SDTI Monthly Newsletter
April 2026 Edition
Get future newsletters in your RSS reader How Dogs Learn: Teaching with Principles Part 3 of 3 Why Training Fails (And How to Fix It)
In Part 3, we are looking at how the learning principles affect how dogs transfer learning to different locations. And how we can apply them to help speed our dogs transfer of the skills
Featured Resource This Month
Highlighted SDTI Courses
This month’s special offer is 25% off the following online classes that deal with training skills:
Public Access Confidence Games
Public Access Formal Training
Stress and the Owner-Trained Service Dog Webinar
Ultimate Leash Walking Webinar
ACCESS
24/7 for 2 years
FORMAT
Self-study
Mini Quiz Challenge
Your service dog performs perfect down-stays at home but refuses to lie down on the cold tile floor at the hospital. What principle explains this?
A) Your dog is too distracted by hospital smells to focus
B) Your dog is testing you in public
C) Surface generalizationādifferent surfaces feel completely different and each needs practice
D) The hospital is too stressful and you should avoid training there
Did You Know?
That a behavior you successfully replaced months ago can temporarily reappear after a period of time, even without any reinforcement? This is called spontaneous recovery, and it’s a normal memory checkānot a training failure. Just respond consistently to desired behaviors and it will disappear again quickly.
That if your dog performs a routine automatically when you enter a specific room without being cued, the location has overshadowed your actual cues? Your dog learned “this room = do this routine” instead of “this cue = do this behavior.”
That jumping from a quiet training facility directly to a busy shopping mall is like asking someone to go from running one mile to running a marathon? Sudden environmental change creates cognitive overloadāyour dog needs stepping stones of gradually increasing difficulty, not giant leaps.
That that proofing and generalization are different skills that must be built in the correct order? Generalize first (teach the behavior in many contexts), then proof (add challenges within those contexts)ātrying to proof before generalizing sets your dog up to fail.
Featured Resources
Free Blog Post: The Science of Training ā Part 3 Why Training Fails (And How to Fix It) - Context, Memory, and Persistence
Youāve done everything right. You understand your dogās emotions and biology. Youāve mastered timing, shaping, and reinforcement schedules. Your dog performs beautifully at home and even outside malls.
Then you take your service dog to a restaurant for the first time, and itās like heās never been trained. He pulls on the leash, canāt hold a stay, and seems completely distracted. Youāre confused and frustrated. What happened to all that training?
Video: Service Dog Behavior: Go Under
Teaching your dog to go under is a great way to keep her out of harm’s way. Generalize the behavior in different locations, times, durations, proof it and periodically practice it to maintain it over time!Ā
Paid Blog Post: A Guide for Service Dog Trainers Teaching Handlers to Apply Principle Part 3Aā Teaching Handlers to Recognize and Fix Training Failures
Your handler arrives at class beaming with pride. āDuke is doing amazing! Perfect down-stays at home, beautiful loose-leash walking around the neighborhood, fantastic retrieves in the living room.ā
You ask: āHow does he do at the mall?ā
The handlerās face falls. āOh. Thatāsā¦ different. He canāt seem to focus there. I donāt understandāhe knows all these behaviors!ā
This is the conversation youāll have with nearly every handler at some point. Theyāve done the work. They understand emotions, timing, and reinforcement. Their dog performs beautifully in controlled environments. But real-world reliability is missing.
Welcome to Part 3 of the trainer coaching series: teaching handlers why training fails in the real world and how to build skills that actually last under pressure.
Continue reading…
Paid Blog Post: A Guide for Service Dog Trainers Part 3B:Teaching About Behavioral Persistence and Resurgence
The Challenge
Handlers successfully eliminate a behavior, celebrate victory, then panic when it unexpectedly returns weeks later. They think all their work was wasted.
Your Coaching Approach
Normalize spontaneous recovery and teach the proper response.
Teaching dialogue:
āLetās talk about Spontaneous Recoveryāone of the most misunderstood aspects of extinction. When you successfully eliminate a behavior through extinction, itās not truly āunlearnedā and erased from memory. Itās suppressed.
Think of it like a file on your computer that you deleted but is actually still in the recycle bin. Most of the time, it stays there. But occasionally, the brain āchecks the recycle binā to see if anything in there might be useful again.
Continue reading…
Paid Blog Post: A Guide for Service Dog Trainers Part 3C: Teaching Proofing, Resilience, and Systematic Building
The Challenge
Handlers think generalization and proofing are the same thing, or they proof before generalizing adequately.
Your Coaching Approach
Clearly distinguish between the two concepts.
Teaching dialogue:Ā āGeneralization and proofing are different, and the order matters.
Generalization = teaching that the behavior applies in many different contexts
- Different locations
- Different times
- Different handler positions
- Different surfaces
- Different baseline distraction levels
Proofing = teaching that the behavior holds despite challenges within those contexts
Continue reading…
Training Tips
Create a "context checklist" for every important behavior.
List all the variables where your dog will need to perform: different locations, surfaces, times of day, handler positions and distraction levels. Each variable needs systematic practice.
Practice behaviors in at least 10 different locations before considering them
Your dog needs experience across varied contexts to truly understand that cues apply everywhere, not just where he first learned them.
Create a surface generalization plan for any behavior where your dog's body contacts the ground.
Practice “down,” “under,” and “settle” on carpet, tile, concrete, grass, rubber mats, metal, and other surfaces your dog will encounter.
Add controlled unpredictability to your training sessions to build resilience.
Rotate locations, vary times of day, practice with different people present, dog at different energy levels, and introduce safe unexpected soundsāteach your dog that he can work reliably no matter what’s happening around him.
Events This Month
FREE QA Chat
Date: Sat. April 11 at 1:00 PM Pacific (UTC -7)
Topic: TBA
So your dog has learned the behaviors with you! But he canāt do them for other people close to you! Find out how to transfer learned cues to make it easy for your dog and the new person. Bring your questions, share your experiences. Meet the community!
Date: Saturday, April 11, 2026
Time: 1:00 PM PDT (Pacific/Vancouver) | 20:00 UTC
Your Local Time: Click here to see this in your time zone
So your dog has learned the behaviors with you! But he canāt do them for other people close to you! Find out how to transfer learned cues to make it easy for your dog and the new person. Bring your questions, share your experiences. Meet the community!
The QA Chat will be recorded and added to the library so if you cannot attend, it will be available. At just CA$11 per month (~US$8.10), it’s a great way to support us. Sign up for a day, get access for the month. Cancel anytime!