Location, Location, Location
Does your dog ‘forget’ commands in new places? You know, ones they can do at the drop of a hat at home?
It’s a common frustration for dog owners. Your puppy or older dog performs a perfect sit in the kitchen but the moment you take them to the park or a friend's house, they act like they’ve never heard the word before.
There are a few reasons why this might be the case. One of those reasons might be because dogs don’t generalise their learning very well.
What is generalisation, I hear you ask?
For humans, generalisation is a mental shortcut. If you learn how to open one door, you can generally figure out how to open every door, regardless of its colour or handle shape.
Dogs are context-specific learners however. When they learn a cue/new skill, they don't just learn the word; they ‘record’ the entire environment as part of that cue/skill. It is a mental snapshot that they learn.
To a dog, the command ‘down’ might actually mean:
The sound of your voice
The fact that you are standing in the kitchen
The smell of the treats in your pocket
The specific floor under their paws
If you change any of those variables, such as moving to the grass at a park, the ‘picture’ or snapshot no longer matches. In their mind, the ‘down’ they learned in the kitchen is a completely different task than a ‘down’ at the park.
Why is this the case, I hear you ask again?
Dogs are masters at picking up on tiny details. They might be focusing on the way your hand is tilted or the fact that you’re wearing your treat pouch. Without those specific cues and without you having generalised their learning, the command can lose its meaning. A new environment also provides a massive influx of sensory data (new smells, sounds and sights) that crowds out the learned behaviour.
To help a dog generalise their learning trainers use a process called ‘proofing’. This involves teaching the same command in a wide variety of contexts so the dog learns that the action / skill is the only constant. As an example, if you trained your dog to lay down in the kitchen, you would then want to practice and re-train it in the living room, then the garden / driveway and so on.
Whilst it isn’t the only reason why your dog might not be responding to your cues in certain places, a lack of generalisation can certainly play a role. If your dog forgets a skill in a new place, don't get frustrated. Just lower your criteria. Go back to basics for a few repetitions to help them realize that ‘sit’ means the same thing on grass as it does on tile.
Happy training xx