Forget the Park… Try the Car Park: An Unexpectedly Brilliant Place to Train Your Dog

Where are you going to walk your dog today?

The park? The woods? Around the block? Your usual route?

It sounds like a simple question.

But the place you choose can have a HUGE impact on the walk that follows.

You might choose the park because it's close. The woods because your dog loves them. The same route around the block because that's where you've always walked.

Your dog experiences those places very differently.

One might be full of irresistible smells. Another might mean squirrels. One route might reliably bring you face-to-face with other dogs. Another might have traffic, people, bikes, livestock, open spaces or approximately 4,000 things your dog wants to investigate.

So perhaps there's another question worth asking before you head out:

What is this environment going to ask of my dog today?

Your walk location is part of the training picture

We often think about what we want our dog to get better at.

• Walking without pulling.
• Checking in with us.
• Moving away from something exciting.
• Staying close when there are distractions around.
• Coming back when we call.

But where you practise those skills matters too.

Imagine trying to work on focus with a dog who adores chasing wildlife while walking through a wood filled with squirrels.

Or practising loose lead walking with a dog who loves other dogs at the busiest time in your local park.

Or asking a dog who finds traffic worrying to concentrate while you're walking beside a busy road.

You may have picked exactly the right skill to work on. You've just chosen a very difficult classroom.

And when the environment is asking more of your dog than their current skills can handle, simply trying harder isn't going to help.

Instead, change where you train and you can change the whole picture.

Look at the dog in front of you

In our previous blog, we talked about becoming your dog's detective – noticing what grabs their attention and what experiences really light them up.

That information becomes incredibly useful here.

Because there is no universally "easy" environment.

A quiet woodland walk might sound wonderfully peaceful to us. For a dog who lives for hunting and scent? It could be sensory overload.

A town centre might sound incredibly challenging. For a dog who isn't particularly interested in people or traffic but loses their mind around wildlife? It could actually be easier than the countryside.

So think about your own dog.

What makes an environment harder for them?

Other dogs?
Wildlife?
People?
Traffic?
Movement?
Smells?
Novelty?
Livestock?
Lots of open space?

The answer helps you choose where your dog is ready to practise.

There is a LOT of space between your living room and the real world

This is where dog training can get interesting.

We sometimes behave as though there are only two choices.

HOME: Everything is easy and controlled.

REAL LIFE: Off we go to tackle the world.

But there are hundreds of possibilities in between.

Your garden.
Your driveway.
A friend's garden.
A quiet pavement.
A secure field.
The edge of a park rather than the middle of it.
A familiar place at a quieter time of day.
A location where your dog can see something interesting from a comfortable distance.

And then there are some slightly less glamorous options...

We need to talk about car parks

Yes. Car parks.

They're unlikely to feature on anybody's list of Britain's most beautiful dog walks.

But as training locations?

We LOVE them.

Choose the right one at the right time and a car park can give you something incredibly useful: real life without ALL of real life at once.

There's movement.
There are sounds.
There are smells.
People might appear.
Cars may come and go.

Your dog gets to experience the world outside home – but you can often see what's coming, create plenty of space and choose how close you get to the action.

And there are some other big advantages.

People are usually just getting on with their day. They're parking the car, heading into work, loading a van, pushing a trolley. You and your dog aren't particularly interesting – which can be incredibly useful when you're trying to practise around people without everyone wanting to stop and say hello.

Dogs are usually on lead – if there are any there at all. Compare that with a park or popular dog-walking spot, where an off-lead dog can suddenly appear and come bounding over to investigate. That extra predictability gives you much more control over the experience you're creating for your dog.

And perhaps most usefully, there's nowhere you're trying to get to.

You're not walking the path to reach the field. You're not heading towards the park. You're not trying to complete your usual circuit.

You can wander. Stop. Change what you're doing. Practise for a few minutes. Go back over the same bit of ground. Get in the car and go home.

The walk stops being a mission from A to B and becomes an opportunity to practise.

Quiet industrial estates can be similarly useful for exactly the same reasons.

We're not suggesting you swap every beautiful countryside walk for a tour of your nearest business park.

We're challenging you to look at environments differently.

Instead of:

“Would this be a nice place to walk my dog?”

Try:

“What could my dog successfully practise here?”

