06/06/2025
The Phases of Dog Training: From Relationship to Reliability
Dog training, when done properly, isn’t a single event or one-size-fits-all formula. It’s a journey. One that begins with trust, builds through education, and is shaped by consistency, proofing, and long-term maintenance. Yet too often, people rush through the steps or skip them entirely and then wonder why the dog “knows it at home but doesn’t do it in the park.”
Whether you’re a dog owner looking to improve your dog’s manners or a trainer refining your craft, understanding the phases of dog training is essential for long-term success. Here’s an in-depth guide to each phase of the process, why it matters, and how to apply it.
1. Relationship Building: The Foundation of All Training
Before you teach anything, you must mean something to the dog. This phase is often overlooked, yet it’s the most important. If a dog doesn’t trust you, feel safe with you, or find value in your presence, you’re simply another distraction in the environment, not a leader, not a guide.
Key Goals:
• Building trust and safety
• Creating positive associations with your presence
• Developing engagement and focus
• Understanding your dog’s motivators (food, toys, praise, play)
What It Looks Like:
• Hand feeding to build connection
• Play sessions that foster engagement and responsiveness
• Calm presence and predictability
• Observing your dog’s communication style
Tip for Trainers: Don’t start with obedience drills. Start with observation. What’s the dog telling you? Are they confident, cautious, over-excited, or shut down?
2. Learning Phase: Clear Communication and Teaching the Skill
This is where the real “training” begins. The dog is taught what a particular cue or behaviour means, sit, down, recall, heel, place, leave it, you name it. The learning phase must be free from confusion, and your timing, clarity, and reinforcement must be spot on.
Key Goals:
• Teach the cue/behaviour clearly
• Use appropriate marker words or clickers
• Reinforce the correct behaviour consistently
• Keep distractions minimal during this phase
What It Looks Like:
• High rate of reinforcement
• Short, successful sessions
• Repetition with clarity
• Avoiding unnecessary corrections, this phase is for teaching, not testing
Common Mistake: Trying to train in a distracting environment too soon. The park is not a classroom. That’s like teaching GCSE maths in a nightclub.
3. Proofing Phase: Reliability in Real-World Contexts
Now that the dog understands the behaviour, it’s time to test it in different situations. This is the phase where you add difficulty, distractions, and duration. The goal? Making the behaviour reliable, not just theoretical.
Key Goals:
• Train the behaviour around real-world distractions
• Build duration, distance, and difficulty gradually
• Introduce mild corrections or withholding of rewards if needed
• Transition reinforcement from constant to intermittent
What It Looks Like:
• Practising heel work past other dogs or food on the floor
• Long downs with you walking away
• Recall from sniffing, playing, or minor distractions
Trainer Insight: Proofing isn’t about “catching the dog out.” It’s about helping the dog learn to make the right choice despite the temptation.
4. Generalisation Phase: Same Cue, Different Contexts
Dogs don’t generalise well. Just because they know “sit” in the kitchen doesn’t mean they’ll do it at the vet’s or in the woods. In this phase, you’re helping the dog understand that the cue means the same thing everywhere, on lead, off lead, indoors, outdoors, around other dogs, or around livestock.
Key Goals:
• Practise in a wide range of environments and settings
• Vary who gives the cue (partner, kids, visitors)
• Include different surfaces, times of day, and weather conditions
• Keep expectations and criteria consistent
What It Looks Like:
• Practising down-stays on gravel, grass, concrete, or indoors
• Recall on a long line in different parks or open spaces
• Sit/stay at the vet’s or groomer’s
Note for Owners: Dogs are contextual learners. They need help connecting the dots across locations. Repeating the basics in each new place is normal, not a sign of failure.
5. Maintenance Phase: Use It or Lose It
Training doesn’t end when your dog “knows” the behaviour. It must be maintained, refreshed, and reinforced over time. This is especially true for obedience, impulse control, and recall. Dogs, like humans, can get rusty, complacent, or lazy. So can their handlers.
Key Goals:
• Reinforce known behaviours regularly
• Practise occasionally under challenge to maintain sharpness
• Keep expectations high, even as rewards become more sporadic
• Revisit previous phases as needed
What It Looks Like:
• Using “place” while you cook dinner
• Practising long recall once a week off lead
• Random obedience games or tricks for fun and engagement
• Keeping impulse control sharp through games like “It’s Yer Choice”
Reminder: Maintenance isn’t punishment. It’s brushing up, keeping the standard high, and protecting your hard-earned progress.
Final Thoughts: It’s a Cycle, Not a Ladder
These phases aren’t necessarily linear. You’ll move back and forth between them depending on your dog’s age, experience, environment, or changes in routine. Got a new puppy? Start at relationship. Adopted a rescue? Same. Dog regressing after a holiday? Drop back to learning or proofing.
Training is fluid. The best trainers and owners know when to adjust, when to push, and when to go back to basics.
🐾 Remember: Don’t just train your dog. Teach them, understand them, challenge them, and support them. That’s how you build not just behaviour, but a brilliant bond.
www.k9manhuntscotland.co.uk
