Speaker 1 0:02

Welcome to the Four Your K9 Podcast, where being a student of the dog is at the heart of everything we do. With Nancy Reyes and Lisa Bataska, join us as we explore behavior, dog sports, and the human side of training, helping canines and their people thrive one conversation at a time.

Speaker 0:28

Welcome to the For Your Canine Podcast with Nancy Reyes and Lisa Batasca. Today we're going to be talking about the training to trialing gap. And not only trialing, but taking your training on the road. Dogs perform differently at home versus out in the world or in competition. If we had a dollar for every time we've had clients come in and say, well, he does it great at home, I could I would be pretty wealthy. But let's talk about why that gap exists and what we can actually do about it. In dogs learn in context. So wherever they're learning it, they the environment is part of what they've learned. So, for example, that's why we're able to dogs are able to do agility and barn hunt and tracking because ever all those sports have different contexts. They're all different. So the dog is pretty clear wherever he goes, if you're going to competition, which one he's doing. He knows he's doing tracking because he sees the open field. He does, he knows he's doing nose work because he sees the room or the car or the exterior, and agility when they see all the equipment. So the environment is a big part of the context. So that's why when you do training at home, that context is at home. So the dogs don't don't understand that, oh it applies everywhere. It applies everywhere, right? You have to do it outside, in the you know, at the park, at dog training classes. That's why, while we are all about getting training anywhere you can, I know a lot of people these days are doing in-home training, which is great, but at some point you have to take the dog out to different places and and see if they can generalize and and do that training in a different context. So I think and I think that's a part we miss. We we get so many people that, oh, I had a trainer come to the house, but the dog really has a hard time doing anything here.

Speaker 2 2:28

Mm-hmm. And it's great to help, like Nancy had said, or we had talked about, it's good good for the dogs to learn certain behaviors at home if you're having specific issues at home. But again, you need a controlled chaos situation. And in those cases, it's really important that your instructor can really identify the specifics surrounding your dog, and then also with stimulus control. So with stimulus control, which is, you know, how to add distractions, we use the balancing act, duration, distance, and intensity of stimulus. So for example, how long I want my dog to perform something, like can you be at this such and such distance? And then my dog can offer attention to me. And then the next piece is that's duration. Distraction is the intensity of the stimulus. So how a dog sitting versus a dog turning and facing your dog, how does that look? Can your dog still perform doing that? And then the last one, or actually the it should be the first one, which is distance, how far away to be? Can you handle this from this period? And I think learning how to adjust that for the dog in real time is tricky. It can be for the instructor, but more so I think it's har difficult for the handler, because I think a lot of times we try to put everything together at one time and we don't break it down for the dog. So the taking a dog and saying, okay, do a stay in this field, there's a bunch of birds around is a whole different context than doing it in your home.

Speaker 4:03

Or in your backyard.

Speaker 2 4:04

Or in your backyard, right? Yeah. I mean, it's different. Like at home, everybody's relaxed, calm, co-flected. We there's predictability pieces to it, whereas out and about, it's a little different. So adjusting one piece at a time is really important.

Speaker 4:17

Right. And also for training, if you go to if you do agility and you go to a one-ring trial where there's just one ring running at the same at this time, that's a lot different than going to a trial where there's two or three rings going at the same time. And unless you've exposed your dog to that environment and made them comfortable there, it's gonna it could be tricky what you're gonna get when you're trialing with that dog. And being, you know, and or having trials like we have trials at our facility all the time. So for dogs who train there, yeah, that's a lot easier situation because they're they're used to it and contextually they know what they're doing there and they're they're there. Um, when they go away, that's why for a lot of our classes and even for our behavior classes, we work outside, we go to a park, we go to different places. So the dog starts to learn that the rules or these behaviors sh can be or should be done everywhere we go, right? And stress hormones also can change, you know, performance and how they're you know, if the going to different environments or whatever causes them the stress, then it they're not gonna perform as as smoothly as they're used to at home. So it's what those are the things that you really want to think about how they how they're doing it. So we get a lot of people that the dog won't well, the dog's not sitting, he's just being stubborn. No, a lot of it is that he just it's too hard for him to do it in that environment.

Speaker 2 5:49

So some of the most common creators of having a gap can be overtraining in one location, right? So I remember well when there are matches.

Speaker 6:01

Yes.

Speaker 2 6:02

There used to be matches for obedience or whatever.

Speaker 6:05

Or run throughs or whatever.

Speaker 2 6:06

Run throughs and yeah, and people would train at the same place, and sometimes they would go to different places, but the dogs wouldn't perform the same. So then they go and they'd overtrain in that location. So I mean, you have to balance it too. It can't be just every time we're here, we always do this. You gotta mix it up and it has to apply and be fun for the dog in various locations, not just the one. And I'll also caution overtraining, right? We'll probably get into that a little later on this topic, but be careful how long you train stuff because you're gonna lose quality, right, of the performance. And so those are pieces you want to consider.

Speaker 6:44

Right. And the other thing is with overtraining, a lot of people think more is better. It is not it isn't for people and it isn't for dogs. More is not better. And it's a it's a common misconception there, and also you're different at uh at matches or trials. So for some dogs, it's difficult to adjust and understand why this is happening with you, and this is how I got into training mental management because you're the hand the handler's different energy, the timing is different, the body language, it's just all of it's different. So the dog is like, okay, I left the house with my mom, and then I got here, and I don't know who this person is, and that causes a whole lot of stress for the dog. And also, we don't do a good job of getting the dogs ready for what trials entail. The drive, the, you know, whatever, whatever your sport is, or for example, taking your dog for a walk or going to an event with other dogs, and you expect that dog to perform your sit stays and stay with you and focus the whole time they're at this event when that you've never practiced it. You never you've never gone to this event, or you've got or you've never gone to maybe where it was a little bit busier, a little bit more busy, where their dog can acclimate and train that. So, and we kind of miss all that middle part. They think the dog should just go in there and just do it, which doesn't work like that.

