Hope I can explain what I mean, its been bugging me how dogs learn after Iaremember being told something about this

Basically if you teach a dog something in one situation it will learn it but it takes longer for the dog to be able to use the same learned behaviou in another situation?

eg Brooke seems at last to be getting the idea about going outside to wee as long as I take her ( with command to one area)
however
If we are at someone elses house she is taken outside either by me or someone else she doesnt understand what is wanted and then is just as likely to wee randomly inside or out

Am I right with my thoughts and what is the process
Sorry if this sounds daft

You're talking about 'generalising' a behaviour. It takes longer for a dog to learn that 'sit' means 'sit in the kitchen' as well as 'sit at training class' and 'sit in the garden' - it's a question of practicing an action in as many places and situations as possible.

Thank you Jeangenie thats  ! Iwas trying (badly) to explain why Brooke is learning well at home to go out and wee with me in the right place but on the 2 days when she is looked after by my sister as I work even though there is an adult dog there her house training appears be almost non exisitent and couldnt explain it properly.
I guess that is the reason thank goodness !

No I wasnt trying to make excuses ! lol    although did feel I needed to say something as Brooke having just been taken outside by me came in and weed on the rug :(0  whoops !!

Well off to get on with the practising

Your not alone Furrie, when I was house training Spud he got the idea very quickly and was pretty reliable by the time he was 3 months old, unfortunatly he didn't see the point in applying his well learnt skill whilst visiting my parents and jumped on their bed and had a nice big weewee, Mum saw the funny side, he chose to  do it on my Dad's side lol.

Yes, they're not good at generalising. So far Hetty has learned that she must not wee anywhere downstairs (unless it's very wet and nasty out, sigh) but she isn't often allowed upstairs because she hasn't applied the rule upstairs yet.....

sounds like shes doing pretty well to me,certainly better than jess did,funny how they differ,gwen has (and still is)been so easy!lets see how the next one does!(litter a week old,not been to see them yet!)

JG has described it well :-) I call it proofing the behaviour -the next step after the initial learning is to teach the dog it has to do that behaviour in a different place and then in a variety of places until the behaviour is  ingrained and becomes automatic as soon as the command is given.

At training classes you often hear people say "I don't know why he won't do it here as he's very good at sit/stay/recall at home" - and this is because the dog hasn't yet been taught to do that behaviour in a different place. A lot of people don't realise that you have to proof the behaviour elsewhere and think the dog is ignoring the command.

So now I have understood whats going on thank you people. I guess its just loads of practice ?
She just made me laugh, I think she has got the idea that with me and the command and heading for the dog patch this is what she must do but dived sideways and has just extended the dog patch to include the flower bed. Well I guess its better than the lawn and from her point of view earth is earth !
As long as I dont have poo all over the place to collect and wee on the lawn I am happy.

Now to move on to other situations to wee in. She managed all day at sisters yesterday with poo and wee outside with the command and being taken at the right time for her so thats an improvement
I also think with Brooke she is such a crazy puppy that life is so much fun and so much to do and see she hasnt got time to sit still and listen  lol
 

Absolutely about generalisng it. Happens loadsa a loadsa at group. Dog will do/not do it here, also person behaves differently in different places too!! Affects body language or verbal commands etc owner could be stressed etc makes owner behaves differently, so command is altered.