What does the M25 and driving have to do with Dog Training?

Picture this: you’ve had one driving lesson in a quiet car park. You can start the car, steer, and stop without stalling. You’re feeling pretty proud.

Now imagine your instructor saying, “Great, you’ve got it! Off you go, straight onto the M25.”

Terrifying, right? Technically, you’re doing the same thing, driving a car but the environment is completely different. The M25 is noisy, fast, unpredictable, and full of distractions. It requires a level of skill and confidence that only comes with time, practice, and experience.

Yet this is exactly what we do to our dogs every day.

🐾 “They do it perfectly at home…”

We’ve all said it:

“They sit every time at home!”
“Their recall’s brilliant in the garden!”
“They never pull on the lead in class!”

Then we take them to the park, see another dog, or add distractions and it all goes wrong.

Why? Because the environment has changed, but the dog’s skill level hasn’t.

Just like a new driver, your dog isn’t ready for the M25 yet.

🎯 The Missing Step: Proofing the Behaviour

Dogs don’t automatically generalise behaviour; they don’t understand that “sit” means sit everywhere. They need to learn it gradually in different places, with various distractions, until it becomes second nature.

Here’s how:

1️⃣ Start small – a quiet, familiar environment (your kitchen or living room).
2️⃣ Repeat and reward – ask once, reward the correct response every time.
3️⃣ Move outside – your garden, then the front of the house.
4️⃣ Add mild distractions – quiet streets, small parks.
5️⃣ Build up gradually – busier areas, new environments, and then real-life situations.

Only when your dog can perform the behaviour every time, with one cue, are they ready for the next challenge.

 🧠 Learning Human Rules

Dogs are trying to understand our language, our cues, and our rules. All while navigating a world that can feel noisy, fast, and overwhelming. No wonder they sometimes struggle!

Think of training as helping them learn the “rules of the road.” You wouldn’t expect a learner driver to handle motorway traffic straight away and your dog needs that same patience and practice.

🔁 Recall: The Perfect Example

“I don’t get it, they come back perfectly at home!”

That’s because, at home, there are no squirrels, no other dogs, no leaves blowing across the field… nothing competing for your dog’s attention. They think they know what recall means, but they haven’t learned it well enough to handle distractions.

The goal is unconscious competence, much like driving. You’ve practised so often you don’t even have to think about it; it just happens. That’s what recall should feel like.

Teach. Repeat. Reward.

🐕 Takeaway

Training isn’t just about teaching behaviours…. it’s about building understanding and confidence in different environments. The more you proof the skills, the more reliable your dog becomes.

So, before heading onto the “M25 of life,” take a moment to practice in the car park.
Your dog (and your sanity) will thank you.

Learn more about proofing, recall and real-world reliability in Bark-ology’s group classes and 1-1 sessions.