1. Learning new behaviors



2. Generalization of learned behaviors

3. Discrimination of commands

4. Reliability of learned behaviors

5. Fluency

This article explains you these stages of dog training.

1. Learning

Its name says everything. During this stage your dog learns a new behavior. The learning stage is divided in two sub-stages: getting the behavior and introducing the command (cue).

During the "get a behavior" sub-stage, your dog actually learns a new behavior. However, no command or cue is associated with that particular behavior. For instance, your dog learns to sit when you hold a treat in your hand. While holding a treat becomes the actual cue for him to sit, it is not the final cue you will use to command him to sit.

Once you get the behavior (for instance, when your dog sits frequently), you introduce the command or cue. In other words, you must teach the behavior before the command or cue is added.

If you introduce the command/cue before your dog understands the behavior you want, he could get confused and associate that command with a different behavior. That's why you have to introduce the command after your dog has learned the behavior.

2. Generalization of learned behaviors

Generalization is the process that teaches your dog to respond in the same way to a particular stimulus under different circumstances. This means your dog will obey your commands whether he is in your house, at the park, at the beach or everywhere. Moreover, he will respond to your commands even if there are strong distractions, such as other dogs, food, squirrels running away, etc.

To generalize a behavior, the behavior must be trained before (of course!). Then, that particular behavior must be practiced in different environments and under several conditions. In general terms, generalization consists in retraining each learned behavior in different environments and under different circumstances.

You must start the generalization of behaviors in a place that is familiar to your dog and with no distractions around. Then, you have to increase gradually the places and the distractions. Small distractions, such as moving your arms slowly, are the best ones to start this dog training stage.

The generalization will be easier and faster if you set high standards for training. In fact, several competition trainers never generalize the behavior of their dogs but they achieve good results in competitions. That happens because they set very high training standards and they train in environments that are similar to trial fields.

3. Discrimination of commands

Discrimination is the opposite of generalization. In the discrimination stage, your dog learns to perform the requested behavior even when he knows many other behaviors. In other words, if you ask for a sit, your dog must sit instead of lying down.

A dog which gets confused with different commands is a dog that has not achieved the discrimination stage. So, if your dog sits when you ask him to lie down, then he has not yet discriminated between "Sit" and "Down". Some trainers think this is disobedience. Don't make that mistake, this situation is not caused by disobedient or stubborn dogs; it is caused by confused dogs.

4. Reliability of learned behaviors

As its name suggests, the reliability stage consists in achieving reliable trained behaviors. So, to achieve this stage, the behaviors you taught to your dog must become habits.

Reliability is just a result of repeating and reinforcing the trained behaviors. Therefore, if your dog has successfully passed the previous stages, reliability is just a matter of time, practice and consistency.

This stage is the key to introduce trained behaviors in daily life situations, but it should not be rushed. Reliability of learned behaviors is a long term goal, so you should expect to train for some time before your dog is reliable off leash and under distractions.

5. Fluency

Fluency consists in getting "perfect" behaviors. Thus, when your dog achieves this stage, he responds to your commands as fast and as precise as it can be done.

The "perfection" of fluent behaviors depends on what you want from your dog. If you want Fido to be an obedience champion he must perform all the obedience exercises with speed and precision. However, if you just want Fido to sit on command you may not need speed and precision. In this case, it would be enough that your dog sits when you ask for it.

Although fluency is fully achieved in final stages, it should be considered together with all the other stages of dog training.