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Training log
How to keep a training log
Memory is a poor training record. A week of good walks blurs into one bad one, and a skill that is quietly slipping can feel fine until it fails in public. A log of one line per session gives you, and any trainer you work with, the facts.
Before you start
Before you start, pick a format you will actually use and the six columns that matter
A notebook by the door, a note on your phone or a simple spreadsheet all work; the best format is the one you will fill in within a minute of finishing. Keep the daily updates from the stay with it, because they are your starting point: what the dog could do, and where, when it came home. Each session then gets one line. Long journal entries feel thorough and tend to be abandoned by the second week.
Karen Pryor Clicker Training publishes a planning guide by Laura VanArendonk Baugh, a Karen Pryor Academy faculty member, that makes the case plainly: most of us do not remember sessions as accurately as we think. Her approach is one line per session, training in sets of five or ten repetitions and counting tries and successes, which turns a vague sense of progress into a number you can act on.
| Column | Example | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Date and time | Tuesday, 7:10 AM | Shows whether the time of day changes results |
| Place | Kitchen; our street; Stage Fort Park lawn | Shows where a skill holds and where it breaks |
| Skill and level | Place, 2 minutes, doorbell recording | Defines exactly what you asked for |
| Tries and successes | 8 of 10 | Turns a feeling into a number |
| Reward | Chicken; a sniff break | Shows what the dog will work for |
| Note | Pulled toward a gull on try 6 | Records the distraction that won |
The steps
Seven steps cover the daily line, the slips and the two-week review
The daily part takes under a minute. Run a set of five or ten repetitions, count how many the dog got right on the first ask, and write the line before you put the treats away. Real-life slips get their own lines, starred so they stand out: the recall that failed at the park, the counter that got checked. Those entries are often more useful than the practice sessions, because they show where the training has not reached yet.
The two-week review is where the log pays off. Read each skill's lines together and look at the success counts place by place. The planning guide treats roughly 80 percent success as the signal to raise the difficulty, so a skill landing eight times in ten is ready for a little more. Well below that, the last step was too big; drop back to the level that worked. In between, hold steady for two more weeks.
- 01
Set up the log: a notebook or phone note with columns for date, place, skill, tries and successes, reward and a note.
- 02
Train in sets: run five or ten repetitions per set so the count is simple.
- 03
Write one line per session: fill it in straight after training, before the treats go away.
- 04
Star real-life slips: note any failure outside practice, with where it happened and what the dog went for.
- 05
Review every two weeks: read each skill's lines together and sort it into raise, hold or drop back.
- 06
Choose the next focus: pick no more than two skills to push over the next two weeks.
- 07
Share a summary: write three lines for your trainer and attach one short clip of the hardest moment.
Sharing it
Share the log as a short summary and one clip, not the whole notebook
Trainers work fastest from specifics. A useful summary says which skills are improving, which have stalled and the one situation that keeps going wrong, with the numbers behind each. Add a phone clip of that situation, filmed from a few steps away so the dog's body and your timing are both visible. Twenty seconds of real footage often tells a trainer more than a long description could.
Where to send it depends on what you have booked. If your dog did the Advanced program and its second scheduled coaching lesson is still ahead, bring the log to it. Otherwise, bring it to a private session, from $94, or send the short summary to the front desk through the Dogtown app and ask what the training team suggests. Dogtown Academy days come with report cards, so add those to the log too; they show how each skill holds up with a trainer at 210 Eastern Ave.
- Three lines: improving, stalled, keeps going wrong
- The success counts behind each line
- One clip of the hardest moment
- Academy report cards, if your dog attends
Mistakes we see
Logs fail when they turn into diaries, record only good days or are never read back
The diary is the first trap: paragraphs about each walk that take ten minutes to write and get abandoned by week two. One line is enough. The second trap is logging only the good sessions, which makes every skill look solid until the day it fails on the beach. Count honestly, including the misses on the first ask. The third is filling in the log and never reading it, which turns a useful tool into a chore.
Watch for creeping criteria as well. If the line says place but the session quietly moved from the kitchen to the porch and from one minute to five, the success count no longer means anything. Write down exactly what you asked for each time. Change one thing at a time, whether duration, distance or distraction, and the log will show you which of them your dog finds hardest.
- Long entries instead of one line
- Recording only the good days
- Never reading the log back
- Changing two things at once without noting it
When to call us
Call us when the two-week review shows a skill stuck or sliding, or when the slips start to cluster
The log tells you when to ask for help. Two reviews in a row with a skill stuck well below the point where you could raise the bar, or a run of starred slips in the same place, are good reasons to book a private session, from $94. Bring the log and the clip. If the slips appeared suddenly, or arrived with changes in appetite, sleep or movement, check with your vet before you change the training.
A log also makes the next step easier to choose. If most skills are climbing but one place keeps defeating you, a few Academy days, $89 full or $69 half, add trainer time, and the Pup Van brings dogs from Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea for $10 each way. If several skills are stuck, ask about Canine Campus or a longer program. The training form gets a reply within one hour on business days, and our board and train page sets out both stays.
At Dogtown
Put the log to work
Bring it to a private session, or add Academy days and their report cards to the record.
Asked and answered
Questions people ask about this
Short, complete answers you can act on today. More in the full FAQ.
What is the simplest training log I can keep?
How do I know when to make a skill harder?
Should I film training sessions?
How long should I keep the log going?
Will Dogtown look at my log?
More questions? Read the full FAQ
Sources
Rules and dates change. We re-check every beach, licensing and ordinance page each spring and fall; the source above is the current word.
Keep reading
Next step
Bring the log, get a plan
Send your two-week summary and the skill that keeps stalling. The training team replies to the form within one hour on business days.
- 01Free evaluationWeekdays 6:30 – 9:30 AM
- 02Book a dayOnline, in the app or by phone
- 03Play, rest, repeatReport card at pick-up
