The most effective training sessions are often the shortest.

Dogs are associative learners, which means that they associate everything that happens in their environment whenever they learn something new. If you smile lovingly at your dog when you teach her to sit, she’ll associate the behavior of sitting with a nice, warm feeling. On the other hand, if you become impatient with a car alarm going off while you’re teaching your dog a recall, she’ll associate this behavior with a feeling of irritation.

Pushing training too far can actually cause your dog to “unlearn” everything you want to teach him or her because frustration and boredom may end up coloring the behaviors you’re trying to teach. Five to ten repetitions of a new behavior are usually all a dog’s brain can handle, and if those repetitions are fun and easy, your dog will be excited to learn more the next time.

Really, is there anything more charming than dogs with that wiggle in their butt that lets you know they want to learn more? Honor that wiggle with a promise to keep training short, easy and fun, and they’ll honor you back with a lifetime of loving to learn new things.