Are dogs good at generalizing?

Question of the day: True or false— Dogs are good at generalizing (e.g a baby, a child, a man, or an older woman) in your dog’s mind are all the same.

Most of you are probably thinking, true. Most dogs do generalize… however most of you are wrong, and here’s why.

Dogs, unlike humans are not good at generalizing. For a numerous amount of reasons. Thus meaning when you train your dog you need to make sure you train your dog in different circumstances (e.g near different people, different places, different texture ground, etc).

• Surfaces: Some dogs might feel uncomfortable sitting or laying down on carpet, sand, grass, pavement, etc.

• Environment: Performing at home is waaay different from outside, where cars, strangers, dogs are distracting. When training make sure you are increasing stimuli (slowly you do not want to overwhelm your dog) by training in different environments.
  

We have to make sure we take into account the small things when we are training our dogs. Even if it is just sit, Fido might sit so pretty in the house, but what about the farmers market on a Sunday afternoon?

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As always, Stay Pawsitive!