As dog trainers, the vast majority of our training sessions begin at our training centre, where the environment is somewhat controlled with minimal competing motivators for client dogs to become interested in. The reason for this is purely down to the fact that when training clients and their dogs new skills for the first time, the greater focus we can achieve, the better.
The art and skill in generalising behaviour is how we go about proofing the given behaviour under distraction. It is unrealistic to expect a dog to perform in any environment before methodically proofing the behaviour across various environments, beginning with lower distraction levels and building it up (3 D’s of dog training!).
Many people want to rush through training as quick as possible, and we get that, but the reality is that the handler themselves may not be ready, as well as the dog. Our dogs will tell us if they are ready to push on.
There will be a lot of trainers that get messages from clients stating that their dog is only well behaved at their facility, but this shows that more proofing is required and that the dog may need a slightly slower approach – a lot of the time this is because the handler is still developing their skills to be where they need to be (which is of significant importance).
There is method to the madness and dogs need to be pushed and often put outside of their comfort zone, but it has to be done properly once they and their handler have the correct skills and foundations to move forward.
Dog training really is a journey, nothing comes over night and it is why consistency, application and commitment to the process reaps the results in the end.
