I was not trained to train dogs. But my dogs are all very well trained in the basics. Many people will look at them work and say Who trained your dogs? Me. I say, a little surprised. Don’t you train your dog? You can you know. It is easy. I just know a little and do it often. I think about it like toddlers building with blocks, little by little, step by step, learning one lesson then moving to the next. Patiently using five minute training sessions five times a day. Every day. Anywhere and at any time. You can train your dog. 
I made this all up so it is all just common sense really. Here is my system for training dogs. Now remember. You are the boss of the dog not the other way around. He needs your guidance. So train that dog.
Decide how you want your dog to be. This is a high value decision so do not begin any training until you have decided what you want your dog to learn. Do you want a big fat lazy dog who does nothing but lie on the couch and watch the tele with you. Admittedly there are advantages to a big fat lazy dog. But you will need a big couch for the pair of you. And he will need to learn Stay.
Do you want a dog who will guard you and your family. Or are you training your dog to move and protect the animals on your farm. Or do you want to walk to the supermarket and leave him sitting outside. I had a dog like this once. His name was Mazoulet Mazoot the Marzipan kid. I would leave him to the side of the supermarket door, I seldom have my dogs on a leash – he was left on two commands Down then Stay… unfettered. By the time I came back out he had belly walked to the center of the doors (still down and mostly stayed) watching to see where I was and taking every pat that came his way. He was a black lab and lived until he was very old.
Now, decide are you going to use treats or praise. I use praise. I use praise because then I can train anytime, anywhere without having to find the treats.
You need to do at least Five training sessions Five times a day. They are very short and can be done anywhere. Training Time is training time not play time. Training Time is 5 minutes, 5 times a day – (or more) forever! Be very clear that this is training time, then after that we play. Start your training session with a command that means’ it is time to work’.
I say ” OK” , patting my hollow sounding chest. Getting his attention.
Always say your dogs name before the command.
Accompany each command with a big hand gesture. In case by some unhappy chance you lose the ability to speak. I use grand gestures so I can issue commands from a distance. 
Work on one command until you have it right then go to the next one, reviewing the others as you go along. If he gets it wrong, say No, firmly and go back to the beginning. 
Work with one dog at a time. But use his name every time so he knows you are talking to him. Because soon you will have to work both together.
I start training at 6 weeks old. Just coming to their name. By 8 weeks TonTon was retrieving. By 8 weeks Boo was sleeping with his legs in the air. So I named it – it is called Loll About. But the first thing to teach your dog is to come when he is called. Do not go any further until he does this. Boo took his time coming. Ton did it immediately. But either way they must come the moment you call, every time. Then go to your next lesson. 
Then That’ll do Dog which means training is over. Next is Sit, then Down then Wait then Stay. In that order over the course of time.Building on to the previous commands. Later we learn to do all of these from a distance. Remember to work for only a few minutes -the moment your dogs attention wanes and he gets wriggly say “That’ll do dog” End of training. Be very clear about this too. Say it then reach for the toy to play or the treat, or pat pat and walk away. That’ll do Dog is a very important command -make sure you instantly change to a new game or pat, pat and walk away.
Sit and Down are TWO SEPARATE COMMANDS. Don’t tell your dog to ‘Sit Down’ and then wonder why he is confused. The three following commands need to be practiced forever. 5 times – 5 minutes a day.
Sit. Hand under the chin and keep it there, then hand on bottom and push gently down. Sit. My hand command for this is an open palm raised. Boo – Sit.
Down follows the same sequence but pushing the head down saying Down until they are on the ground. My hand command is like a big bow, hand sweeping down. Boo – Down.
The third building block is in two parts First we practice Wait. Then later when the dog is older and working well move to Stay. Wait means stand by. Stay means Don’t you move a bloody muscle until I say. So start with Wait.
Mine also learn Head Down. When they have to put their heads right on the ground. Do you remember when those hunters were shooting on our property that autumn. Ton was irate. He felt that I was being threatened and he was going to bite someone. He had to go down, then put his head down. He was growling at them with his head on the ground. If you need to chastise your dog go for head down.
After a few months of these commands when you are working well together you can go onto other work. Like sitting in a chair every time I reach for my boots. Or Bring It which means give me what is in your mouth (usually something disgusting if it is Boo) . Or Gimme when I point to an item and they pick it up and give it to me. I also train my dogs to find lost animals and people. Just on the farmy, nothing special. To begin I name a person. Bob. Then say See Bob. Bob calls the dog and he runs to Bob. (Treat or Pat). Retrieve the dog and do it again and again. Every animal is named as we work with them. See Daisy. See Mama. See piggies. See Sheila. As I go to feed them I send Ton to find them (usually they are where they were). Like me. I am where I was.
Repitition. Repitition. Repitition. Be dogmatic.
