What does “proofing” mean in dog training?

In dog training, “proofing” means practicing a behaviour in many different places and situations until your dog understands it everywhere — even when life gets distracting.

Most dogs can perform cues perfectly at home or in familiar spots. But once you take them out into the world, things get harder. New smells, sounds, people, and environments make it tougher for them to focus. Dogs are excellent at noticing differences, but they’re not naturally great at generalising behaviours.

For example, your dog knows the front door is different from the back door — because dogs are fantastic at spotting small changes. But show them a totally new door at a friend’s house, and they may not recognize it as “the same thing.” The same goes for cues: a “sit” at home doesn’t automatically transfer to a park, a store, or a busy sidewalk. Proofing bridges that gap.

Is Your Dog Ready for Proofing?

Before you start proofing a behaviour, your dog needs to fully understand the cue. This stage is called fluency — and it means your dog can perform the behaviour reliably and correctly under simple, familiar conditions.

Your dog is fluent when:

• They perform the behaviour immediately after you give the cue.
• They don’t offer the behaviour unless they’re cued.
• They don’t confuse the cue with another cue.
• They don’t offer a different behaviour when you give the cue.

Once your dog reaches this point, you’re ready to begin proofing — the generalisation phase of training. This is where your dog learns to perform the behaviour in any environment, not just at home.

To proof a behaviour effectively, focus on the Three D’s:

• Duration: Can your dog maintain the behaviour for longer periods or varying lengths of time?
• Distance: Can your dog do the behaviour when you’re 2, 10, or 20 metres away?
• Distraction: Can your dog stay focused and perform the cue even when something exciting or unusual is happening nearby?

Mastering the Three D’s is what transforms a “sometimes” behaviour into a rock-solid, anywhere-anytime skill.

How to Proof a Behaviour

1. Build Duration

Cue → Behaviour → Duration → Mark & Reward

Start by having your dog hold the behaviour for short intervals, then gradually increase the time. As a guideline, add about 10 seconds per repetition until your dog can maintain the behaviour for 2 minutes. After that, you can increase the duration in 30-second increments until you reach your goal — for most people, that’s around 5 minutes of steady, reliable behaviour.

2. Build Distance

Cue → Behavior → Distance → Mark & Reward

Before working on distance, your dog must have a solid “stay.” If your dog can’t reliably hold a stay while you move away, begin with simple distance-training to reinforce holding the behaviour while you create space.

Start by giving the cue, then taking one step back. If your dog maintains the behaviour, mark and reward. Gradually increase your distance step by step until you reach your goal. Once your dog can hold the behaviour while you move away, it’s time for the next challenge: getting your dog to respond to a cue when you’re already at a distance.

Many dogs perform beautifully when you’re right beside them, but listening from across the room—or across the yard—can be much harder. Again, your dog must have a reliable “stay” for this part.

Place your dog in a stay and take one step back. Give your cue from that position and wait for the behaviour. When they offer it, mark and reward. Repeat two more times. Then take another step back and repeat the process.

Continue gradually increasing your distance until your dog can perform the behaviour at the range you want. Once they can respond to your cue from afar, you’ve officially mastered the distance portion of proofing.

Tip: If your dog stops responding, simply return to the last distance where they succeeded, repeat a few times, and then try increasing the distance again.

3. Add Distractions

Cue → Behaviour → Distraction → Mark & Reward

You’re getting into the toughest part—distraction training. Distractions are hard to replicate perfectly, but you can start with the one distraction you can control every time: yourself.

Begin with your dog right beside you. This makes it easy to restart the behaviour immediately if they break position. While working on distractions, you’ll also be blending in duration and distance, so take it slow and steady.

Start Small: Introduce Easy Distractions

Give your dog the cue (e.g., “down”). Then begin with a mild distraction—maybe soft hand claps. As your dog maintains the behaviour, gradually increase the intensity of the distraction.

Mark and reward every 10 seconds, working your way up to 2 minutes, then increase in 30-second intervals until you reach your target duration.

Add Distance

Next, reset to zero duration and take one step back. Repeat the same distraction. If your dog maintains the behaviour, mark and reward at each interval. Gradually work toward your desired distance and duration while keeping the distraction mild (e.g., clapping).

Increase the Challenge

Once your dog is solid with mild distractions at your chosen distance and duration, get creative:

• clap louder

• bounce a ball

• shake a treat pouch

• do silly dances

• sing

• shuffle your feet

There’s no limit to the distractions you can introduce—as long as you increase them gradually and your dog succeeds more often than they fail.

Move to New Environments

When indoor distractions are easy, it’s time to go outside.

Remember: being outdoors is already a massive distraction, so start simple.

1. Build duration.

2. Add distance.

3. Then add mild distractions.

After your dog can handle distractions in your yard, start practicing in new places:

• during walks

• at the park

• outside a school or community centre

• inside pet-friendly stores

• near playgrounds

• in a friend’s yard

Always work in environments from least distracting to most distracting. The dog park, for example, is often the final boss of distractions.

And That’s It — You’ve Proofed the Behaviour!

Proofing any command takes time, patience, and plenty of repetition. It isn’t a quick process, and that’s completely normal. Most dogs don’t fully master proofed behaviours until they’re between 1 and 2 years old.

Dog training isn’t hard—it’s simply hard work. It’s the discipline to practice consistently, the motivation to keep showing up, and the commitment to being a calm, reliable leader.

When you put in the work and create structure in your dog’s daily life, you build the foundation for a well-behaved, confident canine companion who can listen anywhere, anytime, no matter what’s going on around them.