As a professional dog trainer, I generally have fun training my dogs. However, I know for a lot of people the thought of training your dog sounds more like another chore you have to do, like doing the laundry, cleaning the house, or mowing the lawn. If it feels like a chore, then perhaps you need to change the way you are training and spice things up a bit!

I have been working hard to create fun new classes to keep people interested in training their dogs. It gets boring doing the same sits, downs and stays over and over again. Even I get bored with it, and so do my dogs. If you're bored with training, think about trying something new like Agility for Fun, Tricks for Treats, Rally Obedience, or other ways to inject some creativity and fun into your training.

Even if you have no interest in competing in Agility or Rally for example, these are GREAT ways to expand your training with your dog. Agility requires your dog to not only be able to handle obstacles like jumps, tunnels, dog walks and weave poles, but to do them when you ask. There is nothing like training your dog for agility to tell you whether you are communicating clearly with your dog or not!

Rally obedience is a relatively new sport that takes the precision of traditional obedience but makes it more fun and interactive. If you want to teach your dog to heel or even just walk nicely on leash without pulling, this sport is focused primarily on exercises done in heel position. But the emphasis is not so much on precision as your attitude and having fun with your dog – what could be better than that!

What other ways do you train with your dogs to make things fun and fend off boredom?

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