Easily Distracted by Dogs T-Shirt

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Once I started working on building up her focus and teaching her some impulse control things went much smoother. When a dog begins to automatically look to you for his next cue you can only imagine how much easier things get. Once your dog trusts that you are in control, and that you can help them make the right decision they’ll start looking to you for all the answers. We built up to it in steps, and good dog training programmes focus on getting this right with limited distractions from the start. Only building up the difficulty when your pup is ready. Taking control of your dog training success One of the easiest dog training focus exercises is playing fun interactive games with your dog around distractions! Communication Makes All the DifferenceGood communication starts with consistency. Your first step is to teach your dog what behaviors earn her rewards and what behaviors will be ignored. You want to focus specifically on teaching calm, focused behaviors. For example, when your dog greets people, reward her for keeping all four paws on the ground instead of jumping up on your visitor. Consistently reinforce the behaviors you want to see more of and ignore those you want to put a stop to.

This is powerful stuff—three reinforcers for one behavior! These reinforcers also mitigate or negate what for some dogs could be an aversive—being expected to disengage from an enjoyable, inherently reinforcing activity like play, chasing prey, or sniffing the ground. When trainers are clear and consistent with criteria and make wise decisions about lowering or increasing criteria, reliable cue response is only a matter of time. Extensive reinforcement history—practice makes perfect! Remember that behavior is in a constant state of flux. I have days when I feel like my timing is spot-on and other days when I get discouraged because I feel like my timing is slow or off. Dogs have days when they perform well in a given environment, and other days when they are more easily distracted. Dogs need to practice being successful rather than being set up to practice making mistakes. If you have one or no counters set aside, your dog is at least 80% reliable at the current criteria level. Push—raise your criteria. Take one or two steps closer to the distraction and repeat. Initially, we want our dog to have an excellent long attention span, but it doesn’t start that way.

Once you’ve done a few impulse control sessions with your dog you can apply it to any other daily routines or experiences. A lot of people have their dogs sit and wait before eating. Others make sure their dog is sitting calmly before letting visitors inside. Many people wait for their dog to sit calmly before leaving for the daily walk.

Sometimes the best way for you to help your dogs gain skill at respondingin a distracting situation is simply to ask the dog for an easier response.

Dog Distractions Training – A Summary

Imagine yourself at the dog park with Fido on a nice summer day. When you open that gate I bet your dog is interested in everything but you.