Distractions! How do you get your dog’s focus in the face of a distraction? That’s what we’re talking about, and I’m giving you my formula to help your dog and have training success. Cats, squirrels, chipmunks, bicycles, kangaroos, children, birds, balls, food. The list of your dog’s distractions will depend on your dog, and many can be used to your advantage.
In the episode you'll hear:
- About response cost and how it relates to you drinking water.
- How many of your dog’s distractions can work for you.
- Distractions that should be off limit.
- How to use my Distraction Intensity Index.
- The formula that will let you make great decisions for your dog.
- The importance of your dog’s senses when you are evaluating distractions.
- What commitment you should make to your dog.
- Strategies you can do at home right now to start helping your dog.
- About reducing the intensity of a distraction for your dog.
- How your dog’s value for a distraction can transfer to value for you.
LOL….I actually laughed out loud when I saw Tater staring at the chair. I recently adopted a 2 yr old dog, we’re still getting to know each other. He stares like that too. He even had me looking behind me when he was staring at the wall behind my chair. As for this podcast, I’m watching because my guy will chase after wildlife but when we are outside, they usually may themselves scarce so this may take awhile to work on….if only I could train the squirrels & bunnies to work with me :o)
Hi, I have a comment. What do you do when everything is going fine when you’re on a walk and all of a sudden something pops up how do you handle that? Thanks.
I am not sure how to work on squirrel and rabbit distractions which pop up while walking. Nina engages with eye, nose & movement and becomes overly excited. How do I practice for these surprise critters?
How does breed affect training, I know you can train any breed (almost) anything, but how does it affect HOW you train?
I wish my dog liked to tug. 🥲 Big time squirrel chaser.
Yep. Caper has lost his off leash privileges after chasing coyote not once or twice but three times. Third time was 2 coyote. I’m a slow learner. I’m sad to think he’ll only get his off leash privileges back when he’s too old to run.
This is exactly what my dog and I need. Jesse is do focussed indoors at home, but distractions when we leave the house are too much for him. I know see how reducing the distraction value can be used and I’m keen to try this out.
Thank you 💗
I have done many of these games and Fin does so well when it’s food. I don’t know how to practice this with a cat. When he sees a cat, he goes crazy, barking and whining. If I see the cat first, I can tell him “Leave” and he won’t bark, but whines a bit and looks at me a lot. I praise him when he’s quiet and reward him. He doesn’t bother with squirrels. We live in the country right in the woods. He’s 7 years old so is out there on his own a lot (the house is only 650 sq ft so we’re more than happy for him to be outside!). But if he hears or smells deer, he’s off in the woods barking crazily and chasing them away. He’s a rough collie and won’t “hunt”, but does chase away. I don’t know how to use this. He’s focused on me when I’m there, but I cannot keep him on a leash in the yard and I can’t be with him whenever he’s outside. I’ve been working on recall and he will come back when I whistle or call his name and then I give a super great food reward. But how do I stop him from going into the woods in the first place? I don’t like it. My husband thinks it’s funny!
Thank you for this podcast, actually all of them. Alfie has a problem with one cat in particular in the house. He loves cats and is very enthusiastic about greeting them. One of the cats often runs and growls or hisses which triggers Alfie into chasing him. We can go along for a week with no incidences then BAM! I can see how this will help, though since I have been doing HS the incidences are smaller, meaning he returns quickly. I want to stop the first burst. Will it just keep getting better as I become better at communicating with him? Love the classes by the way.
I have always said that dogs do Cost/Benefit analysis! What’s the cost compared to what I will get out of it.
my dog is reactive as all dogs are toy breeds and the owners wants to let mine play with theirs. even if i asked the owner mine can’t play they kept approaching because mine is playful…and accident happened. the owner who thinks sorry for mine not to get to play her GSD stood still while we play and the leash tangled by the fence. mine was panicking but the GSD owner stood there very close and saying “are you okaaay?” teasing then mine attacked the dog because she was panicking. I can only know three neutral dogs but I can’t increase any other. mine wants to play every dog she encounters but I can’t tell if they’re find with mine. the trainers around are abusive towards large dog or encourage off leash play(thanks to Ian Dumber). what should we do? mine is very calm to the dogs we greet regularly.
I find myself using these techniques at agility class and they’re working really well. Now that we are going to some competitions I’m really having to put them to use because of the intensity of the movement as well as sound ( dogs that bark while running). It’s a work in progress but we’ll get there!
I admire your training so much and I always learn so much from you. I also notice if my dog sees hears smells another (HIHGH VALUE) dog, one feet away, but he’s across a gate, my dogs aren’t so distracted by the dog. Yesterday, I was out walking my dog and this dude released his dog from his leash about 10 steps away from me. I had two my two dogs on leash and they had been perfectly fine until the dude let his dog off leash and then they both exploded. They just didn’t expect it, and they (we) weren’t sure what would happen next. The dog looked at us but then left us alone, and my dogs settled down. The problem for me is often these sudden environmental changes. I need to come up with some good games to play to help my dogs practice focusing on me around a sudden environmental change….
So informative, brilliantly delivered, and you are so entertaining and always upbeat. Thank you!
Field lab gang in our house. Our male especially is distracted by EVERY critter that moves. Lizards, squirrels, other dogs, cats, leaves, deer, cows, goats, sheep… you get the picture. Strong strong prey drive. We take him out on leash … does not matter where, down the street or in the forest for a hike, and he starts scanning immediately. Just so over the top excited. Some distractions create a bouncing, barking, pulling 75 pound bag of muscle. We can start to try to work on it. Not sure how far we’ll get.
