Fluency

How it works

A behavior that has appeared once is not trained. Fluency describes the gap between a dog who can do something and a dog for whom it has become automatic, and it is usually measured by speed, consistency and whether the behavior survives being asked for somewhere new. It matters most for safety skills: a recall that works on the fifth attempt in a quiet backyard is not yet a recall that will work once beside a road.

What it looks like

A dog sits within a second of the cue, on the first ask, in the kitchen, the yard, the parking lot and the vet's waiting room. That behavior is fluent. The same dog sitting after three repeats of the word, only at home, is not.

Commonly confused with

Generalization

Generalization is a behavior transferring to new places and contexts. Fluency is how easily and reliably it happens at all. A behavior can be fluent in one room and not generalized, or generalized and still slow everywhere.

Related terms

Where this comes up