How to follow the go-home plan

Turn your trainer’s go-home plan into daily practice: how to read it, which skills to prioritize, what to ask at handover and how to prepare for the follow-up.

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Trainer with a puppy and an adult dog on the beach

What a go-home plan is for

The stay builds the skills; the go-home plan transfers them to you. Whether you are handed written notes, a video, a demonstration or a mix, the plan exists to answer one question: what should you do, every day, so the training keeps working at home.

Every trainer packages that differently, so ask at booking or at the assessment how the handover will be delivered and what you will take away. Our Foundation program includes one go-home lesson, and Advanced includes two scheduled coaching lessons, so the second is a chance to refine the plan after you have tried it.

Reading the plan: four things to find

Whatever form the plan takes, look for four pieces of information. If any is missing or unclear, ask before you leave, because guessing later is how cues drift.

The cues: exact words and hand signals, plus the marker and release word
The rewards: what your dog has been working for and how often
The level: how long, how far and how distracting each skill currently is
The management: crate, gates, leash rules or routines to keep in place

A golden retriever sits on a loose leash beside a man on a park path lined with birch trees.

Prioritizing: what to practice first

Most plans list more skills than you can practice daily. Rank them by your real life. If walks are the hard part of your day, loose-leash walking and attention outdoors come first. If guests are the issue, place and door manners lead. Safety skills, such as a reliable wait at doors and recall on a long line, belong near the top for everyone.

Practice the top two or three every day, and the rest a few times a week. Rotating priorities each week keeps everything ticking over without overwhelming you or your dog.

Be honest about your schedule when you rank. A plan that asks for four sessions a day will not survive a working week. Two well-placed sessions, one before work and one in the evening, plus cues woven into meals and doors, beat an ambitious plan that stops on day three.

Your main problem	Practice daily	Practice weekly
Pulling on walks	Loose leash, attention, sniff release	Place, recall on a line
Jumping on guests	Place, sit to greet, door wait	Loose leash
Night-time unrest	Crate settle, evening place	Recall, door manners
Bolting outside	Door wait, recall on a line	Place, loose leash

Mistakes owners make with the plan

Mixing methods is the big one. A friend’s advice, a video online or an old habit can all creep in and contradict the plan. Stick with it for at least a few weeks before changing anything, and ask the trainer before you do.

Skipping the boring parts is next. Management steps and rewards for easy behaviors feel unnecessary once the dog seems trained, but they are often what holds everything together. Cutting rewards or removing management too early is a leading cause of regression after board and train.

Preparing for the follow-up

Use the plan as the agenda. Next to each skill, note what is working, what is not, and where. Film two or three short clips of the hardest moments at home. Write your questions down as they come up rather than relying on memory.

Our page on planning a follow-up lesson explains how to rank problems so the time is spent where you need it most.

How to do it

Step by step

01

Clarify the plan at handover

Before you leave, confirm the cues, marker, release, rewards and current level for every skill, and ask about anything unclear.
02

Rank the skills

Order them by what matters most in your daily life, with safety skills like door waits and recall near the top.
03

Make a daily checklist

Turn the top two or three skills into a short list with a few reps each, and post it where you will see it.
04

Keep management in place

Follow the crate, gate and leash routines from the plan until the trainer suggests easing them.
05

Track what happens

Log sessions and note which skills improve, stall or slip, and in which places.
06

Bring notes to the follow-up

Use the plan as your agenda, with videos and questions, so the lesson builds on what you learned.