19/07/2022
Ever wonder why our dogs seem to understand something perfectly at one moment, then the next it’s like they never knew it at all?
While it’s in our nature to think that it’s stubbornness, a short attention span, they just don’t want to, or even that they don’t respect us, the good news is that the reason is actually quite a bit simpler than that.
Hey but, if it’s so simple how come you didn’t know? There’s so much information out there, and it’s incredibly conflicting at times. Plus we were all raised to use one method or another. That’s why having a certified dog trainer on your side is important. You may not be a trained professional, but with the right dog training coach you become the best trained professional for YOUR dog.
Alright so, dogs don’t generalize well.
Generalization means to be able to understand something well enough to utilize it in multiple scenarios.
A very basic example of this is when you teach a dog “sit” in the comfortable and very non-distracting environment of your home, they will not translate that to understand “sit” on the sidewalk, or at the store. This applies to all cues and most habits.
There’s some bad news though, dogs are very discriminatory. Their choices in life are based on good and bad associations (there is no in between for them) so if they have a bad association with the groomer or the vet, they’re is very little chance they’d be able liking or even able to perform a cue or use good manners in those environments.
An example of this is children. Reasonably, we are often wary of our dogs around children, so we are inclined to punish them more frequently and quickly for having bad manners around a child, jumping, mouthing, licking, etc.
This leads to a dog who dislikes children because something bad or scary happens to them every time they’re around them.
But you will overcome and build good habits by working closely to generalize cues and manners!
To do this you raise criteria slowly. Dogs learn best from errorless learning. If they are unable to perform the bad behavior and we instead teach them what we would prefer to have them do then that’s what they will do.
So we will again use sit as the very basic example.
You teach sit through luring with a good or toy reward. This lure shapes the behavior we want to see without us having to do it for them (like pushing down on their butt or pulling their legs out)
When we have them do it themselves they don’t have to rely on us using force to do it for them, instead they want to do it.
After around 80% success then teach a hand signal.
Dogs are very visual learners, body language is everything, and your dog knows your body language better than you do. So even when they are over stimulated and it seems like they “aren’t listening” your visual cue, the hand signal, will more often than not overrule the stimulation of their environment. You want to be careful to not use a food or toy reward in your hand when doing a hand signal so that they are graduating from luring.
Lastly, you add the verbal cue to the hand signal.
Until your dog has good success and training is kept fun, don’t hold high expectations of them sitting in environments other than the one they were taught in for now.
You begin the generalization journey when you are able to add things one at a time to the environment where you’re working on the cue.
You may even need to go all the way back to step one, luring to shape the behavior, in some environments where it’s hard to control stimulus.
Distance:
one example is I like to start some 80-100 feet away from a dog park and slowly move your way closer as they get better and better at listening.
Distraction:
In controlled environments add something, like walking around, clapping, another animal, kids, cars, bikes, etc. move on to more distracting places as you both improve.
Duration:
Increase duration by periodically rewarding a cue. Have them sit, then every few seconds reward them while they sit. If they get up, simply restart and go again. If your dog struggles then keep reducing time between the cue and rewards.
Your progress will always look different from one dog to the next, so be sure that whoever you work with doesn’t answer your questions with one size fits all solutions and training devices.
This is only the beginning of cue fluency and good habits, be sure you practice throughout the day, and don’t worry about forcing a big training session too often. If training isn’t fun then neither of you will want to be a part of it, setting yourself and your dog up for success will result in more success and reaching your goals much faster.
Want to know more?
Send us your email address through a private message to get a FREE behavior kit, enrichment/games book, stress-reducing recipes, and more!
When you’re ready for successful results that last a lifetime and obtain your individual goals then reach out to your dog training coach, Winter, by texting or calling at:
541-357-3877
