#229 SUBS Only Board & Train’s Hidden Cost

What if the fastest way to a well-mannered dog isn’t sending them away, but changing what you do at home? We unpack the board-and-train promise and reveal the real reason results fade once the leash is back in your hands: the environment teaches, and your daily habits are the curriculum. 

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Chapters

• 0:02 The Promise Of Board And Train
• 0:26 Dogs Learn, Owners Don’t
• 1:09 Skills Fade Without Daily Habits
• 2:00 Training Is Like A 5K
• 2:25 Make Training A Lifestyle

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:02

When people first hear about a board and train program, it sounds like the perfect solution. You send your dog away for a few weeks, a professional trainer does the work, and your dog comes back well behaved. It sounds simple. But the truth is training doesn't really work that way. I used to offer board and train programs myself, and I stopped because I realized something important. The problem isn't that the dogs don't learn. They do. The problem is that the people don't change. For training to truly stick, the owners have to learn new habits and new ways of interacting with their dog on a daily basis. Without that part, the training just fades away. So here's the fallacy of board and train. Yes, your dog may come home knowing how to sit, stay, come when called, and wait at the door. But if you don't use those cues in your everyday life, if you haven't built new habits around them, then all of that learning quickly disappears. The dog just goes back to doing what worked before. And that's why so many board and train programs offer refresher sessions. It's not because the training failed, it's because the owner's lifestyle doesn't change. The way they interact with their dog day after day stayed the same, and the dog learned that all the old rules still apply. Think about it this way training isn't like learning how to ride a bike. Once you learn to ride, you can hop back on years later and it's still there. Dog training is more like preparing for a 5K run. You have to keep up with the practice, those short runs every other day, to stay in shape. Skip too many and you lose your endurance. And it's the same with your dog. If you only practice those new skills once in a while, the behavior fades. That's why real progress doesn't come from sending your dog away for a few weeks. It comes from showing up every day in small ways, asking your dog to wait before dinner, rewarding them for checking in on a walk, and using those cues in real life situations. That's the daily training run that keeps your dog's skills sharp. Any good trainer can teach your dog the basics, but the real magic happens when you, the owner, take what your dog has learned and weave it into your routine, your doorways, your mealtimes, your walks, and your greetings at the front door. That's how training becomes a lifestyle instead of just a skill. So if you're considering a board and train program, think about what happens after your dog comes home. Are you ready to change how you interact with them? Are you ready to maintain the new habits that make those cues meaningful? Because that's where the training truly happens. Not in a facility, but in your everyday life together.