What is life skills dog training?

Our dogs live in a human world and the rules and expectations are often very different to the dog world. Your dog doesn’t automatically know why they can’t jump up at people, why they need to walk on a lead and why they shouldn’t steal food from your kitchen counters. They don’t understand that not everyone likes muddy paw prints on their clothes, that they could be injured or killed if they get hit by a car and that some human food is poisonous to dogs. Life skills training teaches your dog everything they need to know to live in our confusing human world safely.

Training a recall is vital for your dog’s safety if you want to let them run off lead

Why I’m not an obedience trainer

Often pet dog training is called ‘obedience training’. Obedience is a dog sport that requires dogs to learn specific behaviours and perform them in a competition environment. When dog training started to become popular, most classes were run by people doing competitive obedience with their dogs. These obedience trainers designed their classes around the skills dogs would need for the competition ring. I support people who want their dog to be a happy and loved member of their family. And the skills pet dogs need to fit in with their human families’ lives are very different to the skills they need for competitive obedience.

I also feel incredibly uncomfortable with the word ‘obedience’. Dogs aren’t robots who we should expect to ‘obey’ our every whim. They’re a part of our family and we choose to bring them into our homes because we want the chance to love them for their unique personalities. It’s completely unreasonable to ‘command’ dogs to ‘sit’ and ‘stay’ and expect them to just do it without any reward. Especially if we also expect them to do absolutely nothing unless we ‘command’ them to do it. Our dogs deserve the chance to be dogs, opportunities to make their own choices and to know that anything we ask them to do will benefit them.

Life skills training is more than just ‘sit’ and ‘stay’

Traditional obedience training focuses on teaching dogs behaviours like ‘sit’, ‘stay’ and ‘heel’. Life skills training teaches your dog the skills they need to be your perfect doggy partner at home, on walks and anywhere else you might want to take them. Your dog can learn to chill out while you watch TV, be polite when meeting visitors and focus on you around distractions. You can also help your dog learn to calm down when they get excited, be confident in new situations and feel comfortable being groomed.

It might not look like much - but being able to chill out around distractions is an important life skill

When we teach life skills we focus on what our dogs need to be happy in our human world and how we can improve their wellbeing. So instead of teaching a heel which doesn’t allow your dog to move freely and sniff (the best bit of their walk), we teach them to walk with a loose-lead. The benefit for you is the same (your dog’s not dragging you down the street) but your dog will enjoy their walk much more and have a much better quality of life.

Life skills are specific to you and your dog

Every single dog lives a different life. Your family, your home and your dreams are unique. Life skills is about teaching you and your dog everything you need to live your perfect life. The skills your dog needs are going to be different to what someone else’s dog needs. You might dream of taking your dog to the pub, need to take them on the bus everyday or want them to be able to play nicely with your kids. Instead of wasting time on behaviours your dog will never use, you’ll teach them skills they’ll use every day.

Life skills are about helping you and your dog live a happy life together. Your dog doesn’t need to respond to every behaviour on cue within seconds without seeing the reward first. The only thing that matters is that you know how to get your dog to happily do the behaviour. If you have to wave a toy to get your dog to recall, or feed them lots of tasty treats to help them focus on you around distractions then that’s not a problem. Because you know how to keep your dog safe and you both have the skills to live the life you want. And that’s the only thing that matters.

Written by Juniper Indigo, dog trainer in Tiverton and Exeter