The Labor Day reset: rebuilding the routine

Labor Day is the last long weekend of summer, the kids have been back in school for two weeks, and the dog is still living on the July schedule. Late nights, no crate, a walk when somebody remembered, and place a distant memory. Every September our team hears the same thing: the dog was great after training and it has slipped. It has not slipped. The routine did. Three days is enough to put it back.

Day one: the crate and the clock

Saturday morning starts with a schedule written down. Wake, out, walk, breakfast in the crate, crate rest until lunch, place in the afternoon, walk at dusk, dinner in the crate, place while the family eats, bed in the crate. The crate comes back first because everything else hangs on it. A dog that spent the summer sleeping on the couch will complain for one night. Let it. The schedule is the point, not the dog's opinion of it.

Day two: the walk and the door

• The dusk walk is a structured walk again: short leash, dog at your side, stop for a tight leash, turn at the corners, sit at the crossings. Fifteen minutes. The heat has not broken yet; the first cool front is a month away.
• Every door in the house is a wait again. Sit, door opens, hold, release. Ten doors a day, including the car.
• The doorbell drill after dinner, five rings, dog to place, door opens, dog holds.
• Greetings go back to four paws on the floor, for the family and for the neighbor.

By Sunday night the dog is already anticipating the sit at the door. Dogs like routines more than people do; they just need one to exist.

Day three: place, and the hurricane bag

Monday is a holiday, which means the family is home and the dog can do a long place: through breakfast, through the afternoon game, through dinner, released for walks and water. A dog that manages an hour of place on Monday will hold ten minutes on Tuesday night without being asked twice. And while the house is in reset mode, do the hurricane check: the crate the dog now loves is the carrier, the bag by the door has records, a week of food, medications and a leash, and the dog loads into the car crate on one word. September is the peak of the season. The full rehearsal is its own post; the loading is a Labor Day job.

Keeping it past the weekend

The routine survives if it is boring. Same times, same words, same door, every day, through the fall. Gold graduates have an additional lesson and lifelong support, and Platinum graduates have unlimited private lessons; a September tune-up lesson is exactly what they are for, and a $160 lesson at our home in Cypress does the same job for a dog that never trained with us. The fall calendar fills fast once the weather breaks, so if the reset does not hold, book the free consultation this week rather than in October.

Written by

Best Dog University Team

Board and train trainers in Cypress, Houston. 16+ years, 900+ dogs. About our team