This is a question I am often asked, the answer might suprise you. When it comes to dog training less can be more. There are several research papers on this topic, here I will refer to two; Meyer, I. & Ladewig, J. (2007) The relationship between number of training sessions per week and learning in dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science Vol 111 pp 311-320 and Demant, H. et al. (2011) The effect of frequency and duration of training sessions on acquisition and long-term memory in dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science Vol 133 pp 228-234.
Meyer & Ladewig (2007) found that dogs trained once a week completed a specificly trained exercise in fewer training sessions than dogs trained 5 days a week. Keep in mind that dogs trained 5 days a week would have completed the training in 11 days compared to on average 7 weeks for dogs that had only 1 session per week. However, when we look at the actual training sessions, dogs trained 5 days a week took an average of 9 sessions to learn the task and dogs trained only once a week took on average only 6.7 sessions to learn the task.
The optimal number of training sessions is 1-2 per week, as found by Demant et al. (2011). They found that shorter duration of training is better than longer sessions and that dogs can remember a learned task for at least 4 weeks without having further training (this was as long as they measured but I would think it is much more). They state that breaks in training for vacation or busy scheduals will not interfer with the dogs ability to remember past training.
So what does this mean for dog trainers? It means that many people overtrain their dogs. Too much training can slow a dogs' progress or dampen any enthusiasm a dog has for a given task. Dogs need time to process a new task they are learning and giving them a few days to think on training will help them learn the task faster.
For most of us we train dogs because it is fun for us and the dogs but too much training can make it a chore. This is not what we aim for. Do not take your dog out tracking every day, do not do 10 minutes of nosework every day or even every second day. I have found that both tracking and nosework are good as once a week and twice a week activities respectively. Also, keep the sessions short. Nosework is best done as 2-4 searches in around a 2-8 minute session (depending on the dog). Tracking should be 1-2 tracks depending on the track length and degree of difficulty. Ideally you should be finishing a session with the dog wanting more and in some cases the trainer too!
Finally, this does not mean that you should only train your dog 1-2 times a week, but that you should only train the same exercise 1-2 times a week. You can still train daily just change it up with training different exercises or sports, it is a good excuse to try lots of different things with your dog too.
Meyer & Ladewig (2007) found that dogs trained once a week completed a specificly trained exercise in fewer training sessions than dogs trained 5 days a week. Keep in mind that dogs trained 5 days a week would have completed the training in 11 days compared to on average 7 weeks for dogs that had only 1 session per week. However, when we look at the actual training sessions, dogs trained 5 days a week took an average of 9 sessions to learn the task and dogs trained only once a week took on average only 6.7 sessions to learn the task.
The optimal number of training sessions is 1-2 per week, as found by Demant et al. (2011). They found that shorter duration of training is better than longer sessions and that dogs can remember a learned task for at least 4 weeks without having further training (this was as long as they measured but I would think it is much more). They state that breaks in training for vacation or busy scheduals will not interfer with the dogs ability to remember past training.
So what does this mean for dog trainers? It means that many people overtrain their dogs. Too much training can slow a dogs' progress or dampen any enthusiasm a dog has for a given task. Dogs need time to process a new task they are learning and giving them a few days to think on training will help them learn the task faster.
For most of us we train dogs because it is fun for us and the dogs but too much training can make it a chore. This is not what we aim for. Do not take your dog out tracking every day, do not do 10 minutes of nosework every day or even every second day. I have found that both tracking and nosework are good as once a week and twice a week activities respectively. Also, keep the sessions short. Nosework is best done as 2-4 searches in around a 2-8 minute session (depending on the dog). Tracking should be 1-2 tracks depending on the track length and degree of difficulty. Ideally you should be finishing a session with the dog wanting more and in some cases the trainer too!
Finally, this does not mean that you should only train your dog 1-2 times a week, but that you should only train the same exercise 1-2 times a week. You can still train daily just change it up with training different exercises or sports, it is a good excuse to try lots of different things with your dog too.