The definition of verbs such as to know are so fuzzy to me that the words are made ambigous.
« To know » means among other things : to have learnt something and be able to repeat it, to have the ability to make an activity after learning.
Therefore knowledge relies on learning.
So that there is learning, several parameters are necessary :
a teacher sharing,
a receptive learner,
adequate conditions,
repeating the learning,
memorizing it,
modifying the behavior.
If the teacher and the learner fail to understand each other, the message does not reach the student and thus he cannot learn.
If a learning has not been memorized, it may not have been repeated enough to be remembered.
If a learning does not lead to a change in behavior, it has not been anchored and thus retained. For example, if Doggy learns to come back when called, if he never comes back or only now and then, he hasn't learned to come back.
The « adequate » conditions :
So that your student, your dog, is able to get your teaching, several aspects are to be checked in order to have him receptive easily :
His health :
a tired dog, one in pain, will struggle to focus, will even be unable to. Besides, cueing him to make some behaviors turns then aversive to him and is likely to demotivate him to do it again in the future.
His emotional state :
if Doggy is very excited while you mean to train a behavior that requires concentration, I advise you to lead him to a calmer state first so that he is able to apprehend what you are passing on. If Doggy is afraid, by putting him in an area where he does feel safe, by reassuring him, you make him more able to pay attention to you and your training instead of his survival.
His age :
demanding the same ability from a young dog than from an adult one is like to saturate his enthusiasm and to make him remember little out of what you are training.
The environment :
considering the capacities and acquired skills of your dog, the place he is in, what is around him, is it too distracting and does it make him unable to engage with you and what you are trying to train ?
Generalizing
Very often, when I hear « he knows », a behavior has been trained, but not generalized. If dogs are able to generalize really fast emotionally, they do not with behaviors, for the most part.
For examples :
You train your dog to stop before crossing a street once you’ve said « stop » : « stop » only works for crossing the street.
You train your dog to ignore a sock on the floor : if you only practice with socks, it only works for socks.
If you train your dog to come back when called only in a forest : coming back when called is only works in a forest.
Dogs pay attention to all the elements around them when being trained. Some are moderate in details, whereas some others distinguish even what you are wearing on training.
« He know... » he is not allowed to take anything on the table : actually, he has learned not to take if you are around, if you are turned towards him, if…
« He knows... » he must sit before I put the leash on : actually, he has learnt to do it when is was calm and now you are having guests (so distraction for him, therefore an emotion of excitement).
By generalizing the situations, you make sure your dog will be able to consider that a behavior works in every circumstances.
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