Name the areas in the house for them. train them to go to the different mats, or doors. Go to bed, will be his sleeping corner. Go home will be the porch.
Also train them to obey these commands when you are shouting with a panicked tone especially Go Home. This command is often issued when you need the dog out of the way immediately.
Get other people to tell them to Sit or Stay.
Get in behind is a very important command. The dog must get behind your heel. When walking he has to walk beside and slightly behind. When it is time for them to run I say Off you go . And they take off like bullets. When training to Get Behind (or on the leash) turn lots of imaginary corners so they learn to watch your body for changes. If you stop command the dog to Sit. Soon he will do it automatically.
Step through a door or gate before your dog. Never let your dog push past you to go through the door or gate. They must be commanded to Sit then after they have sat Wait, you walk through and then Dog has to wait for the command to Come so that they can then walk slowly though while you hold the door. The same goes for going up or down steps.
Bad. Boo Boo. Sit. Boo Boo. Sit.
Sigh says Big Dog who has been taught nothing at all and is old and crotchety.
To recap : Decide your commands and stick to them. Write them on the wall so everyone uses the same commands. Then practice often: If the most important thing you need is to have the dog Stay then work on that as often as you can. Sit then Down, then Stay while you are doing the dishes or the laundry when you are gardening, or when you are in the bathroom. Use a firm teachers voice when issuing commands. And if your pup loses the plot, don’t get angry. Just finish the session That’ll do Dog, Off you Go pat, pat and resume your day. Then come back to it later. Again and Again and Again.
And remember to keep the training going forever. Even older dogs need to be kept up to standard.
Good morning. There is more but that will do for a start. My Dogs are on Down and Stay (Boo in his chair, Ton on his mat) waiting at the door to begin work.
TonTon is a Border Collie and Boo is a Blue Heeler. Both these dogs need to be very well trained and kept close and busy or they will get in trouble. And we all know what kind of trouble they can get into. So they will have training sessions for the rest of their lives. This is why I have devised short anywhere, anytime training sessions. It works.
Have a lovely day. Off you go!!
your friend, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
94 responses to “How to train your dog in Five minutes, Five times a Day.”
This is so great – really useful. We haven’t done a very good job of training our Lulu, but maybe there’s hope for us yet. I bet she’d be happy to give it a go…
Morning Siobhan Just choose one thing, train your whole family (especially your son when he comes home) how to say the command then proceed. Just those few minutes every day with anyone in the family doing the training will surprise you. The thing is to do it on purpose, often.
Marvelous explanation! What differs for me right now is working with an adult dog who was obviously given some training early on…we’re figuring out what he knows and doesn’t know, and re-training the hand signals. He has to trust us, too…we don’t know what his life was like before he wound up as a stray that no one came for at the shelter. We’re making progress, though! He’s already a better-trained dog than my Late, Lamented Chloe 😉
I bet you are doing fine. I certainly would choose one thing and retrain him to that before moving on. This will help him develop his trust too as he sees the rewards from getting that one thing right every time. With Rufus I would certainly do the short frequent training sessions, both you and your daughter.. as an aside, every child that comes out here is first told how to handle the dogs, they also need to be able to get a dog to go down, if they are getting too excited. The kids are told not raise their hands and back away, which means play time to many dogs and to use their Big teacher Voice when saying NO to a dog. It does help if everyone does the same thing. c
What a fabulous post on training the doggies!!! Accompanied by lovely pictures. Especially of the old crotchety one. I doubt I will ever train any dogs but boy–this is a great tutorial!!!!
Morning Beth Ann, many people have said how do you do it? So i thought i might try and write it down. Actually it is harder to write than it is to DO! c
If I drop off my son, will you train him too? Wonderful methodology!
Once I said Sit to Mazout and my son looked at me and said are you talking to me or the dog. Oh dear! morning natalia.. c
I just LOVE all your photos with your training post C – absolutely adorable!
I only have cats and doubt they would allow themselves to be trained in anything other than having me run around them – haa haa.
Have a beautiful and happy farmy day.
🙂 Mandy xo
Those shots made me laugh as i was loading them, such a bunch of clowns! c
Oh dear: no wonder none of mine ever really behaved! Altho’ I honestly don’t think a Corgi will ever learn – far too independent: and that one I loved the most 🙂 ! No wonder your mob are so highly praised tho’! Hmm, those last pictures of Boo and Ton: natural happy behaviour caught or is there a command they obeyed there too 😉 ?
They are almost always in some kind of training. Ton will jump anything if I point and call UP! Here he is bringing me a container. Booo of course is on Stay in the Green Truck for Naughty Dogs so i can work with ton alone. The Green Truck is his home away from home. When I open the door he has to wait for the command to come out though or he will knock me over in the scramble.
Oh golly-gosh [as the old saying goes!] – I would be as quiet as a mouse if I could just watch all that going on . . .
