When I brought puppy Summit home, I was committed to training her. I wanted to have the best behaved Dachshund around.
But I quickly became overwhelmed.
Our lifestyle, and my interest, didn’t allow for an hour of training a day.
A lot of online dog training videos made it seem complicated.
Add to that, I felt guilty and uncomfortable having to give Summit so many dog treats, and thus calories, during training sessions (keeping her fit and trim is important to me!)
My motivation got squashed.
But I still had this vision of having a well-trained Dachshund (yes, it IS possible).
Summit has some frustrating habits I would like to eliminate or minimize too like excessive barking, jumping on people, and whining, or “yelling”, when she is impatient (like before getting out of the car when we arrive at a trailhead).
So I didn’t give up. I decided some training was better than none.
While I couldn’t commit to a specific amount of time every day, I could commit to a lifetime of training in small increments. Slow and steady wins the race, right?
And while I get that training is easier when the puppy is young, an old dog can learn new tricks. Gretel, at 12, has been proof.
Anyway, I found a great resource that finally makes training feel easy for me and I wanted to share it with you.
Have you heard of Pupford?
What Is Pupford?
Disclosure: Pupford provided me with dog treats, and access to Pupford online training, so I could try them and share what I thought with you.
Pupford was founded, in part, by a Dachshund owner and their mission is to empower you to build a better relationship with your pup(s)!
Their dream is to give every pup parent access to the best training resources and nutrition products available.
Pupford Academy online dog training
Pupford created the Pupford Academy – an an ever-growing library of online dog training videos – to help you shape behavior and turn your dog into the pup of your dreams.
Courses are led by a variety of certified dog trainers and use positive reinforcement, science-based techniques to help you train your dog safely, effectively, and humanely.
Training can be accesed from a desktop computer but there is also a Pupford app that allows you to access the Academy while on-the-go.
Training is broken down into short chunks and arranged by outcomes – behaviors you want and solutions to behaviors you don’t want.
The 30-Day Perfect Pup module is basically a dog training commands list – a list of all of the commands a well behaved dog should know.
The Pupford Academy offers dog training tips for beginners as well as more advanced modules.
In addition to dog training, the Pupford Academy includes several other helpful courses, including:
- Dog First Aid
- Dog Body Language
- Intro to Dog Sports
- Barking Solutions
- Trick Training
The cost to enroll in the Pupford Academy is $9.99 a month.
Currently, they are running a deal where you can sign up for only $1 (then pay $9.99 after that). They frequently run other deals too so check back if you’re not ready to sign up yet.
You can always get 10% off the regular price for the Pupford dog training academy by using the code summitgretel10.
With an active subscription (or lifetime purchase), you’ll get access to every new course they release.
Pupford Training Treats
Pupford also makes yummy one-calorie, real-meat dog training treats.
Pupford training treats are limited ingredient – usually only containing one kind of meat and natural preservatives.
The treats are 1 calorie each and, while they will work for any dog, are a great size specifically for puppies and small dogs.
Flavors include:
- Rabbit
- Beef liver
- Sweet potato
- Salmon
- Chicken
For 10% off Pupford training treats, use the code summitgretel10.
In addition to training treats, Pupford also sells several single-ingredient, natural chews, freeze-dried-meat food toppers, and supplements.
How Pupford Removed the Barriers to Training My Dog
I love the format of the Pupford dog training because it’s easy to digest and makes me feel confident that I won’t mess it up.
Watching the videos made me feel confident that I can stick with training on a regular basis because the instructions are, short, to the point, and easy for me to follow.
My favorite is probably the GIF-Based Step-by-Step Instructions designed to guide you in a very formatted way
Many of the “gif-based” courses have different “levels” within each behavior or trick to help me see my progress.
There are also longer-format video-modules.
Some courses come with a handful of video modules that help me progress through course and other courses are one full video.
The video-based modules come with written instructions, often PDF cheat sheets, that I can take notes on and refer to when I’m offline.
One of the best parts for me is that there is also a Pupford Academy app so I can easily access the training modules on the go.
You know I take Summit and Gretel almost everywhere with me.
That means if I’m waiting for a friend who is running late, or I show up 15 minutes early for an appointment, I can open the app, choose what I want to work on, and fit in a short training session.
I can also review an exercise before getting out of the car and practice as we do other things – like hike and walk on the beach.
Besides previously feeling overwhelmed with training, I had a mental block about giving too many treats during the training sessions, especially when doing multiple a day.
I was worried about the amount of calories Summit was eating since Dachshunds can gain weight easily, which is bad for their health and back.
But treats are the best reward when training Summit.
Puford treats are only one calorie each so I’m able to feed her more throughout the day.
Also, they’re basically freeze dried raw food – raw is what I primarily feed Summit and Gretel – so I feel ok slightly reducing the amount of food at each meal to compensate for the treat calories.
Final Thoughts
I first learned of Pupford while watching Zak George dog training videos online.
When I had a chance to check out the Pupford library, I asked myself if the Pupford Academy was worth it.
I mean, if I could watch free dog training videos online, why pay for it?
To me, the Pupford Academy is worth it because:
- I know I already agree with their positive-reinforcement training methods
- I don’t have to spend hours combing the internet to find training videos I can easily understand
- I don’t have to spend hours online trying to figure out what the next training step is and finding videos that teach it
- The app allows me to easily access the training when I’m away from home
- The app remembers where I left off when I was on my computer
With the help of Pupford Academy, I’m confident I have the tools I need to address Summit’s problem behaviors, turn her into a well-behaved ambassador for the Dachshund breed, and build a closer bond with her.
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