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Have you ever felt overwhelmed by all the jargon used in dog training?

Here’s a list of the 10+ most common dog training terms that every trainer should know.

If you already know all this, no sweat. I’ve got a little something for you at the end… 👇️

Weekly Bite

It’s no secret that every industry uses jargon. Dog training is no different.

Here’s a breakdown of the 10+ most common dog training terms as if it were posted on r/explainlikeimfive.

Engagement

When a dog is focused on you and motivated to interact with you rather than the environment.

Some call it relationship building, but in any case, it makes training 10x easier.

Motivation

What drives dogs to train. It could be food, toys, play, praise, or access to something they want (like going outside).

It's the "why" behind a dog's willingness to learn.

Classical Conditioning

A learning process where dogs learn that this leads to that.

With enough repetitions, it can become a reflex response outside of the dog’s control.

Operant Conditioning

A learning process where dogs learn that actions have consequences, which affects whether they'll repeat those actions in the future. There are 4 consequences.

• Positive Reinforcement: Adding something good to encourage a behavior

• Negative Reinforcement: Adding and removing a minor discomfort to encourage a behavior

• Positive Punishment: Adding something unpleasant to discourage a behavior

• Negative Punishment: Withholding something good to discourage a behavior

Marker

A signal that has been classically conditioned to predict a consequence.

They can even be conditioned to predict the reward location and continuation/completion of the behavior.

Shaping

The process of building a complex behavior by rewarding small steps toward the final goal instead of waiting for the whole finished behavior.

Think of it as playing the "warmer/colder" game with your dog - "you're getting warmer!" with each step closer to the goal behavior.

Physical Cue

A specific hand signal or body movement that tells your dog what behavior to perform.

Dogs naturally pay attention to what our bodies are doing more than what we're saying, so these cues are usually easier for them to learn and remember.

Luring

Using food or a toy in your hand to guide your dog into a position by having them follow it with their nose.

Spatial Pressure

Using your body position and movement to influence your dog's position and movement.

Overshadowing

When one cue prevents your dog from noticing or learning another cue that happens at the same time.

It's why your dog might only respond to hand signals and ignore verbal cues if you always pair them together.

Physical cues always overshadow visual cues, which always overshadow verbal ones because dogs are naturally more attentive to body language than words.

Fading

The gradual removal of training aids and physical prompts as your dog learns a behavior.

Reinforcement Schedules

Patterns that determine how often you reward your dog for correct behaviors.

A continuous schedule means rewarding every correct response (great for teaching new behaviors).

A variable schedule means sometimes rewarding, sometimes not (creates persistence once the dog knows the behavior).

Think of it like a slot machine - the unpredictability keeps you pulling the lever!

Proofing

Systematically testing and strengthening behaviors in different environments, distances, and distraction levels.

It's the process of making sure behaviors work everywhere and not just in your home.

Decoy

A dog trainer who simulates an adversarial role.

They train your dog how to spar and defeat bad guys.

Tail End

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Until next Thursday, ✌️

Sam