Introducing Distractions to Your Dog Training – Video

Distractions are what really get our dogs in trouble.

It’s not that they aren’t listening to us. It’s not that they’re ignoring us. They simply can’t do what we ask in the face of distractions.

In our last article, we showed you how we introduced outdoor distractions. But what if your dog can’t listen outside, even in a quiet backyard? Or what if you don’t have a quiet backyard and directly out your door is the hustle and bustle and there’s no “in between.”

Start your distraction training inside. It’s much easier to work on distractions indoors because you control the distractions (because you are the distraction!).

Remember when working on distractions:

• introduce distractions systematically (not all at once, but piecemeal)
• if your dog can’t do the behavior for which you’ve asked, don’t ask multiple times — simply reduce your distraction
• make sure you’re using a really high-value treat
• if your dog can’t do the distraction, find the point at which he can be successful

Here’s a video to give you some ideas and show you how to reduce your distractions if your dog’s having a hard time.