I love this video, but I still have an issue with my dog wanting to chase deer and chipmunks, because we cant practice with real deer and chipmunks. She is wonderful with all other distractions, But how can you practice with deer? Who has access to live deer to “proof” your dog? We have a park where they have captive deer behind a fence, but she knows they are behind the fence and she cant get them so she ignores them, wild deer are another whole different thing. There is no way to practice consistently to train. and when we do see them, its a sudden thing so there was no time to “prepare” for it.
Any suggestions?
Hi Susan!
What a fantastic podcast for me with my 2 yr old , Bren ( wish I knew what happened to him- from a BREEDER), who came to me with PTSD at 10 months!! 1st shaking uncontrollably, then switching to aggression out of fear of EVERYTHING out side our front door ( no secure back yard fencing – they could jump it- 3 ft) – trucks, people, DOGS, children,( first, trying to nip Lokshn and I ( one time, blood pouring from my leg), pushing us back, then lunging and barking like a coyote toward any distraction) . Also, then Lokshn copied her- pulling and barking till I was dragged down as well. We live on a suburban , one very long block /street that is a short-cut for cars, trucks, plus, everyone walks up, or down- well, less walk the street now. I only wish I had this advice 1 1/2 yrs ago.
Bren is much better now , but still not great. I only walk one dog at a time, he still looks both ways when we go out, and before he will do his “business”, or not. He sits down on command if we see something/ someone coming, I hold him down with his sturdy harness and he mostly hyperventilates as they go by and then calms down. If I see the distraction first, we go right back in the house. I carry GREAT, smelly treats, and today he turned his head to get the treat when the mailman walked by -across the street.
Bren is much better off our block ( walking, etc), I only have to cross the street,. he is the perfect gentleman in dog classes ( 1 1/2 years later- rally- agility – as long as we are the only ones in the ring. And will do agility in our back yard even if dogs, or people are in adjoining yards.
Susan, your advice on distractions is FANTASTIC! AND, from experience now, I know it will work!!
Carole
How do we do that with dogs on our walk barking at us ? If we know the other dog is going to be barking at us, we turn and go the other way…..but we would so like to just walk on by without reacting !!!
How do we prioritize our training? There are so many hugs to train.
Sometimes I don’t know where to start, it’s overwhelming, so I just work on tricks because it’s fun.
Sweepstake podcast winner! Now, how do you do this with a dog that does not play? I have a retired gun dog, field lab (gifted to me).
It took me over a year to get her to play inside and it is rare for her to play outside.
She was attacked by a dog that busted off a retractable leash. Ever since, she barks lunges or attacks other dogs, unless we are on The field picking up birds or at the dock competing.
Great podcast and reminder that I must continue to play Recallers games
This was super helpful, bicycles are a huge distraction that i have been trying to figure out how to work through – thank you for the answer! Love the formula layout to use with all distractions.
I can’t wait to try this out with children! Chewie is mortified by children (I have no idea why).
I’m really hoping that one day kids will be good to be around him. I just need to find some children to practice with, my friends only have babies and he doesn’t care about those at all. It’s once they are walking and speaking with the high pitched voices that he is terrified by them.
Awesome podcast. Lots to work on.
Would love to see one on head halters…Please!
Right from fitting them correctly.to using them correctly
Hi. Im listening to you on Sticher but there’s no rating to give there to make it more popular…
Yes genius! Great explanation of Transfer of Value. Thanks
So with the example of cheese, at the end the dog is able to get the reward of cheese. What is the end reward for things that are not safe distractions? What do we reward with after the game of tug?
The 3 Ds of dog training.
Hi Susan
Best explanation for a modern day approach to “desensitization ” .
Love how you translate the technical lauguage to simple understanding.
Thankyou ….you still are the most amazing trainer.
Appreciate your giving of your time and knowledge .
💗💗💗💗💗💗
Great podcast but not sure how to put it into practise when my dog is trying to chase cats when on the road walks on lead?
This is awesome! Finally, I may be able to get my dog to stop frantically running and barking at our fence as people walk by with their dogs. I’m not exactly sure how I will put this information in place, but I am working on a plan. Bessie loves cheese, so that was a key idea for me to use with her. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
This is great. I need to train my pup not to chase sheep, they are everywhere and so enticing. He hasn’t chased them and is always on lead around them. Nice to have a staged plan to work that is positive training as so much advice is about frightening the dog to stop them chasing sheep. Some awful examples on you tube that say positive reward based training cannot work for this.
Yes please. If you could consider covering head-halters in a future podcast that would be brilliant. I initially thought head halters were cruel although now I suspect if used properly that is not the case however I am concerned that I will not have the skills to use it correctly.
My dogs ultimate is other dogs. But the problem is not just that. It’s any and all other new dogs. So he may be playing with a dog and the moment he sees another one he’ll rush off to greet that one. The minute we walk out the door he’s scanning the horizon to see if there are any dogs. If he see’s a human he’ll check to see if there is a dog attached or nearby. So I have actually been working on your method of distraction training with distance for about 8 months and have seen zero improvement.I used to use cooked chicken to distract and at first it worked but now it’s lost it’s power and I don’t know anything else he prefers (he’s not a tugger though I am working on it)
I don’t have any friends with dogs so I can’t set up a practise session where he gets reinforced by getting closer to the dog for good behaviour. So he’s getting increasingly frustrated (which in turn has started to evolve into frustration (lunging/barking)) as every time he does show good behaviour the dog has already vanished. Any suggestions in your future podcasts would be greatly appreciated
Love it! Now I need to figure out how I am going to work on distraction (100 on the scale of 10) of people coming fora visit when that happen only once in a while ( thank you Covid ! )
Head halter: checked
Lead : checked
High value treats : checked
Distance: need to make my friends understand they have to keep away 🙂
We can do it!!!