Not only is it more fun and rewarding to involve the whole family in training your dog, it’s more effective as well. Perhaps the most important element of pulling this off successfully is declaring the rules that will govern your dog's behavior are for everyone in the family to enforce, at all times.

Establishing the Rules

We really can’t overstate the importance of consistency here. If even one member of your family lets your dog do as it pleases while pretending to maintain discipline it could undermine the whole operation. So if your child is too young to train your dog, she should probably refrain entirely until she’s ready. Because when higher ranking “pack” members are inconsistent about the rules, your dog will be as well.

In an ideal world you’d have all the rules laid out with your family before you bring your puppy home so everyone can start off on the right foot. But if you’re reading this now you’ve probably already brought your pet home. Nonetheless, it’s best to stick with firm established rules the minute you can, and be sure that everyone in your family knows what those rules are and what they’re expected to do to enforce them.

Family Meeting Time

When the dog gets home the first thing you should do is call the whole family together to create a list of the important rules and be sure to encourage everybody, including small children, to offer ideas and describe how they'd like the dog to behave so everyone will feel included.

Discuss the reasons for every rule you put in place. Big rules – such as not feeding from the table or the types of play that will be allowed – need to be universally understood and enforced.

One effective way to accomplish all this is to write down the rules and have your kids draw pictures of the dog behaving in that way next to each one. Remember that the more you involve every family member in the process the more committed they will be to seeing the rules followed. Also be sure to display the list in a predominate place (like the kitchen fridge) to keep it fresh in your family’s mind.

It’s impossible to overemphasize how important it is for your children (and everyone else in the house) to all have the same mindset and understanding regarding your new dog. In the next article we will discuss how to teach the rules, initiate training games, and keep training consistent – all of which will fail if you do not set the entire family on the same path.

Dog Training with the Family (part 3)