How Much Training Time for BH???

As my wife and I were looking for a new “pet”, Julie invited us to watch some training at Gustavo’s.  Needless to say, I was impressed by what I saw and it shifted my perception of what one could teach  the family dog.  During a break in the action, I asked Gustavo how many hours of work it takes to get a dog to this point (trial ready).  He stares ahead for a moment to ponder a number, but just looks at me, shakes his head a little, and replies “a lot”.  Now that I have been at it for a little bit I feel I can make a rough approximation as to what it will cost me, time-wise, to get Vander and me through our BH.  Here it goes…

 I am assuming my BH will take place on June 6^th because as near as I can tell, this is the first trial in Michigan in 2013.  I have been training Vander for 10 months (he is 14 months old).  So in June we will have had 16 months of training.  

• Each training session is 2 hours long and I would say I average 3 sessions per month (3 out of 4 Sundays to be precise).  Granted, I am not working the dog this whole time, but I am there and absorbing material from other people’s lessons, which I apply, so I will lump it in as training.  So that is 6 hours per month x 16 months = 96 hours with Gustavo
• Conservatively, I train Vander every day for 30 minutes.  I usually have one “long” training session that is 20 minutes long and then one or two shorter ones.   But 30 minutes is certainly a minimum.  So 16 months x 30 days x .5hours = 240 hours personal training
• So 240 hours + 96 hours = 336 hours training to reach BH.   And again, this number is the minimum. 
• If you assume that this level of training stays constant and I could train one level per year, that would mean 1344 hours to reach IPO3.  But truth be told, that is probably a little low considering the fact I have not yet started tracking.  So I would bump this up and round it out to 1500 hours minimum training time.   

But this is just training time to get titles.  What about the free time in general I spend with Vander every year?  For simplicity, I will not include miscellaneous time like throwing the ball, checking on him, telling him not to chase the cat, etc…  🙂 

• Every day Vander gets minimum 1 hour of walking time, 1 30+ minute walk in the morning and one 30+minute walk in the evening.  365 days x 1 hour = 365 hours walking
• Using the training time methodology above… 336 hours / 16 months = 21 hours per month x 12 months = 252 hours training per year
• But getting to training at Gustavo’s requires driving too… 1.5 hours each way, 3 hours total x 36 sessions per year = 108 hours
• 365  + 252 + 108 = 725 hours annually in 100% dog-centered activity 

Every year there are 8760 hours.  If I get 8 hours of sleep a night then that means I am awake for 5840 hours per year.  There are 260 working days and I am gone for 9 hours (8 working and 1 commuting) during a work day so now we are down to 3500 hours of time I am awake and free to do anything.  Of those, Vander gets 725.  That is 20% of my free time!   If Vander makes it to 12 years old that will mean we will have given Vander 8700 hours of time.  So in his life we will have spent a full year, or 2.5 years of free time, doing dog-centered activities.  I guess this is why we consider him more than the family dog. He is “family”.  🙂