Two-Day Rule in Dog Training
The two-day rule in dog training is actually something we could use from what psychologists use to help people create and form better habits.
As we know, once you start forming a habit after about 30 days it starts to sink in, then the further you go with your new behaviour it starts to become an automatic behaviour. Then the further you go on it becomes a routine.
So, why the Two-day rule in Dog Training?
Actually, it’s not really for your dog. Yes, your dogs are going to benefit from it, but it is about helping you the owner have the right mindset to continue with your training goals. It will then enable you to keep on track when you have an off day, miss training one day, or something crops up unexpectedly in your personal life.
The two-day rule is just a simple way of keeping you on track with forming a new habit, so you could actually implement this in any various areas of your life.
Though being a dog trainer and behaviourist I wanted to bring it up to help you focus on your dog-related goals, whether that is training a new behaviour, or changing an unwanted behaviour.
You do not want to skip two days in a row when you are starting to form a new habit. It’s okay to miss one day as long as the day after you do the new behaviour, the training your dog requires to keep you motivated and focused, so your dog goes in the right direction too.
You don’t even have to do the training perfectly at the beginning as your training will get better the more you do it, plus the action of doing what is needed to be done will keep forming the habit you require and keep establishing that new dog training mindset to help your four legged companion.
Forming a new habit is about doing the same behaviour over and over again so it becomes automatic.
The two-day rule keeps you on track if you are aware you have missed a day, and that you cannot miss two days on the trot, You then have a better chance of creating your new daily habit and turning it into an automatic practice.
I know this has not been a dog training instructional post, but I hope you find it helpful and important as you have to have the right mindset when it comes to helping a dog become the best it can be.