It is important to create a good routine and habits for your trainings. 

At the beginning of your trainings, it can be wether you warm up, get the dog ready, give him some baited water before the run.

Today we will focus on the end of the training routine, which is to me the most important. 

Always finish on a positive note

Never end a training on a bad note. Even if the training has been a disaster, and that will happen, some days you will have bad trainings. You need to always try to get the dog to do something really good before you say woah. It can be just a last perfect 100m. As long as you end up on a positive note. 

Hugs / celebration

Something we do at the end of every single training or race, is a big hug and lots of praising and rewarding. Luna knows that now and as soon as we stop she turns around and wants her hug. 

A big hug with lots of “that was an excellent job girl, you did amazing, that’s some great work, great job today”. Anything positive to say to your dog, and lots of pets. 

You can start that ritual from the very first run you do. That will emphasize the fact that running is a great thing for the dog.

Hydration

When you just finish a run, aren’t you thirsty? Well your dog is thirsty as well. Hydration after a run is so important. Be sure to provide enough water for your dog to drink. 

You can also choose to add some supplements to the water for faster recovery. I have always talked about it in this previous post, we add Glycocharge to their water. Glycocharge is kind of like Gatorade. It’s a powder you can add to the water. We’ve seen some better recovery since we added this to every training and race. We also add bone broth which is good for the joints and bones. Both Glycocharge and bone broth add some flavour to the water so the dog may even take it as a nice reward after trainings.

Luna is so used to that reward now that if we forget it and just give her plain water she’ll look at us like what the heck is that? 🙂

Rest

Now it’s time to give your dog some rest. He did a great job, now he’s allowed to rest. Some people might want to do a training and then “cool down” the dog with a hike. I don’t recommend that. The dog might think that he needs to go easy during the run because there will be a hike after the training. You don’t want your dog to go easy. You would always want your dog to give it all during training! Make sure to give your dog some rest if you want him to give it all.

What training habits do you have? Share them with us!