I have a player who has adopted a pet mastiff (actually a dire mastiff but he doesn't know that yet) to accompany them. They aren't a ranger so this isn't an animal companion deal; that I know how to handle. Just a regular canine companion.

I've already had the conversation that he wouldn't be able to communicate and command the dog the way a ranger could with their animal companion, he will have to train the dog just like he would in real life.

Obviously it will be an ongoing series of animal handling checks when they have down time, but I am struggling to figure out what that would look like or consist of. I could just go the route of "ok, this long rest you rolled a 15 so now Fluffy knows and will obey the 'heel' command. But i feel like that is unrealistic since thats not how training works in real life and cheats the player from working for it. But I am struggling to figure out how to track the degree of training and progress incrementally over time in a meaningful, and satisfying way.

Anyone have a similar situation you've dealt with?

I would use their passive animal handling ability score to get an idea of how well the dog takes to them/what commands they could reasonably teach it and hand-wave the rest.  That way you aren’t slowing the game down for the other players by making a “series of animal handling checks” and whatnot.  Tell them to subtract a gold piece a week from their inventory, for expenses such as food and accommodations for the dog. 

My druid bought a puppy (my DM did not see this coming) and he just had me use twice as many rations, didn't mention training though. I'd agree with SireSamuel though, and have the player pay to have it trained. And I'd say after enough time they'd develop a very primitive understanding of eachother. I've seen this in real life between humans and animals. I'm curious to see where this goes, good luck.

Quote from SireSamuel >>

I would use their passive animal handling ability score to get an idea of how well the dog takes to them/what commands they could reasonably teach it and hand-wave the rest.  That way you aren’t slowing the game down for the other players by making a “series of animal handling checks” and whatnot.  Tell them to subtract a gold piece a week from their inventory, for expenses such as food and accommodations for the dog. 

 I guess thats where I am struggling, trying to figure out a reasonable pace and how to measure it of how developed the training is.

Googling suggests average training time for a dog is six weeks.  This seems to be to train the dog in basic domesticated animal behavior expectations and commands.  Police/Tactical dogs seem to take a domesticated or otherwise trained to be trained dog (which may take longer) and adds 4-8 weeks of additional training.  I think the earlier domestication training is done daily in sessions of an hour or so, the tactical add on I described is full time training days.  

I'd say if the PC isn't proficient in animal handling they're probably limited to basic domestication.  Reward the proficiency by allowing the proficient to train the dog in more complicated and party useful skills.  

You could also "Lassie" the dog and have it innately intelligent despite the training/handling inexperience of its owner and the dog is able to somehow help the PC out of pure love ... but we're going afield from what you're asking for there.  Realistically I'd say an untrained dog, specifically untrained in hunting or combat, would be a liability to the party, putting party's stealth at disadvantage etc. since it lacks noise or movement discipline.  But may give some advantage to party's perception during "watch" because of innate protective instincts common in dog psychology.

Quote from MidnightPlat >>

 

You could also "Lassie" the dog and have it innately intelligent despite the training/handling inexperience of its owner and the dog is able to somehow help the PC out of pure love ... but we're going afield from what you're asking for there.  Realistically I'd say an untrained dog, specifically untrained in hunting or combat, would be a liability to the party, putting party's stealth at disadvantage etc. since it lacks noise or movement discipline.  But may give some advantage to party's perception during "watch" because of innate protective instincts common in dog psychology.

 

 I'm actually leaning in this direction a bit. Since the dog is actually, secretly a Dire Mastiff, I'm considering them a bit more intelligent than a usual dog. Lassie level intelligence is a good descriptor. I'm thinking combined with the 6 weeks training time you just suggested, that will be a good time frame for Fluffy to be moderately well trained to follow general commands and not be a liability in combat, but still give a disadvantage on stealth situations.

Shameless self boost here but I have a one-page-rules document up on DMs Guild as pay-what-you-want, it's called Animal Training in One Page, and covers the basics you need to frame logical and natural training for beasts in D&D!

Link to the post in my DMs Guild thread!

Goes through building trust and requires active input from the player to keep the pet around, rather than just getting a free pet from one good roll!

Quote from ThorukDuckSlayer >>

Shameless self boost here but I have a one-page-rules document up on DMs Guild as pay-what-you-want, it's called Animal Training in One Page, and covers the basics you need to frame logical and natural training for beasts in D&D!

Link to the post in my DMs Guild thread!

Goes through building trust and requires active input from the player to keep the pet around, rather than just getting a free pet from one good roll!

 This is PERFECT, exactly what I was trying to build. Shameless self boost very much appreciated, thank you!

No worries! If you like it, please leave it a review so others will consider using it! :)

Will do! It makes you wait a day before making a review, but I'll get to it tomorrow, thanks again!