We get plenty of questions from new puppy owners asking how OneMind Dogs online puppy training works, and whether it’s right for them.
And one of the most common comparisons is between in-person and online puppy training.
Many puppy owners think of puppy school as a perfect opportunity to socialize their puppy, while teaching them something new under the guidance of a professional.
But the thing is, most puppies have a pretty short attention span before they lose focus, and most importantly, lose the fun that learning is all about. Plus, dragging a tired puppy to school isn’t enjoyable for anyone.
And, not to mention, in-person puppy school can be pretty expensive, and it’s usually just once a week.
How our online puppy training course works
We created OneMind Dogs puppy training to work at your puppy’s pace.
Every day, we introduce one, two or three little lessons for you. Your puppy learns best with fairly short, 2-3 minute exercises a few times a day — and breaks between lessons are almost as important as the lessons themselves.
The skills that you work on build on the skills that you’ve practiced on the previous days. That’s why it’s best to mark each lesson completed before moving on to the next one.
That being said, if your pup already has a particular skill covered, you can skip it — however, many of our online puppy training customers have gone back and learned more about something they thought they already knew about!
In the lessons, different topics have been split into smaller exercises that give you just one small task at a time. That’s how dogs learn best.
For example, building a skill for Walking on the leash starts from getting your puppy to accept their collar and moves on towards the puppy walking on a leash. With these small steps, it’s easy to make sure you and your puppy get the exercises completed successfully.
We don’t go through too many topics at once, and we’ll let you know when it’s best to take a break and try again the next day.
What if we need help with a lesson?
If you’re struggling with an exercise, we recommend you have a break, and go back to it a couple of days later. Sometimes, things can seem super-challenging for a puppy one day, and then a day or two later the same thing can go smoothly. Puppies often need some time to process things and are better once they’ve slept on it. Just like us humans!
You can do each exercise of the day a few times in a few different sessions during the day. That way you’ll repeat it enough so that your puppy can learn it better, but you’ll still give your puppy a time to rest.
Sometimes, you might need a little extra help — and that’s where we come in! Included in your puppy training subscription is personal support and training advice from our team of coaches. So wherever you are in the world, there’s a OneMind Dogs coach online and ready to give you a hand.
When is it time to mark a lesson complete?
Mark a lesson completed when you feel like both you and your puppy got the skill.
Ideally this means that your puppy does the task of the day confidently and happily.
Depending on your puppy, they might show confidence by wagging their tail, doing the task in a fast pace and wanting to repeat it over and over.
On the other hand, if your puppy easily gets distracted and moves slowly when you do your exercise, she might need a bit more time to build up her confidence for the task. If you’re not yet sure if you got it or not, do it a couple of more times at the puppy’s next meal time, or the next day.
During the course you’ll also find recap days, when it’s time to check you’ve got the skills of the previous exercises before moving on. On those days you’ll get some ideas for bonus exercises if you want to practice more, or you can just take it easy on that day.
Puppy socialization training
Every week, you’ll find some socialization tasks on your online puppy training dashboard. These tasks are to help you remember to give your puppy some new experiences every day.
Puppy socialization is arguably the most important thing you should invest your time in during the first weeks you and your puppy spend together.
It’s the time when you can teach them to see the world as a safe, fun place. The things your puppy sees and gets used to during the first months of their life they’ll consider normal later, so the more different things you introduce your puppy to, the fewer things they’ll have to be unsure of in the future.
What happens if we miss a day or two?
We get it. Life with a puppy is crazy, sleepless and amongst everything else going on in your life, you’re bound to miss a day or two of puppy training.
And that’s okay! If you miss a day or two, you can just keep going from where you left off. No worries.
How can I get started?
By signing up for a 7-day free trial, of course! Click the button below to start online training with your puppy — or just to check out some lessons. Have fun!
