Executive Dysfunction & Dog Training: 5 Helpful Tips

If you are on the neurodiverse spectrum or even just struggling with chronic illnesses, sometimes the normal activities of life are just completely overwhelming.

This easily flows into dog training and can result in losing motivation, not training at all, or being totally frustrated with it.

I struggle with this during periods of burnout and after long days of work. I’ve tried a lot over the years to help keep up with my pups, even when I’m not feeling good.

Here are my favorite strategies, games, and more for executive function struggles with dog training:

1. Community Support: This is number one for me because it has made the biggest difference for me and most of my clients.
   
   A lot of times we just need someone extra there to hold us accountable, brainstorm with us, and keep us company.
   
   I love to body double, which is a beloved neurodivergent hack that involves having someone on a phone or zoom call with you to help motivate you to get it done together. I do this a lot with my daily training sessions! My friends and I train at the same time for accountability, and it breaks up the monotony of training alone.
   
   If you think this would help you, I definitely would recommend joining the pack for community support (we even have a neurodivergent specific chat) and accountability to stick with your goals.
   
   
2. Release Decision Making: One of my biggest stressors during burnout is making decisions. What to train, where to go, what to do, what new thing to try, etc. When I am really struggling, I release decision making to some handy tools I’ve gathered over the years.
   
   The simplest one is a coin flip.
   
   Can’t decide between a sniff walk or indoor enrichment?
   
   Flip a coin.
   
   If your gut goes EWWWW when you see the result, do the thing that is less “ew” to you.
   
   If you have no reaction, follow the coin.
   
   The next game I use is the dice game. This is one that I use a lot, and it is super simple.
   
   - Grab a die (12 sided is my favorite, but any will work).
   - Number a piece of paper with the same numbers as on the die.
   - Write down a bunch of ideas when you are feeling good on the number lines.
   - Then when you are struggling to think of what to do, all you have to do is roll the die.
   - If you get bored, roll again!
   
   
3. Finding Alternatives: If you wake up one day and know for a fact you won’t be able to get all of your winter gear on to go for a walk or don’t want to make the long drive, see if you can hire a dog walker to get your dog out for you.
   
   Sometimes it’s easier to give ourselves rest by having another person handle the responsibilities that are weighing us down.
   
   I personally have hired people to help me with responsibilities. I absolutely struggle to clean or do my grocery shopping because I spend more time feeling guilty and forcing myself to do the chore than the actual chore takes. If I have the funds, I will always opt for taking a break during times of burnout.
   
   You can even hire someone to take your dog on fun trips like swimming or hikes in some areas. 
   
   
4. Planning Ahead: This is one I struggle with maintaining, but I try to plan my entire week the night of my last day off. This way I am relaxed, rested, and ready to plan the fun things.
   
   So, when I am tired mid week from work, I don’t have to worry about planning anything. It’s already done for me. I do this for training sessions, outings, vet visits, and more.
   
   I even plan the days I take my dogs to run for enrichment so that I don’t need to feel rushed to choose.
   
   
5. REST: This is the biggest one for me personally. While most of us neurodivergent folks struggle with these things on a daily basis, nothing is as strong as actual burnout.
   
   In order to avoid that as much as possible, we need REST. And I mean actual rest. Rest to nap, to eat, to do our favorite things, to cuddle our dogs, etc.
   
   I plan at least two days completely off with my dogs per week. If I feel up to it, I can take them to go sniff or play, but I plan all of their NEEDS outside of these two days. I do this weekly and plan it in my schedule.
   
   That way, even if I feel like crud and can only nap on the couch, I still have met both of my pups’ needs on the other days and can rest without feeling guilty (which makes rest difficult).
   
   Because their needs have been met, they are also incredibly cuddly and easy to nap with, which actually helps me rest for those days.

I hope a few of these tips were helpful and new to you, and I hope seeing some of these recommendations gives you the permission you need to care for yourself even when you aren’t struggling. 

Dog training doesn’t have to be hard, I promise!

If you need more executive functioning with dog training support, I highly recommend joining the pack! We all understand and work together to help each other meet our goals. It’s pretty amazing.

Click here to learn more about it.