Generalizing

Hey Dog Lovers, 

Today we talk about generalizing which simply means teaching your dog that when asked to perform a behavior or command they can do it regardless of the environment or scenario you are asking them to do it in. 

A common miscommunication with dog owners is that if the dog does it at home they will automatically do it in a class full of other dogs or in a pack of off leash dogs. Again, the environment or scenario should not matter, when a behavior is asked the dog should perform it. This takes time, practice and consistency. To do this we ask you to increase criteria constantly and begin asking behaviors in every situation you are in and change your body language and position in regards to the dog. 

In case of emergencies you should always proof those behaviors. An example is your recall, which many owners suffer in proofing. If your house is on fire and your dog runs out before you can leash them you want to know your dog will come back when you call them. Or if they slip their harness or collar as well. 

Generalizing Tips

• With tricky behaviors, practice the behavior in the place you first trained it right before you ask for it in the new location to keep the behavior fresh in your dog’s mind.
• Use higher-level rewards.
• Act more excited about training in the new place.  DON’T just assume your dog should do it.  Mix the new behavior with play and easy behaviors that your dog knows well.
• Practice attention games, to get the ball rolling.  When you have your dog’s full attention, you can start generalizing the new behaviors.
• Wait until your dog is calmer and less distracted when in a new environment by letting him have time to adjust, before quizzing him.  You can also get your dog to settle in the new environment before doing the training session, to help him calm down.
• Lower criteria when you begin to generalize a behavior to a new environment or different position in relation to you.  Reinforce him for offering the behavior even if it is sloppy at first.  You can also remind your dog what behavior you wanted by luring the behavior with a treat in the same way you trained the behavior initially, to remind your dog which behavior you are looking for.
• For a Chihuahua, sitting in long grass can be very unpleasant.  Imagine how long the blades of grass are in relation to the dog.  To teach a dog that is not fond of grass to sit on grass, you can first train him to sit on a small mat, and then bring the mat to a grassy area.  Then you can get your dog to sit on the mat, and then take away the mat and ask him to sit.  Chances are he will be more likely to sit in just the grass after practicing the highly reinforced behavior of sitting on a mat.  You can also set up the training plan so that sitting on grass gets a treat every time in the beginning of the generalization process, while sitting on the mat doesn’t always get a treat.  That way the dog will start to find sitting on the grass a better predictor of a treat and be more motivated to sit on the grass than on the mat.

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