5 Reasons why dogs make mistakes during training

When a dog continues to make mistakes during training it is important to know the reason why before you can address the issue.  

Possible causes for a dog to make mistakes more than 10% of the time:

1.  The exercise may be too difficult for the dog.  It is important to set your dog up to succeed.  Keep it simple and clear.  If not, the dog can become frustrated and/or uninterested.

2.  More practice may be needed.  It is possible the dog has not had enough shaping or being guided correctly into the behavior with a food lure.

3.  It is possible the dog is not motivated enough to respond.  This usually happens when the dog gets what he wants for free outside of training.

4.  Your signals may be unclear to the dog

5.  Check your surroundings, there could be too many distractions too soon for the dog.

When the dog give the correct behavior approximately 90% of the time, you can be confident that your dog is ready for the next training level.