New Learning:

As I continued with the plan I had outlined in my first few Learning Blog Posts, I noticed that distractions while training have increasingly become an issue. These distractions are things like people walking by when we are out in the yard, different smells in the grass, RABBITS, and many other things. I have definitely learned this week that I have easily distracted dogs. But, along with knowing they are very distractible, I have also learned over the last few weeks that they have so much potential for training. So, in knowing they are so capable of learning, I began to research ways to combat this struggle.

During my research I came across the video Is Your Dog Easily Distracted? These 5 Tips Will Change EVERYTHING by McCann Dog Training on YouTube.

I thought this video was such a great resource and outlined many strategies for keeping my dogs zoned in on me. I have outlined below the tips I chose to focus on throughout the week!

• Be Conscious of Training Times – The video suggests to choose times where the dog is “naturally hungry” like breakfast or dinner time. Choosing times like this will help to bring rewards to a higher value. A high value reward is something that the dog wants. The more they like and want the treat, the higher value it is.
• Keep Training Sessions Short – It is discussed in the video that shorter training times (about 15 minutes) helps to increase the dogs focus as there is not as much time to become distracted. It is discussed that these shorter sessions could occur multiple times a day, however in my schedule I have not had time for this. So, I have stuck to 15-20 minutes with each dog once per day.
• Create Routines for Training – In the video, the dog knows that when she is let out of her crate it is time to work on her training. This makes it so she is ready to train and is already expecting it. I chose to do this by sticking to the same time of day (as it seems my dogs have a pretty good concept of time). I noticed that around 5pm every day they would stick pretty close to me until we started training at 5:15pm (45 minutes before dinner time).

While using these strategies, I noticed an increase in all three of my dogs’ focus. I will definitely continue to explore these tricks and routines during my training.

Update:

Chex: This week I have continued using the command “boop” for Chex. She has been doing really well with this, however, I have noticed that instead of touching her nose to my hand she licks it. I am not sure if this is what she thinks I want her to do, but it is quite cute. I have not yet decided if I want to redirect her to touch her nose, or just continue to train the lick.

As I had discussed earlier I followed some of the tricks from McCann Dog Training for all of my dogs. But, I would like to note that for Chex I asked her to “boop” multiple times a day along with her 15-20 minute training time. I find it is more natural for her to have set training times, but also naturally integrated moments throughout the day.

Scout: This week Scout was my main distractible dog. So, we did not make too much progress on the trick itself from last week. We are still working on weaving through one leg at a time with continuous leads. However, I do not see this as a set back, but a new learning opportunity. He seemed to do much better as I implemented my new learning, so I have high hopes to progress further next week.

Apollo: This week Apollo has been doing quite well. I have been practicing dropping a treat (and sometimes a toy) about 6ft away from me. Once he gets the reward I call his name, to which he comes to me for another reward. I am so happy with his progress this week. He also had some distractible moments so the routine and structure around training time has worked quite well, especially in the second part of the week.

Plans For Next Week:

I think next week will be a really good week! Adding structure and routine to training time has helped so much with distractions, consistency, and expectations. I think continuing these strategies will greatly impact the progress we are making. Next week I hope to continue the same routines with Chex, and potentially begin redirecting her from the lick to a nose touch. I hope to practice weaving through two legs with a continuous lead with Scout. And I would like to bring Apollo outside to continue training, as we have not tried outdoor recall yet.

If anyone has any more tips on distractible dogs, please leave me a comment! 🙂