“My dog will listen when we are working alone but nothing seems to work when we are out and about, HELP!”
We hear this more often than you may think, but the good news is that there is a simple solution, proofing! All this means is that you must teach your dog that they must listen to a *known* command no matter what. These tools only apply to commands that your dog has a complete understanding of, so this is not something that is to be done with a puppy who is just learning something new. If you have gone through the appropriate steps of teaching a new command, keep reading. If you haven’t fully taught a command, you can add this stuff in later. If you are not sure where to start, let us know – that is why we are here!
Proofing is split into three different categories; distance, duration and distractions. Distance should be the last thing that you work on. By staying close you are able to be there to help work your dog through a challenging distraction or added duration.
Duration
If you start teaching sit in 10-15 second increments and your dog is doing well you can then start to move around them while they sit, gradually adding more duration to the command. So, in the beginning this might mean you take 1-2 steps before rewarding your dog and so on.
- Move around them
- Turn your back
- Kneel down
- Sit on the floor or in a chair
Distractions
This can go hand in hand with your duration work but do not try adding several minutes of duration with tons of new distractions. Remember, you want this to be fun for your dog and you want them to be successful! If adding a ton of new distractions, work in shorter increments of duration.
- Drop a cookie on the floor
- Bounce or throw a ball/toy
- Ring the doorbell
- Work with a sounds app
- Have friends or family walk by your dog
- Open the fridge
Some of your everyday tasks can be the biggest distractions for your dog. It is important to work through these challenging everyday distractions like the doorbell because well, they are part of life and unfortunately are not going away.
Distance
Begin to increase the distance between you and your dog while working on the above categories. You being further away means more of a challenge for your dog so don’t go too far too soon.
Location Change
Simply changing location is another great way to challenge your dog. If you only ever train in your kitchen or living room, well I hate to break it to you but it is going to be very hard for your dog to listen at school pickup with hundreds of screaming kids surrounding them. If you never teach it in that environment or a similar one, it becomes an unfair and unrealistic expectation for you to have. Just like you would not go from teaching elementary math to advanced calculus, you cannot expect your dog to go from practicing sit in the kitchen with just you to mastering it out at the baseball game. If you want your dog to be able to sit through a child’s sports game, going to that field and exposing your dog to that environment prior to the game is a great idea. Present it as a training environment so when your dog returns, they are a little more familiar with space.
“I just don’t have time to do all of this”
Well, the good news is that you do and you just don’t realize it! Take a second and think about all the time you spend with your dog, that includes throwing a ball in the yard, taking them out for a walk or sitting on the couch watching t.v. Take this time you are already spending with them and work some training into it! Instead of just throwing the ball over and over, make them sit or down first and work a little duration before throwing the toy again. You’re killing two birds with one stone – tiring them out both physically and mentally.