I’ve been training dogs and their humans for over a decade. And every week, I have one of those “dope-slap” moments in regard to my OWN training of my personal dogs. This week was no exception.
In all my beginning classes, I try to emphasize that training in DIFFERENT PLACES is crucial for the dog to understand that, “Jake, Sit,” means “Jake, Sit” everywhere I ask him to do so. I’ve lost count of the number of students that tell me some variation of the following: “But she does the recall perfectly at home! In class, or at the park, she acts like she’s never heard the word!” Sound familiar?
I explain that dogs do not generalize as we do. If I ask you to “have a seat” (in the chair, or on the floor, or in the grass…or…) you understand that means “sit down”. Dogs, when we train them at home, in an environment where they feel comfortable and receptive to learning, pick up the concept of the lesson fairly quickly. However, to them, the “sit” command means “sit” wherever you happen to train, whether that be the living room or garage. In order for them to generalize that “sit” means “sit” EVERYWHERE, we need to take the show on the road, so to speak. I have my dogs with me a good part of each day. If I can, I will take them out and train for a couple of minutes in a parking lot or park. This way, I can reinforce whatever skill I’m working on at the time.
Once you start competing with your dog, one of the challenges is that it’s very difficult to replicate the “trial” environment anywhere but at an actual trial. So, it can be frustrating to spend the money, travel time, and emotional energy when you find yourself in the situation where your dog does great at the home training area but falls apart in the ring.
Mollie has been performing very well in class and in places, she knows well. Great focus, reading my cues, loving the agility game…you get the picture. So, we went to a trial in Caldwell, ID this last weekend. Great people, small trial, fabulous judge…the perfect scenario.
On the second day of the trial, hardly anything went right. She had very little focus, the things that usually worked, weren’t…all-in-all, a downer of a day. So I spent the ride home, and that night and a good portion of the next day wracking my brain and asking trusted training partners for ideas. I mean, she has the skill, we are gelling as a team…WTH can I do? Thank goodness for lots of brainpower.
She doesn’t need more time on equipment.
She doesn’t need longer or more difficult courses to practice.
She needs me to take responsibility for training what I train others to do: help her generalize. DUH!
So, my updated training plan before our next trial in two weeks: take a jump and weaves in my car and ask for her focus EVERYWHERE. Parks. Yards of my friends. The back area at 4 Paws. Anywhere. Everywhere. Reward often when she does, and the game stops if she decides something else is more interesting than playing with me.
Will this be totally fixed in two weeks? Most likely not. Training is ongoing…so I know that given time and consistency, we will bridge this training gap.
Even if you are not competing, you are working on skills with your dog that you would like to see consistently: coming when called, keeping all four paws on the ground when greeting people, or even a fun trick. Take your show on the road. Be consistent, be patient, and be a reward machine when your dog succeeds. You’ll see changes, I guarantee it.
Stay Paw-sitive!
