Situational Learning
Have you ever had the experience where you teach your dog a command — sit, shake, roll over — and then, when you try to do it outside, or you show off for a friend, your dog looks at you like they have no idea what you’re saying? Or how about when you teach your dog not to get on the couch, but then you visit family and your dog is leaping all over the sofa?
You’ve just fallen prey to situational learning.
When people learn to say please and thank you, we learn that we should always say please and thank you in specific circumstances, regardless of where we are. We generalize the knowledge to everywhere.
When a dog learns that a certain sound coming from your mouth or a specific movement of your hand means sit, they assume that it means sit in the place where they learned it — but it might mean something else if done in another location, or in a group, or when you’re shouting it instead of saying it.
“What the what,” I hear you cry.
It’s okay, it’s not as bad as it seems. This means that when you teach your dog to sit in the house, you should then also teach them to sit in the yard. Start just the same way you started before, build up slowly just like before, and have patience just like before. Then teach it to them on their walks. Then when other dogs are around. Then at a friend’s house. Then at Lowe’s. You get the idea, right?
The good news: each time you teach it, it’ll take less work and repetition. It might take ten minutes the first time, but the second time it’ll take seven, and the third time four, and so on. The better news: your dog WILL generalize it to “everywhere.” It just takes them a little longer than it takes us!
Now, here’s the fun part about knowing this: because dogs learn situationally, there can be different rules in different places. For instance, Scout is only allowed on the couch at home if we put a blanket down first. But at my mom’s house, dogs are always allowed on the couch. Does this mean that if I go visit over the holidays and Scout spends a week jumping on and off the couch that it’ll ruin his training when we go home? Nope! He’s learned that at my mom’s house he can get on the couch, and that at home he can’t. This was easy for him to learn, because they were in different situations.
So, are you moving to a new house? That’ll be a new situation, and until it’s not new anymore (a few days), you’ll have a chance to teach your dog new habits. Want him to sit at the door? Start practicing the second you’re in the new place! Want her to stop barking? Set that rule as soon as you move in! Habits that are well set will try to assert themselves, but you’ve got a window where you can improve — or even remove or create — rules significantly easier than you could before.
Taking classes, like the ones I’m teaching at the Keizer Station Petco? Remember to practice what you’ve learned when you get home, starting at the beginning, so your dog starts to generalize their new behaviors!
Jenna