How To Teach Your Dog To Listen To You Anywhere!
Proofing in Public
Whether you have a service dog in training or want your dog to respond reliably to cues outside the home, this article is for you!
What is Proofing in Dog Training
Proofing means practicing your training around various distractions in different environments and situations to ensure your dog can reliably perform the behaviors or tasks wherever you are!
When proofing different behaviors, ensure you’re working towards a realistic goal. If you’re working with a service dog in training, the focus will primarily be proofing in public scenarios. But, if your dog is more of a homebody and likes sticking to neighborhood walks and familiar trails, that’s where you should focus your training sessions.
We often skew our expectations for our dogs. You might see a dog performing a cute trick in a crowd, but you must learn the backstage work to get there. What you saw is only a snapshot, a skill every dog needs! Focus on meeting your dog’s needs, helping them thrive, and enjoying life.
Practicing various tricks and skills on outings can be a huge confidence booster for some dogs. Teach your dog to focus and check in with you; it will only strengthen your bond.
Why Your Dog Might Not Listen Outside The Home
When we start training, we teach in a low-distraction, familiar environment. Training in everyday environments allows the dog to focus on the training session and allows for productive learning.
Dogs have excellent observation skills. Dogs pay attention to our body language, tone of voice, objects in the room, time of day, and everything in between When we’re training. That also means your dog might not understand what you’re asking of them when you move to a new environment. Their context clues are gone, but we can help them through that!
If your dog doesn’t leave the house often, they might be overstimulated or over their learning threshold when they head out with you. Pay attention to their body language, behavior, and engagement with you and the environment. It’s best to give your dog time to acclimate to new surroundings by letting them sniff, explore, and get comfortable before you start training with them.
Your treats might need to be better! I recommend getting various treats to keep your dog engaged. String cheese, deli meat, freeze-dried proteins, and squeeze pouches are great options.
Your dog might still need to be fluent in the training. If your dog isn’t reliably responding to your cues, they might not fully understand what you’re asking them to do. To assess if your dog is ready to proof their behavior outside, they should do the following:
Your dog performs the behavior immediately after being given the cue.
Your dog does not offer the behavior without being cued during training sessions.
Your dog does not offer the behavior in response to another cue.
Your dog does not offer any other behavior in response to the cue.
You can find more information on stimulus control with cues HERE
If your dog is successful with those steps, it’s time to start proofing!
How To Start Proofing Your Dog’s Training
Focus on applying the three D’s before you move from your dog’s familiar environments. Focus on your lifestyle and your dog’s comfort when you start proofing.
Just because they can perform the behavior with extended distance, duration, or distractions, doesn’t mean they should.
For example, if your dog loves hiking, focus on performing a stay with duration and distractions like people walking by just like you might on the trail! If your dog loves car rides, teach them paws up with duration so you can safely lift them into the car.
The Three D’s
Duration: Can your dog perform the behavior for various periods? Start adding 1 second at a time, going back and forth to a longer duration, then back to the shorter duration they were successful.
Distance: Can your dog perform the behavior when you’re not next to them? Start one step away, then incrementally increase the distance.
Distraction: Can your dog perform the behavior around items that might interest them? Start with a small change, like several toys sitting out, and go from there!
Only change one variable at a time. Here are some ideas to start proofing at home:
Your position in relation to your dog
Having the door open when it’s typically closed
Sitting when you’re usually standing
Wearing different clothes like hats, gloves, and sunglasses.
Playing music, youtube noises, or the tv while you’re training
Moving to different rooms in the house
Placing a bowl of food out of sight and reach but where your dog can still smell it
Practicing with other people in the same room
How To Proof Your Dog’s Training in Public
If your dog is ready to practice their training in public, grab those high-value treats and get started!
Allow your dog to acclimate to the new place. Let them sniff and investigate until they’re comfortable and focused back on you. Give them treats for checking in with you and start training when they’re ready to start learning. Reinforcing check-ins is a great way to show your dog you have great treats, and they can come back to you when they’re ready to start.
Keep your training sessions short, and give your dog plenty of breaks! Have a clear training goal in mind so you can communicate clearly to your dog. If you’re working for a duration with a position, don’t start in a busy place where people will walk around them.
Progress gradually and lower criteria. Remember that dogs discriminate exceptionally well, and changing the environment might be a big challenge. Your proofing at home should help lower the requirements if your dog is struggling and reinforce approximations.
Use a mix of higher-value treats for reinforcement, and if your dog likes playing with toys, bring those, too! Utilizing various forms of reinforcement can keep your dog engaged with the training.
When You Shouldn’t Proof in Public
I like to remind people that training in public places isn’t a skill every dog needs, and being in public is not what every dog wants!
Some dogs feel frightened or overwhelmed when they’re in unfamiliar places. A dog overwhelmed and uncomfortable in new areas will have difficulty learning and focusing on you.
Body language that might indicate your dog is over threshold:
Tail tucked
Body lowered, tense, or trembling
Excessive lip licking, tongue flicking, or panting
Freezing or stops frequently
Vocalizing
Pulling or trying to flee
If you notice any body language listed above, consider working with a certified trainer and keeping training at home until your dog is more comfortable through quality socialization. You can learn more about socialization HERE
Some dogs are over-aroused when they go to new places, so focusing on proofing at home and relaxing in public would be the priority.
Practice Patience When Proofing
Learning in new environments takes time! Like humans, building new habits takes successful repetition and reinforcement to continue successfully!
There will be good days, and there might be setbacks. That is normal and doesn’t reflect poorly on your dog or your training. Focus on celebrating your approximations, and you’ll see success!
If you would like to work with us for proofing in public or any other dog training, you can contact us HERE
