3 D’s of Dog Training: Distance, Duration, Distraction

Picture this: You’ve just taught your new puppy to sit. When they see a treat, they eagerly place their bottom on the floor! You’re very proud of your puppy and take them to a friend or family member to show off their new skill.

When asked to perform in front of an audience, however, they’ve magically forgotten how to sit! You swear you taught them, yet when anyone else is looking they won’t do it.

If you’ve ever had this happen to you, you’re not alone—and it’s not stage fright or bad luck. Dogs can’t generalize concepts the same way humans can. To your dog, performing sit with you is not the same as performing sit while grandma watches. They didn’t sit, because it’s a completely different situation!

This is also why the dog who is an angel at puppy school may not obey at home, or the dog taught at home may not listen when at the pet store. In order for a dog to realize ‘sit’ means ‘sit’ anywhere, they have to be exposed to sit in a variety of different situations.

These different situations can largely be boiled down to the 3 D’s of dog training, or: Distance, Duration, and Distraction.

All three need to be trained separately, and then slowly mixed together, before a command can be truly reliable in most situations. This article is largely about the why and when of training, please see a training article on a specific topic for the how.

Duration

A one-second sit is not useful for anyone.  Yet when most dogs learn to sit, that’s exactly what they do.  They’ll put their butt on the floor, but in their mind that’s all there is to the cue. They have no reason to suspect that you might want the sit to last longer, and if they do, they don’t know for how long.

In order to get a dog who can sit for more than one second (or down, or heel, or any number of other cues) you’ll need to teach them that they need to wait in that position a certain amount of time.

At first, you can get this by delaying the reward. If your dog stays in sit just that moment longer, you reward them for sitting. If they don’t, you don’t reward them at all. Most dogs quickly sort out that they have to wait if they’re to get the treat.

Unfortunately, this comes with the problem of giving your dog clear communication on how long. Once your dog has learned not to get up right away, they end up having to guess when the cue is over.

Imagine being asked to read from a book for a panel of judges. You start to read, but the book is long—there’s no way you can read the entire book back to front. There’s no timer counting down. How do you know when to stop?

You can’t ask them. They don’t speak the same language—but you really want to do this right. How do you figure it out? Most of us would start looking for any sort of cue from the judges that the time is up.

Your dog will do this exact thing. Without the ability to understand English, any small movement becomes the release cue.

In order to help them understand when it is acceptable to stop, the clearest way to communicate how long they have to wait is a break command. A break command is a specific word you use every time a cue is over, to let your dog know they are done waiting.

Most dogs quickly learn that this is the cue for finishing a cue, and are frankly relieved you offer it. When they know that you will say ‘all done’ or what ever your word is for finishing, they will be more likely to wait until they hear it. You can learn how to train a break cue here.

Distance

When my dogs were puppies, they seemed to have a measuring stick in their brain for how close they had to be to listen to a recall cue. They would come right back if they were a few feet away, but as soon as they passed ten feet or so, the chase was on!

For a long time, if Rocco got loose there was no chance he would come when called, but if we asked for a sit and walked up to him and got him, he had no problems with it.

We had spent more time practicing distance with him while in sit, gradually taking steps back, and even ducking behind walls briefly before coming back. His practice with distance was good in sit, but not yet with recall.

If you want your dog to listen even when you take a step back (or when they’re free and can choose their own distance) you need to practice at various distances.

Most dogs have to start with just one step back, and some dogs are so sensitive you may even have to stop with just shifting your weight back before they will wait through a movement.

Distraction

It’s hard to stay focused on a job when there are exciting things going on around you. If you want your dog to recall away from that squirrel they’re chasing, or to sit even though there’s another dog behind them in the line at the pet store, you’ll have to practice the cue with distractions.

Of course, it’s not fair to put them in a very distracting situation like a pet store with no practice first. You might try a very small distraction at first, like moving to a different room in the house to practice, or even outside but on leash.

By slowly exposing them to more and more distractions, you make it more likely that they will listen in a more exciting environment.

How to Practice  the 3 D’s:

Distraction, Duration and Distance should be practiced separately at first. If you know your dog can sit for ten seconds (duration) you shouldn’t expect them to sit for ten seconds and let you step back at the same time.

You’ll need to practice taking a step back and rewarding immediately until your dog is comfortable with that step back, and then add more time after your pet has learned both.

Likewise, your pet may be able to sit while you take several steps back, but you shouldn’t expect him to do it while he’s playing with friends at the dog park. If you want your pet to practice distraction, you’ll have to start with very short duration and distance while you work on distraction.

Distraction should always be last when working with your pup, as it’s the hardest one and also the broadest in terms of what can be distracting.

If your pet ever fails to perform a command, try reviewing what happened with the 3 D’s in mind. Was the environment too distracting? Did you get too far away? Did you ask for too long? By breaking down a training problem into three different parts, you can nearly always figure out a training program that works to fix it.

Similar Posts:

• Training Vocabulary: Proofing
• Teaching the “Break” Command
• Dog Vocabulary: Generalize
• How to Train Your Chihuahua to Come when Called
• Two Paws Up: A Handy Skill For Your Pet