🦴 Game of Bones: 2025’s Best Cities for Training Your Dog 🐶

What are the 3 most important things new dog owners should focus on when training their dogs?

This is a tough question since I don’t know the age of the dog, what they are hoping to train for, or if the person has had dogs before. For puppies, we first want to potty train and have them learn appropriate safety commands (sit, down, their name, etc.) and then proper chewing and barking behaviors.

But—generally speaking—the three most important things would be:

1. The person wants to develop a positive relationship with the dog, and therefore I recommend positive reinforcement training.
2. Leash train the dog so that you can go on safe walks and the dog can learn to be socialized and behave around other people and animals.
3. The three basic “tricks” I want the dog to learn are sit, heel, and recall (come back)—and these should happen at home and away from home when there are distractions

 What is the best age to start structured training, and is it ever too late to begin?

Training starts immediately (even at 8 weeks), but in small sessions and intro-level behaviors. It is never too late for a dog to learn (it may take a little longer depending on the behavior and the owner’s patience, but older dogs can definitely learn new behaviors).

What is a common mistake dog owners make when trying to train their pets at home without professional help?

Dog owners often give up too soon (they are less patient than the dog). Dog owners often have inconsistent rules or inconsistent people (everyone in the house has to agree with the training plan). Dog owners may not realize “why” a dog is behaving in a certain manner and thus they are training the wrong way (they assume the dog is aggressive when it is scared, etc.).

Beyond access to trainers, how can cities make themselves more supportive to environments for successful dog training?

Cities can provide educational materials (especially to elementary school children) about how to properly approach (or not approach) dogs and general dog safety tips (for the dog and the people). For example, what vaccines are required for dogs in your state and what are common diseases in your area that you could try to prevent in your animal (also which of these diseases can people catch from the dog and vice versa).

Cities can provide more outdoor areas with proper doggie bags and clean-up materials. This is a great place to also allow trainers to offer “free” first-time lessons for leashed dogs at a park to both drum up business and to showcase great dog behaviors. Cities could advertise events showcasing great trained dogs (watching police dog training or advanced service dog training sessions, etc.).

Cities should realize that not everyone wants a dog at every park. Have dog-free areas where people can feel comfortable if they don’t want to be around animals. This can help avoid potential problems.

Cities can better police people who mistreat their animals or let their animals be a nuisance to the public. Cities can make sure that their policies and laws regarding animals are clear and well understood by the community.

Are certain breeds more responsive to training, or is that a myth?

Any dog can be receptive to training and any dog can do amazing trained behaviors. It really just takes the right person–dog combo. However, some dog breeds can be more generally responsive to training due to hundreds of years of breeding for specific traits. For example, dog breeds such as Border Collies naturally want to herd and therefore training them to “herd” is easier than many other breeds. Border Collies can be great dogs to do outdoor activities with because of this (frisbee, rally, etc.). However, Border Collies can be harder to train in other ways because they also are very smart and want to be active.

So—yes, some dogs are more responsive to some types of training, but it really depends on what the person is hoping to accomplish with the dog. People should research dog breeds and behavior (even if getting a mixed dog) so they know a little about the history that the dog was developed for. Then they can best match personality types if they have very specific goals in mind for training.

What are the 3 most important things new dog owners should focus on when training their dogs?

I think the most important thing new dog owners should work on is developing a good relationship with their dog. This means being reliable and safe – training using positive reinforcement techniques and making learning an enjoyable experience with their new pup to help promote bonding. 

This often will include what I think is another important thing to work on: providing their dogs with enrichment to allow them to exhibit species-typical behavior, like sniffing, licking, and chewing, that can help with stress relief. This can look like “sniffy walks” – allowing the dog to stop and sniff as long as they like. Snuffle mats, lick mats, and chews also help. When a dog has finished a training session, giving them one of these activities to engage in will help them settle after their training session. 

Finally, I think owners should focus on management techniques – setting up the environment for the dog to succeed. Have a dog who dashes out of the front door? Add a baby gate so they can’t practice that behavior while you are working on the training. Have a dog who barks out the windows? Close the blinds or put a film on the windows so they can’t see out of them. These will prevent dogs from engaging in the “problem” behavior repeatedly, which will then make it easier for you to train a new behavior. I know these aren’t trained behaviors per se, but they will set the foundation for a lifetime of learning ahead.

What is the best age to start structured training, and is it ever too late to begin?

The best age to start structured training is right now, whatever right now is. If you have a puppy, you can start the day they come home. If you have an older dog, you can start today too! I continued training my previous dog, Cleo, throughout her life and she was still learning new skills when she passed away at 17. 

You can teach an old dog new tricks and it’s never too late to begin. The sooner you start the quicker and easier your pup will learn because of their reinforcement history. That is, if you want to teach your dog not to pull on a leash it’s easiest to start that when they are new to the leash. If you wait until they are, say, 3 years old, they will have had 3 years of pulling on the leash practice behind them and it will be harder to break that habit. 

What is a common mistake dog owners make when trying to train their pets at home without professional help?

A common mistake dog owners make is punishing their dogs for their “bad” behavior. Let’s take potty training as an example. If your puppy has a potty accident and you rub its nose in it or spank it, what you’ve just taught your puppy is that you seeing them go potty leads to punishment. This often backfires in big ways; maybe they won’t go potty when you take them for a walk, or maybe they will hide their indoor potty accidents by going in places that will be difficult for you to spot… until the smell alerts you! 

Punishment often tells animals what they shouldn’t do, not what they should do. Instead, if your pup has an accident in the house, interrupt them and take them out. As soon as they potty outside, have a big dog party: treats, praise, maybe a little game of tug. Make potty outside so fun and potty inside so boring. Soon your pup will learn to potty outside and not inside. 

The same goes for other behaviors that people don’t know how to train. Punishment really isn’t the best way to teach dogs what you want them to do. But sometimes when people are frustrated they don’t know what else to do. Find a good trainer instead of using punishment. 

Beyond access to trainers, how can cities make themselves more supportive to environments for successful dog training?

One thing cities can do is to have a lot of good places for people to walk dogs in safe areas: public parks, rails to trails paths, or hiking trails are all great options. These can offer great training opportunities for dogs and they can be fun places for dogs and their owners to go and bond together. Ideally these places would require dogs to be leashed. Off-leash dogs that are not under control can lead to a number of problems for dogs and owners. 

Are certain breeds more responsive to training, or is that a myth?

Certain breeds are very eager to work closely with humans. Other breeds are more independent and therefore less concerned with being given instruction by humans. Any breed can be trained, but breeds like border collies and retrievers are eager to learn from you because of their years of being bred to work in close concert with humans. Breeds like hounds or terriers were bred to work more independently, and therefore you have to work a little harder to train them.