Sometimes people think that training your dog is simply for "fixing" problem behaviors or teaching your dog necessary things like sit and stay. What many people don't realize is that training allows you to do SO MUCH MORE than that!

What is something you do in life that you'd like to include your dog in? Is there anything you've seen someone do with their dog that you'd like to do as well?

An example of a behavior that needed some training was when I went kayaking/paddle boarding with my dogs. Our first time was a little chaotic. One dog (Tucker) wanted to stay out of the water whereas the other (Oakley) wanted to be in the water at all times.

It was a juggling balance between the two but after practicing and showing them what I wanted from them, we were able to enjoy ourselves and even try the next challenge of paddle boarding!

There are many situations that I find I can train my dogs something new just to make our lives easier, or to allow my dogs to come with me places they might not be able to otherwise. Working on off-leash skills seems to always be something that my dogs can always benefit working on.

There are an unlimited amount of things to work on with your dog, but if you're a more goal oriented person, maybe look into Trick dog titles or something that you can work towards.

Stay tuned for our weekly challenges that I will be putting out every week! This will be a great way to help stay motivated and give you something fun and useful to work on with your dog.