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The Four D's of Dog Training

murph

murph

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Dogs, Dogs, Dogs, Dogs.

We all know that dogs don't see or understand the world as we do. But how does that impact training? If we start to think like a dog, training becomes much easier, and much more reliable. In this post, I will go over "the four D's of dog training" and how it can help immensely with obedience.

In no particular order, the four D's of dog training are distraction, distance, duration, and diversity. In general, dogs are not very good at generalizing. This means that when training, we need to put our dogs in different situations with each command to make sure they understand no matter what time, place, or situation, a command is the same. Let's take a look at each and how they can improve your training.

Distraction
Distractions are things in the environment that can take your dog's attention from you. Has your dog ever been distracted by someone else holding a treat? A loud noise? Or God forbid another animal?

There are many good distractions you can test your dog's obedience with.

Example
  • Practicing in a park
  • Practicing around other dogs
  • Practicing around people with hats, elderly people, children
  • Practicing by a busy road on the sidewalk
Distance
Can your dog preform a sit if you are standing three steps away? Five? Across the room? Being able to command your dog at a distance is especially important for things like emergency recall. Being able to command your dog to "stop" or "come" at a distance is crucial if your dog chases after an animal, or runs into a dangerous situation.

Duration
Duration means the amount of time your dog is able to hold a command without you releasing them first. It is good practice to enforce your dog holding a command until released. Common release commands are "ok", "break", or "done".

Example
You tell your dog to sit. Your dog should be able to hold a sit until you release them.

Diversity
Diversity means having your dog preform a trick in a variety of situations. The difference between diversity and distraction means having your dog preform the trick in different places and situations. Has your dog preformed a trick at the vet's office? How about at Home Depot? A parking lot? On a chair? There are plenty of situations your pet can preform a trick (depending on what the trick is). Make sure to get creative with this point. Diversity is important because it really cements a trick and making sure that your pup is ready to preform a trick in any situation.

The most important part of incorporating the four D's into your training regimen is that you practice them one at a time.

As I said earlier in the post, dogs are not good at generalization. It's unfair ajd often counterproductive to attempt to mix any of these together. Make sure to have one D down pact before moving on to the next.

Depending on your pup and training regimen, you can work on these in any order. However, I would advise Distraction and Diversity to come later. Of course socialization is extremely important, especially for puppies. But socialization and desensitization are different than asking your dog to work in a new situation.

Have you ever heard of the Four D's of Dog Training? Is this post going to change the way your train your dog?

What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments. Happy Training!
 
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Love this breakdown. My dog’s mastered the 5th D: Defiance. But seriously, the diversity part makes a lot of sense, they really do act like commands expire outside the living room
 
Mr. Schmucks said:
Love this breakdown. My dog’s mastered the 5th D: Defiance. But seriously, the diversity part makes a lot of sense, they really do act like commands expire outside the living room
Click to expand...
Don't even get me started on leashes. On leash, come. "Yes mom!" Long Leash, come "Maybe, mom!" Dropped leash, come. "I dunno, mom." Off leash, come. "Go fuck yourself mom!"
 
This is such a clear and helpful breakdown, I’ve heard of the “3 D’s” before but didn’t realize there was a fourth! The diversity one really clicked for me, especially how you described practicing in totally different places. I never thought to test commands somewhere like a store or parking lot.

Do you usually start introducing new “D’s” one at a time, or work a bit of all four together once the basics are solid?
 
Kaia Murphy said:
This is such a clear and helpful breakdown, I’ve heard of the “3 D’s” before but didn’t realize there was a fourth! The diversity one really clicked for me, especially how you described practicing in totally different places. I never thought to test commands somewhere like a store or parking lot.

Do you usually start introducing new “D’s” one at a time, or work a bit of all four together once the basics are solid?
Click to expand...
Shit. I meant to address this in the post. One moment.
 
Kaia Murphy said:
This is such a clear and helpful breakdown, I’ve heard of the “3 D’s” before but didn’t realize there was a fourth! The diversity one really clicked for me, especially how you described practicing in totally different places. I never thought to test commands somewhere like a store or parking lot.

Do you usually start introducing new “D’s” one at a time, or work a bit of all four together once the basics are solid?
Click to expand...
The most important part of incorporating the four D's into your training regimen is that you practice them one at a time.

As I said earlier in the post, dogs are not good at generalization. It's unfair and often counterproductive to attempt to mix any of these together. Make sure to have one D down pact before moving on to the next.

Depending on your pup and training regimen, you can work on these in any order. However, I would advise Distraction and Diversity to come later. Of course socialization is extremely important, especially for puppies. But socialization and desensitization are different than asking your dog to work in a new situation.

Thanks so much for reminding me about this part. i meant to include it.
 
This is a great breakdown, really clear and easy to follow. The way you explained generalization hits the nail on the head. It’s something a lot of people overlook when they wonder why their dog “forgets” commands outside the house.

I’ve always found that working the D’s one at a time, like you said, builds real reliability. Especially duration, once a dog understands that a cue holds until release, everything else falls into place faster.

Love the way you worded diversity too. That one’s probably the most underrated of the four. You can see the confidence build in a dog once they realize the rules don’t change no matter where they are.

Great post, definitely one I’ll point newer handlers toward.
 
murph said:
The most important part of incorporating the four D's into your training regimen is that you practice them one at a time.

As I said earlier in the post, dogs are not good at generalization. It's unfair and often counterproductive to attempt to mix any of these together. Make sure to have one D down pact before moving on to the next.

Depending on your pup and training regimen, you can work on these in any order. However, I would advise Distraction and Diversity to come later. Of course socialization is extremely important, especially for puppies. But socialization and desensitization are different than asking your dog to work in a new situation.

Thanks so much for reminding me about this part. i meant to include it.
Click to expand...
Ahh that makes so much sense, I probably would’ve tried to mix them without realizing it. It’s helpful hearing how you break it down like that, especially saving distraction and diversity for later once the basics are really solid.
 
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