3 Mistakes Owners Make Training Their Dog Around Distractions
Distractions are a problem for most people. Dog owners work with their dogs endlessly on their obedience but a few key factors are either skipped completely or they are not given the right amount of attention and this creates a dog that is easily distracted.
Let's dive right in...
Mistake #1: Your training lacks motivation. Your dog is simply not motivated by you. They find the distractions around them more interesting and in this case why will not listen.
Several things can cause this.However, it is almost always a case of the dog owner not understanding how to get their dogs motivation. This is your first task when training your dog. Find out what motivates them, what gets them really pumped up and interested in you.
When you have that, you can start to train your dog. Distractions will become pointless to the dog because you, in a sense, are their biggest distraction. They are highly focused on you and what you have.
Mistake #2: Pushing the dog. Okay so you have been training for a few days and your dog is sitting nicely in your house. You take them to the groomer and ask for the sit, you dog does not do anything. They just stand there. You ask again, no response. You ask again, no response, then you get frustrated.
Dogs are situational. They do not understand that when you ask for a sit in the house and when you ask for a sit at the groomer that they should sit. You have to train them do this. This applies to all locations.
You have taken the dog from the distraction free zone of your house into a zone that has dozens of distractions. Expecting them to just get it and understand it, is unfair and counter-productive.
When you take your dog to new locations, begin the training as if they have no idea what "sit" means.
If you dog is sitting on verbal command only at the house, once you introduce them to the new location and they are understanding that sit means sit at the new location, you can then start to ask for a sit at the new location and expect them to respond.
Mistake #3: Adding to many distractions to early. When adding distractions add them gradually. Your dog should be performing a behavior reliably before you move to the next level of distraction.
Imagine your are in your house. You put your dog in a down and then toss their favorite toy or treat in front of them. This the first time you have done this so the dog gets up. You correct them (which you shouldn't but that is another article) and repeat the exercise.
You dog remains in the down so you think, hey, I'll toss a pack of hot dogs down. While I'm being dramatic for the purpose of this article, this is what a lot of dog owners do without knowing they are doing it.
You are adding far to much distraction early and the dog is learning to fail instead of learning to succeed.
In the end, add distractions gradually. Understand that your dog has to generalize a behavior before they can do it in a new location, become a highly motivating distraction to your dog and be consistent. Your dog will behave in all locations at all times.
