The 4Ds of Training

Knowing when to progress of advance a behaviour of skill, is often a tricky one… But there is a simple way to know how and when to progress your training!

This is referred to as the 4 Ds of training.

– Distance, how far away can your dog perform the behaviour reliably?
– Distraction, what distractions can you add to your training?
– Duration, how long can your dog remain doing the behaviour?
– Difficulty, how advanced you can make the behaviour?

These 4 key areas are a guide, to know what criteria to progress to have your dog truly understand what you want.

When training, only change one at a time, in a session. Ensure you keep track of how much of a challenge you add, and only progress of advance the training in small increments.

Have fun! And enjoy the process!