Strategic Goal Setting for Effective Dog Training

I may have mentioned once or twice that I get really into planning and goal setting. The dogs are not immune to this! When I’m doing my planning for the next year, I always include a little section for my dog training goals.

Obviously the entirety of our training has been focused on Lucas and Newt. As things are starting to improve and we’re thisclose to an integrated household, I’m turning my attention to 2014. I thought I’d share a little bit about my dog training goals and dog-related planning.

Here’s what I’m shooting for:

• SAFETY! For all three I want to continue working on their recall. We have a fenced-in backyard, but we’ve had some weird occurrences lately that reinforced the importance of a solid recall.
• Barking. I’ve started teaching the “enough” cue, and we’re getting there… but we’re not there yet.
• Cooper is super smart and a fast learner. I made a list of 50 tricks to teach him in 2014. I’ll be sharing the list – and our progress – as we go!
• Lucas is ongoing with leash reactivity, but the main thing I want him to learn next year (which we should’ve tackled AGES ago…) is to stay calm when someone comes to the door. I don’t have a plan for this yet (any suggestions???) but it’s going to involve Cooper, too. They’ve started a worrisome behavior: When the doorbell rings, they redirect all their craziness onto each other and end up in a scuffle. Sigh. It’s always something.
• Emmett needs more mental exercise, so I have a stack of puzzle games and tricks to work on with him. Not as many as Cooper because it takes him 10 times longer to learn anything than Coop, but stuff to keep his mind active!

Another big project I’m undertaking is to update our budget. Three dogs and a cat are expensive, as we’ve talked about before. We’ve been trying to stick to a family budget, and pet care – food, monthly meds, medical care, toys, and so on – are a big slice of our overall budget. More on this in another post, too…

Finally, I’m also going to be filling out all those pet care printables I shared a while ago, along with our emergency preparedness (more on that later in the week) and compiling a copy of everything for our pet sitters. Now that everyone is on daily medication, it’s super important to me to keep a really close eye on all their stats!

So, those are the goals for 2014! Next up: Creating a plan for each goal! Don’t worry… I have a spreadsheet! 🙂

Do you set goals for dog training? What do you hope to achieve with your pets in 2014? Agility champs? Loose leash walking? Less barking? Or are you more laid back less structured than I am?