Most people don’t know the difference between dog training, and practice. Training is what you do with me, practice is what I want you to work on from that lesson.
Good lessons take years to master. Just because we do a lesson together doesn’t mean you automatically will have a better behaving dog. You have your part to do. I view the work I do as planting seeds. I plant a seed of information in you, and then it is up to you to water, nurture, feed and eventually harvest what I taught you.
I figured this out years ago. I realized over time that the early lessons I had were still growing inside me as I worked with my dogs and students. I started calling this process “letting the lesson simmer on the stove”. It is like making a good soup. You put all the ingredients in the pot, but it isn’t ready to eat immediately… they need to simmer for a number of hours, and often the final ingredients, such as seasoning, is put in at the very end. Proper dog training also works this way.
Even today, most of the things I’ve learned over the years are still simmering on the stove. Concepts and observations I made decades ago are still teaching me and improving me. I get insights over time from seeds that were planted long ago. This will also happen to you as you go through my programs. You and your dog will continue to improve over the years. It won’t all be finished the day of our last session.
This is a good thing, and something to look forward to. But, it won’t happen if you don’t practice what I preach. If you don’t keep practicing, you will lose it all over time. Which is why I recommend periodic tune ups, so you retain we did together, and we improve on it over time. That is how to get the most out of our sessions.