As Seen On TV: Why Maintenance Matters - a podcast by Ty Brown

In today’s post, I want to talk about maintenance. Quite often, I hear people saying things like: “I just want my dog to be like that service dog that I saw,” or “I want my dog to look like that dog on TV or YouTube.” When they say this, people are typically referring to one of two things: either the high level of training that the other dog received, or the illusion of a maintenance-free dog.

It’s not that these people don’t want to take care of their dogs, but when they see a demonstration with a police dog or a video on YouTube, they assume that those dogs are automatically obedient. What people don’t see is the maintenance training that goes into making sure that the dog stays that way.

For instance, most police officers I know who train dogs get together for training every week. This is usually at a training club, separate from the everyday training that they might go through around their house or during work. Likewise, service dogs need to be maintained through constant practice and field trips.

This is the nature of dog training as well as life. I often ask clients how often they receive training at their jobs. Sometimes it’s never, but oftentimes they reply that their education is continuous. Whatever the job, there is no such thing as “trained and done.”

Every dog has its own personality and character, and this is where those differences come into play. Let’s say that we have dogs that look identical on the surface: two year-old Labrador Retrievers, both hyper leash-pullers, neither of whom come when called. On paper, those two dogs are pretty similar. Yet even if we do the exact same training with both, it’s perfectly reasonable to assume that one dog will need more maintenance than another.

Some dogs fall into a rhythm and maintain their training with very little effort. Other dogs, however, require us to be very consistent with their training and make sure that they get what they need. Some dogs need more, some dogs needs less.

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