A common term used in dog training is generalization. Unfortunately, many pet owners do not know what a trainer is talking about when this word is thrown around. So what is it? According to Merriam Webster it means “to give general applicability to”. Simply speaking, it means teaching your pet that a behaviour can be done anywhere, anyway. Generalization plays a HUGE part of having a well trained dog and is something everyone should strive for with their dogs.
Generalization comes after your dog knows a command and the behaviour you are asking for. A common problem owners face is their dog(s) not performing known behaviours in a different situation; which in fact is a lack of generalization. Unlike humans dogs are not able to generalize commands immediately. They are incredibly lateral in their thinking and often just changing a small thing (your body position, location etc) can completely confuse your dog if they are not taught to generalize.
Once your dog has learned a command, such as sit, it is important to start teaching them that they can sit in the kitchen where you taught it, outside or at the pet store. We believe in baby steps when training. Just because your dog is consistently sitting when asked in your home where you usually practice doesn’t mean you should jump straight to expecting them to understand and listen when you get to the busy dog park and ask them to sit for the first time. In order to properly generalize you will gradually add more distractions, add duration, or differing body language when asking the dog to perform the known command. Another helpful tip when it is a large step is to treat it like a new command again and using a high value reward (and make sure to reward right away just like when you first starting teaching them to the command). As you work on this with different commands you will notice they are quicker to generalize commands that you might not have spent as much time on.
A quick way to test how well your dog generalizes a command is to sit on the floor yourself and give your command. Does your dog listen or are they busy sniffing you and think “WOAH my human is on the ground - this is weird, is it play time”? Instead of going straight to the floor try giving the command from sitting in a chair. Your body language tells your dog a ton of things and they get used to seeing a specific image when you ask for each command. When first teaching a command you might notice your dog has troubles because you always stand up straight with your hands out in front of you to give a hand signal but your husband stands with his hands in his pockets. If you are the one that typically practices with the dog there is a good chance when your husband asks the dog to sit that it is confused at first as the visual image presented is different than what it is expecting to see with the command sit. This is where generalization comes in.
Below is a fun list that is a good way to practice and test how well your dog can generalize. It uses the command sit but you can work on this with any behaviour.
Once your dog has learned a command, such as sit, it is important to start teaching them that they can sit in the kitchen where you taught it, outside or at the pet store. We believe in baby steps when training. Just because your dog is consistently sitting when asked in your home where you usually practice doesn’t mean you should jump straight to expecting them to understand and listen when you get to the busy dog park and ask them to sit for the first time. In order to properly generalize you will gradually add more distractions, add duration, or differing body language when asking the dog to perform the known command. Another helpful tip when it is a large step is to treat it like a new command again and using a high value reward (and make sure to reward right away just like when you first starting teaching them to the command). As you work on this with different commands you will notice they are quicker to generalize commands that you might not have spent as much time on.
A quick way to test how well your dog generalizes a command is to sit on the floor yourself and give your command. Does your dog listen or are they busy sniffing you and think “WOAH my human is on the ground - this is weird, is it play time”? Instead of going straight to the floor try giving the command from sitting in a chair. Your body language tells your dog a ton of things and they get used to seeing a specific image when you ask for each command. When first teaching a command you might notice your dog has troubles because you always stand up straight with your hands out in front of you to give a hand signal but your husband stands with his hands in his pockets. If you are the one that typically practices with the dog there is a good chance when your husband asks the dog to sit that it is confused at first as the visual image presented is different than what it is expecting to see with the command sit. This is where generalization comes in.
Below is a fun list that is a good way to practice and test how well your dog can generalize. It uses the command sit but you can work on this with any behaviour.
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