There are 4 stages of learning that are required for a dog to achieve and maintain fluency in a trained behavior. You cannot expect your dog to succeed if you rush through this!
Stage 1: Learning
This is the stage where your dog learns what is expected of him. You can use luring or a leash to get your dog into the position you are looking for. You can also use successive approximation to guide your dog to the final behavior or wait for your dog to offer the behavior and then capture it. Practice until you are able to consistently get your dog to perform the behavior or position you are looking for. Once you are able to get your dog into the position reliably, you can attach a verbal cue to it by preceding the goal position with the command you are pairing it with.
It is important to be mindful of what you are saying while you are at this stage. Dogs hear us say thousands of words a day. If you want your dog to pay attention to the words you say as you are teaching him new commands, make the words you say meaningful. “Sit” is clear, consistent, and to the point. Different variations of “can you please sit for me, buddy?” will only confuse the dog.
You know you can move past this stage once the dog understands the cue for the behavior.
Stage 2: Conditioning
This is the stage where your dog becomes fluent at the new behavior. This stage requires a lot of repetitions. If your dog can only perform the command a couple times in a row, or refuses to do it if you didn’t practice for a day, he isn’t fluent just yet.
Make sure your dog is reliable at home before taking it up a notch in the proofing stage. If your dog can’t reliably Sit in the kitchen, he is definitely not going to reliably Sit while he is at a busy park surrounded by kids, and geese, and squirrels.
You know you can move past this stage once a dog is consistently performing the command in a low-distraction environment like your home.
Stage 3: Proofing
This is the hardest stage. Proofing is making sure your dog is reliable with a command regardless of the setting or distractions present. Your dog might be an expert at Down at home, but refuse to do it at the vet office. The most important part of proofing is gradually increasing the difficulty. If he is reliable inside the home, practice in the backyard. Once the dog is great there, go into the front yard where there are people, cars, bicycles, and other distractions. Then go to a parking lot, a park, a hardware store. Surround yourself with different environments and stimuli. Proofing for every command takes a lot of time and effort!
If you have a kid who wants to learn how to play football, he needs to learn how to throw the ball before he goes to the Superbowl. There are many steps from the former to the latter, and all of them need to be met in order for him to be successful. Same thing applies to Proofing. In order for a dog to generalize a command, you have to gradually increase the difficulty as well as take your time making sure each step is solid before moving on. Holes in training are usually due to lack of proofing.
This stage is also important for commands like Place. Your dog will need to practice Place on different kinds of objects (dog bed, cot, etc) in order to generalize that Place means “rest on an object” instead of “only this object is Place.”
When you and your dog are ready, here are some ways to gradually increase the difficulty:
- Increase duration on a stationary command
- Increase distance between you and your dog, including you being out of sight
- Switch up your body language. This is key to making sure your dog isn’t only staying while you’re closeby and looking directly at them. You’d be surprised how many dogs break their “perfect” Place command the moment you lay down on the floor!
- Introduce more distractions like toys, food, people, and new locations
Stage 4: Maintenance
This is the most neglected stage! It is necessary to maintain your training so that your dog does the command long-term. You cannot expect your dog to have a perfect recall if you haven’t practiced in a year. You also cannot expect your dog to perform the command if you no longer reward for it sometimes. Think of maintenance reinforcement as a job. You have to go to work to get paid. You might not necessarily get paid for every task you accomplish, but you know a paycheck is coming. If the paycheck never comes, you’ll stop showing up. If your boss gives you a bonus from time to time for doing a great job, you’ll be happier about working and more likely to do a great job.
Have a dog that got trained in a Board & Train program? No matter how well he was trained while he was with us, he will be very happy to revert to old habits once he gets home. Maintenance by following through and having regular training sessions is critical to a dog that is well-trained, confident and stable, reliable, and a good companion.
Maintenance never ends, my friends!