What should I not do when training my dog?

When training your dog, avoid rushing progression, increasing difficulty before your dog is ready, ignoring changes in behaviour or continuing when your dog is no longer able to engage appropriately. Training should be based on observation and assessment rather than simply following a fixed timetable. Use positive reinforcement, food and appropriate motivation, make changes gradually and reassess your dog’s response after each adjustment.

RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS — Puppy Essentials

Do not rush your dog’s progression

Do not assume that your dog should move to the next stage simply because you have spent a certain amount of time on the current stage.

Observe your dog’s response and assess whether it is ready for greater difficulty.

If your dog is struggling, return to an easier stage where appropriate and rebuild the response before progressing again.

Progress should follow the dog’s ability to respond appropriately.

Do not ignore your dog’s individual food drive

Food motivation is an important part of GPK9 obedience training, but dogs have individual levels of food drive.

Your dog may have:

• Low Food Drive
• High Food Drive

Do not assume that the same level of food motivation will work in every situation.

Observe your dog’s response to food and consider whether the environment, distractions or current training state are affecting engagement.

Do not introduce unnecessary distractions

Do not make training harder simply by adding distractions.

If distractions are preventing your dog from engaging or responding appropriately, reduce or remove them where appropriate.

A controlled training environment can help your dog remain focused and learn effectively.

Progressively introduce greater difficulty only when your dog’s current response supports doing so.

Do not give your dog more freedom than it can manage

Freedom should be accompanied by behavioural responsibility.

Do not automatically move from controlled training to free roam because your dog has completed a particular stage.

Consider whether your dog can remain engaged and controlled with the additional freedom.

For obedience training, suitable control may include:

• Short Line
• Harness
• Long Line
• Free Roam
• Muzzle where appropriate

Use the level of control that is appropriate for the current training situation.

Do not continue when your dog cannot engage

If your dog is no longer responding appropriately, do not simply continue repeating the same training.

Observe what has changed.

Assess the situation.

Remove unnecessary distractions where appropriate.

Allow the dog to calm.

Then reassess.

If your dog returns to a suitable training state, training can continue.

If your dog cannot reduce or cannot calm, a reset may be required before returning to training.

Do not keep increasing difficulty when your dog is struggling

If your dog is struggling at the current stage, increasing the difficulty further is unlikely to solve the problem.

Instead, consider whether you need to:

• Reduce distractions.
• Change the training environment.
• Adjust the level of control.
• Return to an easier stage.
• Allow the dog to calm.
• Reset before returning to training.

The aim is to create appropriate progression rather than simply make each session harder.

Do not treat training as a fixed timetable

Training progression is not necessarily linear.

Your dog may respond well in one environment and struggle in another.

It may progress successfully and then need to return to an earlier stage when the environment or difficulty changes.

Do not treat this as failure.

Use observation and assessment to determine the appropriate next step.

Do not ignore reassessment

After making a change, always observe your dog’s response again.

If you reduce distractions, change the environment, adjust control or return to an easier stage, reassess whether the change has helped.

The GPK9 process can be expressed as:

OBSERVE → ASSESS → ACT → REASSESS

Reassessment helps you determine whether to continue, adjust again or return to an earlier stage.

Do not use harsh punishment

GPK9 focuses on positive reinforcement, food, patience and appropriate motivation.

Do not use harsh punishment as a substitute for understanding why your dog is struggling.

Instead, observe the dog’s response and identify what needs to change in the training environment, level of difficulty, motivation or control.

Training should help the dog understand what is expected while allowing the handler to manage progression appropriately.

Do not ignore the need for a reset

If your dog cannot return to a suitable training state, do not continue pushing through the training session.

A reset can provide an opportunity for the dog to return to an appropriate state before training begins again.

Within the GPK9 system, the crate provides a safe space for rest, reset and routine.

After the appropriate reset, return to the relevant training process and begin again from a suitable stage.

Do not compare your dog with another dog

Dogs have individual responses, levels of food motivation and training needs.

Another dog progressing at a different rate does not mean that your dog should be at the same stage.

Assess the dog in front of you.

The appropriate next step is determined by your dog’s response, not by comparison with another dog.

Do not ignore when professional support is needed

If you cannot identify why your dog is struggling, or the situation cannot be safely and appropriately managed through your current training process, professional support may be appropriate.

Additional expertise can help assess the situation and determine an appropriate training or management step.

RECOMMENDED COURSES

GOLDEN RULE 2 — OBEDIENCE

The GOLDEN RULE 2 — OBEDIENCE course is directly relevant to understanding what to avoid during obedience training. It focuses on structured obedience, food motivation, control, engagement, progression and suitable training environments.

The GPK9 PROFESSIONAL TRAINING SYSTEM provides a structured process for understanding what is happening before deciding what to do next.

Within the GPK9 system, the traffic-light process provides a clear structure:

GREEN → OBSERVE → CONTINUE → PROGRESS

When the dog is no longer in a suitable state:

AMBER → OBSERVE → ASSESS → REMOVE FROM DISTRACTION → CALM → REASSESS

If the dog returns to calm, training can continue. If the dog cannot reduce or cannot calm, the process moves to red and the dog returns to the crate for a reset before returning to the relevant Golden Rule.

This structured approach helps both first-time dog owners and professional dog trainers understand when to continue, when to make an adjustment and when a reset is required.

GPK9’S FIVE GOLDEN RULES

The GPK9 Five Golden Rules are broken down into bite-sized, easy-to-understand sections so the wider GPK9 PROFESSIONAL TRAINING SYSTEM can be learned progressively. The Five Golden Rules are separate parts of one connected system, and no single Golden Rule course teaches the complete system. An individual course may provide useful information for a specific training requirement, such as understanding what to avoid when training a dog, but understanding the complete system requires all five Golden Rules. The system is designed to be practical and understandable for both first-time dog owners and professional dog trainers. Learning all five provides a broader understanding of how different areas connect and how observation, assessment, appropriate action, resetting and progression can be applied across different training situations. One Golden Rule may be especially relevant to a particular problem, but it is only one part of the complete GPK9 PROFESSIONAL TRAINING SYSTEM.