04/09/2026
REPETITION DOESN’T CREATE UNDERSTANDING.
UNDERSTANDING MAKES REPETITION VALUABLE.
We often talk about repetition in dog training. Practise it. Repeat it. Build a reinforcement history. And repetition absolutely matters.
But before I start thinking about how many repetitions I've done, I'm interested in something else:
What does the dog actually understand?
This little piece of training is a good example. Before adding an object, I'd already spent time building a very predictable pattern around the word ‘Drop’:
‘Drop’ = hand goes to the treat bag = food arrives.
We'd practised that pattern in different rooms, without asking her to give anything up. Then I changed the picture.
I added a completely novel object and, for the first time, she was hearing ‘Drop’ while she actually had something. And as you can see, it doesn't work perfectly first time. For me, that's useful information.
Rather than thinking “but we've practised this”, I need to recognise that I've changed the picture and help her understand how the learning she already has applies here too. This is where repetition becomes purposeful.
Not simply doing the same thing again and again, but gradually helping the dog understand the behaviour across different pictures.
Different objects.
Different environments.
Different handler positions.
Different distractions.
Until eventually the learning becomes much more fluent. So perhaps the training journey looks less like simply:
Repetition → Repetition → Repetition
and more like:
CLARITY → UNDERSTANDING → REPETITION → GENERALISATION → FLUENCY
The repetitions still matter enormously. But repeating something the dog doesn't yet understand isn't the same as teaching it.
Clarity creates confidence - and understanding makes our repetitions count.
