Just like people need to go to Middle and High School before taking on a Masters program, dogs need to learn to do their behaviors in gradually increasing levels of distraction and emotion.
Here’s a simple way to build up your dog’s ability to do his behaviors for his training and behavior program:
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Teach the behavior at home with no distractions around first.
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Once your dog is doing great, start practicing in another room and in the backyard.
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Once your dog is doing great there, add in the behavior on walks when it’s quiet or at home when things are busy!
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Last, work on your dog using the behavior in their target environment! Around other dogs and people on walks and/or big distractions like guests being over.