Training a behavior is only part of dog training. Dogs are spatial learners. In other words, just because they learned something in one location does not mean that they will know that skill applies to other locations. As a result of this learning style, I frequently tell clients to train their dog in various locations. This “generalization” is part of a process called proofing. So, what is the rest of this process and why is it important? Read on to find out.
What is Proofing?
Proofing is the process of preparing a behavior for real life application. When a dog learns a behavior, they first learn what action they are supposed to be repeating, then they learn the name of that behavior. At this point they are still missing some crucial information. The information they are missing is that the action and its name apply to other locations, people, and environments. If the dog does not know each behavior applies to many situations and environments and cannot act on this knowledge, then I would argue that the behavior is not fully trained.
Why is Proofing important?
As I said, I would argue that if a behavior is not proofed, it is not fully trained. Why is that? The reason is because performing a behavior is not the whole concept of being able to respond to a cue. Think of it this way, if someone can put together a car engine, does that mean they can put it together under pressure from their boss and fast? This is not a question of skill, but a question of how well someone can handle both their external and internal environments. It is the same with behaviors our dogs perform. If our dogs know how to “leave it” and will respond to the cue, we must ask ourselves, will they reliably do that when there is a juicy chicken on the counter or when they are in an unfamiliar place? If the behavior is not proofed, then chances are that the dog will not be able to perform the behavior in those situations and possibly others. On top of this, if we ask our dogs to perform behaviors they know and love in situations where they regularly fail (e.g. they eat the chicken after we say “leave it”), then the behavior and the cue it is attached to become poisoned and break down (read my article on poisoned cues here). So, in a nutshell, proofing is important because it makes the behavior work in real life. Your dog will not only know what they should be doing and when (when you give the cue), but they will also be listening for cues (hopefully at all times) and will respond even in the presence of distractions.
How Do We Proof a Behavior?
As I previously mentioned, behavior proofing starts with generalizing a behavior to different locations. Generalization in dog training is the process of teaching the dog that behaviors and their cues apply to more than one situation, environment, or location. This is an easy first step and, as mentioned previously, simply consists of doing training sessions in different locations. This stage of proofing is something that can be weaved into normal training sessions, rather than being its own step in the training process.
The next step is distraction training. This starts inside the house in a controllable environment (read my article on environment here) with minimal distractions. The idea of this step in the proofing process is that the dog learns that cues and the behaviors that belong to them still “work” when distractions are present. This might sound odd, but dogs must learn to listen for behavior cues even when there are toys available to play with, when other people are around, when they are tired, and in many other situations. The goal of distraction training is that the dog can perform the behavior when given the cue to do so, even when they are walking through a park full of dogs, when there are treats on the ground, when they are in the middle of playing, etc.
To proof behavior, simply gradually add distractions into the training process. This needs to be a gradual process, or it will not work. The dog must stay under threshold (in a mindset where they are motivated, but not stressed) and they need to be able to succeed. The idea is not to “distract” them, but to show them distractions and communicate to them that they should still respond to cues even when they are aware of these distractions. Next week I will be publishing basic instructions on how to proof for distractions, so make sure to come back and check out next week’s article!
Closing Thoughts
If you have taught your dog behaviors that seem to have broken down over time, try retraining them and proofing them! Make sure to go at your dog’s pace and introduce distractions gradually over time so ensure that your dog succeeds!
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