Having a 3-D Dog

There are 3 D’s in dog training. Distance, Distraction, and Duration. Once you get your basic commands and signals down, it is time to start adding in the 3 D’s. This is not necessarily as hard as you might think, though. I will give you some examples of how to add the 3-D’s to your dog training program in a way that doesn’t really increase your time or effort spent training, if you are already incorporating your training into your day.

The easiest example to use for teaching the 3 D’s is probably “stay”. Stay by its very nature needs to be a command that quickly achieves at least one D… Duration. The easiest way to add duration to your stay is to simply return to the dog, treat while reminding him to stay, then retreat. As you repeat “Stay… stay” to your dog, you can get farther away from him, for longer periods of time. 2 D’s down, only one more to go!

To start adding in distraction to your stay, remember to set your dog up to succeed. Start with the lowest level of distractions and work your way into harder ones. The easiest way to start is to go to your staying dog and drop a toy in front of him just before you treat and move away again. Drop the toy, repeat, “Stay” and then treat and move away. Work your way up to tossing treats all around the dog, tossing toys, talking to other people (especially with your back turned), popping out from behind walls, wandering past with other dogs, putting other dogs thru their paces nearby, and releasing other dogs from a stay while yours stays in his. The hardest distraction to get past, in my experience, is bouncing toward the dog happily crowing that he’s a good boy. It requires repetition and patience, but eventually they will get it. An ironclad stay can be yours!

To add distance into other commands, first make sure not all your training is happening at the same place and the same time. Make sure you are beginning to wean from treats or lures, and that your dog has full understanding of the signal or word you are using. The easiest way to begin is to put the dog in a sit from a normal working distance. Then step back and ask for the down. Without moving closer ask for the sit again. Begin asking for the sit or down from short distances first… a couple feet away. Carry treats on your person at all times, so your dog knows you have them but does not know when he’ll get one. As your dog masters the idea of you asking for obedience from a couple feet away, up the ante. Go to 5 feet, then six, then across the room. Going good? Great… let’s move to the yard.

The yard is a Level One distraction. There are birds, small rodents, holes to be dug, fences to be patrolled… don’t be surprised if you have to move back in closer to get obedience. Distraction-free distance is NOT the same as Distance with minor Distraction. Remember to keep your treats handy, but don’t treat every right answer. If you do, you will be creating a dependency on the treats for obedience and if you find yourself without treats and asking for obedience, you might get a blank stare instead.

When you can work from across the yard with your dog expecting the commands, then it is time to advance to Level Two distraction… catching him off guard in the yard, and asking for obedience from a distance. Again, don’t be surprised if you have to be much closer than the distance you were previously achieving obedience at. Just keep at it, increasing your distance from the dog, and waiting for greater and greater distractions.

Don’t just use sits and downs for this, but stays, and of course a recall must be ironclad, no matter the distractions!

Are you asking the difference between a long sit or down and a stay? In my training programs, I can release my dogs from any command from any where. I can release a sit by hollering from the bedroom window if I want to. But STAY means freeze. Don’t move a muscle, don’t look around, don’t change positions and don’t MOVE until I come to you and release you. Cheval has a stay like this, and even when I mess up and give him a release word from a distance, he ignores me. The dog corrects the trainer. THAT is a stay!!

What’s it matter? What if your dog bounds after a chipmunk and is racing for a busy road? That’s a GIANT distraction, very possibly a LARGE distance, and you need absolute DURATION until you can get to him and get him safely back. If I yell “Cheval! DOWN! STAY!” as he goes after a rabbit or stray dog, I want him to drop INSTANTLY into the down and not move a muscle until I go collect him. Why not a recall? I do also use recalls, but sometimes he takes a rather circuitous route of turning around to come back. If his life is at risk, I want him to stop in his tracks and wait for me.

The 3 D’s of training CAN seem like an insurmountable task, but by adding just a little bit of each every day, you can have absolute voice control over your dog, at any distance, no matter what is going on, and rest easy in the assurance that your dog obeys you right now, every time!

This article was provided by J at Pawsitive University. Thanks J.