In the September 2011 Journal of Applied Animal Behavioural Science is a paper called, “The effect of frequency and duration of training sessions on acquisition and long-term memory in dogs.”
From a first read-over, it looks fairly well done. The researchers looked at four groups of dogs. One group that trained 1-2 times per week for one session. Another 1-2 times per week for three sessions in a row. Another trained daily for one session and the last group was daily for three sessions in a row.
Interestingly, the group that trained 1-2 times a week for one session had the greatest progress rate.
All groups retained the task when tested four weeks later.
Now..How am I going to use this information?
My current recommendations for students are:
- Work on only one tiny skill per session (stay for steps away. Stay for duration. Walking past distractions. Etc.).
- Do a lot of repetitions per session.
- ONLY do each behavior 1-2x if you have a bad day at work and want to see your dog succeed. This is not considered “training.”
- Training sessions should typically be 2 minutes or less.
- If you want to do more, take a short walk around, play, or petting break and then have another session.