Speaker 2 8:22

Sometimes you'll find too, like during that, does your dog need more cues when they're at trials too? And sometimes, right, it's like when I when I hear that, I'm like, wait, maybe there's a bigger issue, right, going on. So that is that's another consideration on top of that's a pretty gap, it's something that could create a bigger gap for your training as well.

Speaker 8:43

Right. And if your dog needs more cues, then you're it gets more stressful for the handler. Right. So I think, and then you start the whole mental issue and all that. And and one of the things I really am a big advocate, if you have a young dog and you're trying to do competitions or going out and doing all these different things, a lot of those dogs may have the skills but don't have the maturity to be able to handle a trial setting. Right. So while they could they could do it, they mentally can't they're not mature enough to handle the stress and the pressure that comes with trials.

Speaker 2 9:21

Just like people, dog, people, everybody matures differently, right? And a male-female, all the things that go along with it. But for my in my case, right, right now I have a two-year-old papillon, and I was showing Nancy a video of like how he was. My biggest thing wasn't, I mean, I know what I have to work on, right? It's not about the equipment, it's about can you stay with me in between the pieces of equipment? Can't you stay with me if people are walking around setting bars or sitting off to the side? All of those were are so much more important to me than actually getting into the equipment. He's too, I'm not in a rush. He's just, you know, like like Nancy said, even though they're physically able to do that, he's not mentally prepared to handle the stressors. He's still going through a little bit of, he's very aware of his environment. He's not overly confident. That's fine, but that means that I have to do more work should I decide to move forward with with actually training.

unknown 10:18

Right.

Speaker 10:19

Trialing I should say. Right. And so a couple of things you can do to kind of help close the gap on between training and trialing, or training and being out in the world. Because either one, same rules apply. Try to work on your skills and a couple dip two or three different places a week. Go to the, you know, as you're driving to class, even stop at a gas station, ask them for a sit or a down and see what you get. Or go to the park and see, you know, a different place. So the dog gets used to like, okay, this applies no matter where I am or where we're going. And they'll start to get used to that. And the more experience your young dog has going different places, the better it's going to be for the dog.

Speaker 2 11:06

And I mean, I know there's some, there's still some like shows and run-throughs that are going on, not as many as there once was, I think. But trying to use those kinds of events to help your dog understand the transition over into actual from trialing or training to trialing, right? So try to use those things. Also think about like when you're in classes and stuff, things that you can do in terms of when you're crating your dog, getting them out and in to potty them, types, type types of stuff like that. Stuff they're gonna see in a trial situation. So there's gonna be different dogs passing by, maybe you're having some issues with that. Work on hanging out in the crate and watching stuff happen without getting excited, that type of thing.

Speaker 11:48

Right. And the big this is the hard one, training yourself to perform consistently under pressure. That is by far and away the most challenging piece for for the handlers and the dogs, the mental, mental stress that trials do have, and the people not being able to work through it and kind of manage it to the point where the dog can handle that. So, and and most people can get through the first couple of levels pretty easily, but at some point you're gonna have to figure out how to get through the more challenging as you get further along in the as you get further along in the training, in your in your career or trialing. Same with if you're going to, again, taking your dog to these different events, if your dog keeps practicing being crazy and not being in under control at these events, they're gonna have more, you're gonna have more of it. So you have to definitely work to it. Again, can you sit in down at the gas station? Can you sit in down at the park? Can you go to the shopping mall and sit down there? All those things are really important when you when you're really thinking about trying to proof your dog for trials and for the world, because really we need to prepare these dogs to go out into into survive in the world with people, with us, and how we live our and our lifestyle, right? It's really important. They can't just go come in, do a class, learn everything, and then go out and do it.

Speaker 2 13:26

It's just not happen for people either, right? From going from from you know, high school to college, even. That's a big deal, right? So, and then from college, once you've just gotten your degree to actual life, you know, acclimation to life. So I think we ask a lot of them, but if this were, you know, an individual, a human being, not that they are, I get it, but the correlation between allowing, we allow more for people to kind of acclimate into the world versus with a dog's is almost just an automatic expectation, I think.

Speaker 14:00

Yeah, and it's it's really interesting that you say that because people do. You see that all the time. People just assume the dog's gonna do it uh elsewhere. And I'm thinking, why do we think that? Why do we think that the dog is going to, he does great in class and you're gonna take him to a crowded, you know, baseball game, and the dog's like, I don't know why he's acting this way. Well, you haven't done anything to prepare him for that kind of environment. And then, but yet then we blame the dog. Anyway, so these are some of the things to consider, excuse me, to consider when you are looking to go from training to trialing, is is uh is what the middle piece of getting the dog ready for that. If you've done some training at home, how are you then gener having him generalize uh and get comfortable in the environment, different in different environments? So the the goal isn't to make trials feel like training, but the goal is to prepare them and to get them used to what their life will entail if they're gonna be competition dogs. Or if you have a dog that's gonna want to, you know, that's gonna do all these different things, uh, you know, it's gonna be or like a therapy work or whatever it is. So you have to be able to think about that and get them ready for that. Take your dog to two different places you don't normally train and see what see what you get. All right. Thank you and see you next time.

Speaker 1 15:31

Thanks for joining us today on the For Your Canine podcast. I hope this gave you something practical to think about. Try with your dog or bring into your next training session. If this episode was helpful, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with a dog friend who might need to hear it. And if you're looking for support with dog training, dog sports, behavior, or the mental side of competition, visit us at 4yourk9.com to learn more about our classes, workshops, and online programs.