"If someone wants to learn tennis, will they learn more if they practice every day or once a week?" says Millman. "You have to maintain behaviors and practice whether you are a person or a dog. If someone asks me how long should their six-month-old dog be able to hold a Stay cue, I ask the following, 'How long did your dog Stay yesterday?' If they Stayed for 30 seconds, try for 35 seconds today, if they can’t Stay at all, start with 1 second.”
Being impatient is one of the major problems owners face. Although it's unrealistic to expect a puppy to be completely housetrained in a few weeks, many owners anticipate just that. It takes time and patience for a dog to understand the basic concept of sitting or staying; it takes even more time to change previous behaviors (such as jumping on the counter) or control urges (barking, digging in the garden, etc). "Dogs get the short end of the stick in many situations," says Millman. "People think they should learn things very quickly, but do not always spend the time teaching them. There are also physical and developmental variables at work. Dogs of any age might not have a very long attention span until you teach them how to focus for longer periods of time."
The first step is learning to take it slow. If you're calm and enjoy the process, your dog will too. Don't make the training a chore. If you feel yourself getting frustrated or angry, walk away and come back to it later.