Instructional Design Lessons from Puppy Training School

This Saturday, a 9-week-old Australian Labradoodle named Picco will sniff around our house for the first time.

Puppies are cute, and fun, and playful, and from what I’ve recently begun to understand, they’re also a lot of work. They don’t just come with a factory setting that makes them sit, roll over, play dead or stop barking at the postal carrier. Apparently, we have to train them how to do this.

To prepare for our new arrival, our entire family has been listening to The Puppy Training Podcast and we’ve signed up for a lifetime membership to Baxter & Bella’s Online Puppy School, which is loaded with videos, printable job aids, live classes and opportunities to talk with a live trainer. It’s quite well-organized and offers some instructional design ideas for anyone tasked with putting together self-directed online learning resources.