Welcome to the 5-Minute Dog, the mini-podcast that delivers practical training advice in less than 5 minutes. Let's talk about two words that come up a lot in dog training training and management. Training and management Most people know what training is it's teaching your dog to sit, stay, come, all of that good stuff. But management that's the one we often skip over or misunderstand and honestly, it is just as important, maybe even more important than training, especially in those early days. So let's define them real quick.

Training is teaching your dog what to do. Management is controlling the environment so your dog can't practice what you don't want him to do. Both are powerful, but they serve very different purposes. Let's say your dog jumps on guest. Training would be teaching him to sit or go to your mat when someone comes over. Management would be using a leash or baby gate to prevent jumping until his training is complete. Or maybe your dog steals food off the counter. Training would be teaching your dog not to counter surf. Management would be making sure there's nothing on the counter to steal to begin with. Management would be making sure there's nothing on the counter to steal to begin with, or using a gate to block off access to the kitchen altogether.

Here's the honest truth Management keeps unwanted habits from getting stronger while we're still trying to teach our dog what we want him to do. Because every time our dog jumps and gets attention or steals food and gets a snack, that behavior is getting reinforced, it's getting stronger and it's starting to become a habit, even if it is accidental. It's like trying to fix a leaky faucet while the water is still running. We've got to turn the flow off before we can patch things up. So why do people skip management?

Usually because it feels like a shortcut. We think, well, I'll just train my dog not to do that. But in reality, training takes time. It's not going to happen overnight. So the less opportunity our dog has to practice unwanted behaviors, the better. Has to practice unwanted behaviors, the better, and I get it. Using crates and gates and leashes or closing doors can feel like we're failing or that we're babying our dog, but it's the opposite. It's smart and it is proactive and it sets you both up for success. Think of management like training wheels. We don't want to use them forever, but they help keep our household balanced while our dog is still learning and it keeps him from developing or even further reinforcing unwanted habits or even further reinforcing unwanted habits, habits that we will eventually have to help him unlearn. So the fewer unwanted habits we have to undo, the better. Eventually we will phase out management, but in the beginning management should be your best friend.