Suddenly, that boring bit of tarmac starts looking rather useful.

Find the middle ground

Imagine your dog can walk happily beside you in the garden, without pulling towards everything they see.

That's a great start.

But expecting them to do exactly the same thing in their favourite squirrel-filled woodland is a HUGE jump.

So what's in between?

Perhaps you practise on your driveway.

Then on a quiet stretch of pavement.

Then in a quiet car park.

Then at the edge of a field.

Each environment adds something new without changing EVERYTHING at once.

Your dog gets opportunities to use familiar skills while taking on manageable new challenges.

And you get to watch.

Can they still think?

Can they still connect?

Can they still take reinforcement?

Can they still make the great choices you've been building together in easier places?

If they can, brilliant. You've found somewhere useful to train.

A successful training walk doesn't have to look like a walk

This can be a surprisingly difficult idea for we humans to grasp - but it’s training gold!

We tend to have a picture of what walking our dog is supposed to involve.

• Leave house.
• Walk somewhere.
• Cover an acceptable distance.
• Come home.

But what if today's "walk" looked like this?

• Drive somewhere suitable.
• Get out.
• Spend ten minutes playing games together.
• Let your dog have a sniff.
• Practise walking together without pulling.
• Watch the world together.
• Get back in the car.
• Go home.

You haven't completed a circular route.

You might not have covered much distance at all.

But if your dog spent that time connecting with you, making great choices and successfully navigating an environment that stretched their skills without overwhelming them, that's incredibly valuable.

Don't wait for the difficult situation to train the skill

There's a phrase we use a lot at absoluteDogs:

Train FOR the situation, not IN the situation.

If your dog struggles when another dog suddenly appears three metres away, that's not the moment to teach them how to notice another dog and calmly turn back to you.

If they're already straining at the end of the lead towards a squirrel, that's a very difficult moment to teach them that staying closer to you is a good choice.

If they're completely overwhelmed by everything happening in a busy park, they're unlikely to learn the skills they need to cope there.

Teach those skills somewhere easier first.

Then find somewhere you can stretch them a little. Then a little more.

Build those skills somewhere they can succeed first. Then find somewhere you can stretch them a little.

Then a little more.

Each successful step prepares your dog for the harder environments you eventually want to enjoy together.

One dog's easy is another dog's impossible

This also means you can stop comparing your training locations with everybody else's.

Perhaps someone else's dog can stroll through the local park without giving the ducks a second glance. Yours currently can’t. That's information.

Maybe your friend's dog happily trains beside a busy road while yours struggles to think. That's information too.

You don't need to prove that your dog can cope with an environment just because another dog can.

Work with the dog at the end of your lead.

Choose environments that allow that dog to practise successfully.

And when they're ready, you can start asking for a little more.

Stretch, don't overwhelm

We don't want to make our dogs' worlds smaller forever.

Our goal is to help them build the skills and confidence they need to enjoy more of it.

So once something feels easy, think about the next achievable step.

Not:

Living room → busiest park on Saturday morning.

More like:

Living room → garden → driveway → quiet car park → edge of the park → slightly busier park... 

And your dog's progression might look completely different. That's okay.

We're looking for enough challenge that your dog gets to grow, while still giving them plenty of opportunities to succeed.

Where could your dog succeed today?

Once you start thinking about environments as part of your training, all sorts of places can suddenly become useful.

A quiet car park.
The edge of a field.
A familiar street at a quieter time.
Somewhere you've driven past a hundred times without ever considering it as a place to take your dog.

The question becomes less about finding the perfect place and more about finding the right level of challenge for your dog today.

Some days, they might be ready for somewhere busier. On others, a quieter environment might give you both a much better experience.

And as their skills and confidence grow, the places you can enjoy together can grow too.

So wherever you're heading, one question can help you choose:

Where will my dog succeed today?

Ready to take your training into the real world?

If you've built skills at home but aren't quite sure how to turn them into calmer, happier walks, we'd love you to join us for our FREE Stress Free Walks Masterclass.

Lauren and Jamie will show you how to build the foundations that make stress free walks possible, bridge the gap into real-life environments and set your dog up to succeed as you take those skills out into the world.

Save your FREE place at the Stress Free Walks Masterclass