Dogs Don't Generalize!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Time for the next "training mistake"...I really think this one is my favorite (I know I keep saying that).

"If you teach Fluffy to “sit” in the quiet of your family room, that’s the only place she will reliably sit. It’s a mistake that many owners make; failing to generalize the new behaviour in different areas with varying conditions and levels of distraction will ensure spotty obedience at best.

To generalize a behaviour, first teach it at home with no distractions. Then, gradually increase distractions: turn the television on or have another person sit nearby. Once that’s perfected, move out into the yard. Then add another person or dog. Gradually move on to busier environments until Fluffy will perform consistently, even on the corner of a busy city street. Only then will the behaviour be “proofed.” This generalizing is especially vital when teaching the recall command, a behaviour that might one day save your dog’s life. [For more information on reliable recall, go to moderndogmagazine.com/distract-me.]"

I really think that we are constantly "proofing" our dogs' behaviors as we expose them to new situations with distractions that they haven't learned to handle yet.  Here's an example.  We took G & M for a walk through the woods this weekend, and the path went right past a pond.  Sitting on the side of this pond were three mallards....just sitting there watching their "buddies" swimming in the water.  We were about eight feet away from them, and Murph immediately went into his "stiff" body language.  He had never seen ducks before and he clearly thought that he needed to get rid of them.  I know now from experience how to handle him when he's getting ready to react to other dogs, so I decided to try the exact same strategy.  I gave him a "look" command (and he did immediately) and praised as we walked past the ducks with him looking at me the whole time....then once past he got his treats and affection.  We then turned around and walked past them again, and this time he was totally calm.  I guess my point is that although dogs don't always generalize their learnings from situation to situation, often times a strategy that works for one distraction can also be effective in others.

So what does everything think about this "training opportunity"????

 

 

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Love this one , Jane. Our dogs also tend to predict our next move when we repeat the same exercise over and over in the same place or daily situations.
I try to throw Spud off with different collars, different length of the leash, etc.

[Adina P]

I think this is my favorite too.  It is where the 'training' vs. 'teaching' really takes hold, I think.  A lot of people don't realize this and stop training once they have taught a command and then blame 'excitement' and 'friendliness' and 'stubbornness' for the lack of obedience on the dog's part.  I'm thankful that the program I follow forces me to use distractions early on and has me plan for what distractions I will use along the way and as I progress through levels.  Without that I'd probably get stuck with obedient house dogs and crazy out-of-the-house dogs too.  In fact, when we are at the top of our game and not severely out of practice, my dogs tend to do better with a little distraction than with nothing at all.  It's like they suspect they are being set-up and try harder.

[Leslie and Halas]

This is something we deal with a lot in flyball, too.  Right now, Barley is great at bringing a ball back to me when we're playing at home.  But at our practice facility, he isn't interested in playing ball at all.  I know that sounds like just playing, but it is part of the training.  A dog may do great at flyball practice running by himself, but putting other dogs in the lane is an entirely different scenario.  And even when the dog is comfortable running with other dogs, it's still a huge step to do it at a tournament.  There's another lane of dogs, and it's very loud.  There are literally hundreds more distractions at a tournament than at the practice facility.  Most dogs go to a tournament or 2 just to go through warm ups, in an effort to get them used to all of the new distractions they'll have to deal with.  During those first couple of tournaments, we'll also try to do a lot of basic obedience stuff near the racing ring, just to work on the dog's focus.  So in the course of flyball training, the dogs have to bridge that gap between home and the practice facility, and then between the practice facility and the tournament locations.  And every one of the tournament locations is a little different, too.  The most important thing at flyball is getting your dog to come back to you, so a solid recall in all locations and situations is critical.  Not that it made a difference with Halas this weekend, when he decided to stop at the box and wander around the box a little bit.  I must have called him 10 times, and he pretended he couldn't hear me.  And this happened both before and after the collision accident, so he can't use that as an excuse for all 3 times.  Goofball.

[BG and Gavin]

Gavin has taught me this lesson over and over again.  I have come to appreciate the importance of a systematic training program that Adina always preaches about.  Next dog, for sure!  In the meantime I lazily try and patch up training holes in an otherwise pretty well-mannered dog by following specific routines in each situation to fool him into thinking it is nothing new and otherwise relying on a sit (which is solid) and a wait for the excitement to dissipate a bit before attempting anything else and not asking for anything that is not enforceable.  Another branch of situation-specific learning is people-specific learning.  Gavin gets away with all kinds of things with DH that he would not dare try with me.  I always worry that DHs lax approach ruins his training, but Gavin remains steady with me. 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

The same is true here, BG.  Murph & Guinness know what they can get away with with Dad isn't going to work with me. 

[Pat and Traveler]

We had a chance to try out nose work with a lot of distractions today.  A group met at the trainer's house, and the searches were in a huge room with a lot of distracting stuff, including some food odors, and in the trainer's living room.  I was concerned that Trav wouldn't concentrate on searching with all those new scents and people and fascinating things to sniff.  Not to worry--he was all business!  When he was first turned loose in the big room, he made a quick run past the seated people to see if anyone wanted to play with him, but then he settled into searching for scent.  He's mostly working on a birch scent paired with a treat.  I was also feeling intimidated as seven of the nine dogs there have been involved in some stage of nose work trialing, and have lots more experience at doing these searches.

Trav really did a good job, and I was so proud of him!  On the last of the four rounds, I think he found the three hides faster than any of the other dogs!  He really loves having a 'job,' and I think he sees finding the scents as his job.  This seems to be one area where he is able to ignore almost any distraction.  

[BG and Gavin]

This is excellent Pat.  You must be a proud mama.  Way to go Trav!