It is probably a good thing I do not own a dog. Fabulous detailed instructions for anyone who does, though.
Morning Audrey, i hope you are having a lovely day! c
Is this possible with a 2yrold Irish terrier called Jack? Please say yes!
Absolutely. Yes yes. Two years is not too old to learn the basics at all. In fact Ton is almost three and only now is coming into his own. So pick one command and work on it every day often. Firmly and calmly. And get that great handsome lad of yours to do it too. What is it that you want him to do? I would add that Close and Busy is very important for terriers. c
Brilliant and will do!
Since you went to the trouble to write all this down I hope you don’t mind if I print it out for Hannah? Great tutorial and fab pics. Gotta run. Most of the corn blew down in the storm last night. BIG sigh. Hopefully some of it will stand up again. We’re just starting to harvest. Have a great day, Celi!! 😀
I don’t mind at all if you print it and share it. I am always happy to be SHARED.. And your corn. Oh NO! This happened to me too, the laid down bits will stay laid down but the tips kept growing upwards. Though once it was down we had to pick like crazy to get ahead of the raccoons. Off you go!! c
I just loved the pics of TonTon and Boo being so attentive..looks like fun !
Great post that I am sure will help many of us…I shall now go and discuss it with my dog Benji
I love the name Benji. Be stern. My dogs try to hide their giggles behind their paws when I am stern! c
You could make a TV series like that Woodhouse woman from England… all good advise, all my dogs are trained my way and all have their own little tricks that are unique to them…
how many dogs do you have? Do they go walkabout with you when you go bush? c
2… yes they do,, lost my big one a while back.. had a narrow escape from a hyena that was not too keen on my proximity, big dog surprised the hell out of him… the 2 I now have are smaller dogs and when I stop they freeze… must admit when they stop I freeze, never being sure what the hell they’ve seen…
Good thinking. They must love being out in the bush with you. I would. c
OK you and I HAVE to be sisters, if not in this life then a previous one! It is like reading my twins blog! I train my dogs exactly your way, and no I don’t use treats either and yes I use hand signals, especially the ‘finger’ (not in a rude way). I probably go one step further than you in that I train my cats too LOL. My kittens are learning the word ‘NO’ at the moment, having already learned to come to their names (Oliver and JJ). People don’t realize that cats can be trained as well.
I have been asked by friends to train their dogs for them, but as I point out (and you have reiterated through this post) it is an on-going thing that can’t really be handed off to someone else, as it has to be done all the time! So I just give them a command (and show them how to do it ) and say let me know when your dog does it without thinking and I’ll show you another. I must admit Border Coliies have to be the easiest, but they also HAVE to have a job (trained to do things) as it is in their nature.
Keep up the good work Sis!!
Ton is extremely easy but Boo is coming along nicely. Wonderful that we train our dogs the same way, it means i am on the right track. Ton is quivering at my feet at the moment because there is thunder. He is such a cry baby when it thunders. how is Shelly this morning? eating again? I do hope so.. c
Not yet – she wouldn’t touch her breakfast, but I am cooking chicken and rice for her dinner so keep your fingers crossed. Every time I put her bowl down she walks away and looks over her shoulder at me as if to say “Yeah right, you think I’m touching that nasty stuff”, so I am going to use a different bowl. I remember using all sorts of psychology with the kids, never thought I would be using it with my dogs LOL Oh and Shelly hates storms too.
Like kids she will eat when she is hungry though.. hopefully. poor Shelly. Could you put heer food in a different spot possibly? i don’t know, i am sure you a e trying everything, maybe when you are not watching she will sneak back and eat her dinner.. c
Quite fascinating, although I’m not a “dog person.” Old Jules trains his cats, to a degree, more than anyone else I’ve ever seen. Consistency is the key with animals and children both.
You are absolutely right – consistency is the key, particularly with children. Old Jules does have very special cats.. c
OMP (oh my pig)! I’ve been snookered. I’m reading your blog and checking things off. My mommy has trained me – her little oinker?! How could this happen? I thought I was so much smarter and that *I* was training her. All this time, it was the other way around. The gall. Oops gotta go, mom is called for breakfast… darn it trained again. XOXO – Bacon
Morning bacon, maybe you could pop over and chat to my runaway piglet, he is trying to train ME too! c
Snorts – you know us little piglets. We are houdini’s! Well, that’s what mommy called me one night when I got up in the middle of the night and snuck into the kitchen’s ice box – snorts. XOXO – Bacon
Naughty piggie, you too! c
Sigh – would you please come to Canada to train my labradoodle? We adopted at 3 years old, along with his problems!
I jest – he is a wonderful dog but is definitely a handful.
Adopting older dogs is a challenge even I would shy away from. But choose one command and practice it every day often. They can learn new stuff. Hope you are having a great day Soph! c