Proofing In Different Environments

At Advanced level, your dog should be able to complete all of the exercises covered throughout this course in a variety of environments.

Training is not complete when your dog can perform a behaviour in one familiar location. A truly reliable gundog understands what is expected regardless of where they are working and what distractions are present.

Throughout this course, you have built the foundations of control, communication and teamwork. Now it is time to proof those skills and ensure they remain reliable in different situations.

We have included a selection of tutorials showing different scenarios that you can use to develop your own training sessions.

Consider taking your training into:

• Different terrains
• New locations
• More exciting environments
• Areas with increased scent
• Locations with natural distractions

Remember, a new environment itself can be a distraction. Your dog may be reliable at home or on familiar ground but need time to understand that the same rules apply somewhere different.

Always set your dog up to succeed. Introduce new challenges gradually and do not increase distance, distractions and difficulty all at once.

If your dog struggles, simply return to a stage where they are successful and rebuild from there.

Advanced training is about creating a confident, reliable and adaptable dog that can work with you wherever you are.

Keep practising, keep proofing and continue developing the partnership between you and your dog.