Training session when they don’t even respond to the computer?
How could a trainer help you over Zoom when they only see your dog sleeping on the couch instead of barking, lunging, snapping, pulling, freezing, or performing any of their most challenging, least adorable behaviors?
Is it possible that these trainers are just trying to wring as much work-from-home time from the pandemic as possible?
It’s true, virtual dog training has blown up since 2020. And we’re walking (slow motion, of course) out of the smoke of that explosion, with an important realization:
Virtual Training is Oftentimes Better Than In-Person
We know that may sound far-fetched. Hopefully an explanation will help…
New Skills Need Easy Environments
Imagine that you don’t play guitar and you’ve hired an instructor to teach you 3 chords – G, C, and D (so that you’ll be able to play nearly every rock song ever written). You arrive for your first lesson, open the indicated door, and step through onto the stage at Carnegie Hall before a pre-pandemic-sized audience of 2804 people.
How are you feeling right now? Ready to learn? Ready to hear a single word that comes out of your instructor’s mouth?
This is how your dog feels when we put them in situations that give them big feelings (which are almost always driving unwanted behaviors) and then expect them to learn something new. It’s inefficient, unrealistic, and depending on the situation, potentially unkind.
“Freyja and I had an incredibly positive experience with Shannon during our virtual visit! Shannon provided clear instructions for the techniques I would be implementing in Freyja’s training routine and helpful feedback while I tried them out for the first time. I have no doubt that the virtual meeting was just as useful as an in-person meeting. I am already seeing Freyja begin to respond positively to the techniques Shannon provided to us.” –Robert S.
Virtual Training side-steps this particular challenge by allowing your dog to start learning new skills in the environment in which they are most comfortable, which in turn gives them the highest chance of success.
If you’ve hired a trainer, then chances are the skills they’re teaching are new to you as well. Being in your own home while your dog rests beside you, or chews on a toy, frees up your attention for learning. You can listen to instructions, observe demonstrations, ask questions, and even do a dog-free run-through of training exercises all without having to manage your dog. When you bring your dog into the game, you’re already clear on what you’re being asked to do. This sets both of you up for success.
Once skills are well trained in easy environments, your instructor can provide you with an individualized plan for increasing challenge while keeping the likelihood of success, for both of you, as high as possible.
Learning Requires Rest
Let’s go back to our guitar lessons on stage at Carnegie Hall analogy. (I’m sweating, are you sweating?) You’ve been working on your new chords for a while, and your brain hurts nearly as much as the tips of your fingers. How do you feel about taking 5 with those 2804 people in auditorium seating giving you their undivided attention?
In most training scenarios, especially beginning ones, many trainers (including us) recommend very short sessions (as in a couple of minutes or ~5 repetitions). There are several reasons for this:
Focusing for a short period of time is much easier than for a long one;
Short sessions reduce the likelihood of unsuccessful repetitions occurring due to fatigue or loss of focus;
Training one thing at a time makes teaching and learning more clear;
Short training sessions followed by breaks (even breaks as short as 5 minutes) allow latent learning (subconscious retention of information) to occur which increases the chances of what was learned being remembered in the future.
That last point is what’s important here because – for an event to qualify as “rest” it needs to be relatively stress-free. Having a “scary,” unfamiliar person in their home or being in a new, highly stimulating environment that smells of unfamiliar dogs is not stress-free for most dogs. Whereas lying on their favorite bed with a delicious chew or frozen stuffed toy typically is.
Virtual Training gives you many more options for setting your dog up for stress-free breaks in training. Relaxing breaks then makes it much more likely that they’ll be right where you left off when you get out your treats to work that exercise the next day.
Having your dog occupied for their breaks also gives you the chance to process what you learned, ask questions, and get feedback and next steps from your trainer without being distracted by your dog’s behavior or safety.
We Teach You, You Train Your Dog
Training a dog is never a one-and-done event. It is a process with all behaviors, but even more so when training to replace behaviors that already exist. What happens on a daily basis is exponentially more important than what happens within a 45-minute training session every 2-3 weeks.
This means that unless your dog is working directly with a trainer on a near daily basis, then you are the actual trainer of the dog. The trainer you hired is there to teach you.
Our experience has been that many clients learn quite well with Virtual Training for a portion or even all of their training sessions with us. If there’s something specific you need to support your virtual learning, please let us know!
Photo by Katja Rooke on Unsplash
So those three things – an easy environment for learning, a stress-free environment for resting, and a setup that allows us to teach you so that you can train your dog – are ideal circumstances for every training session. We find that, much of the time, Virtual Training meets those requirements splendidly.
As an added bonus, scheduling Virtual Training is easier for most everyone. Easier scheduling then leads to more regular appointments, which lead to more regular training and feedback, which lead to faster progress and increased success.
On top of all that, all of our training sessions come with 2 weeks of virtual support where you can email or text questions and updates to your trainer, and upload training videos for feedback.
For engaged clients, we have found this combination to be highly effective in helping them meet their training goals.