Distractions come in a variety of different forms:
- Things that move.
- Things that smell.
- Things that make a noise.
Your dog should be able to listen to you in all these different situations. The breed can often determine what distractions are going to be greater and it is important that you utilize the dog’s instinct to play games, for example, dogs that were bred to follow a smell do well with scent games.
Make sure that you have the training in place in a non-distracting environment or why not enrol onto a class that offers outside training.
Enhance your training by practice and use motivations that your dog loves to reward him or her and be consistent.
A big mistake is expecting a dog to listen when they have lots of pent up or excess energy. Watch your state of emotion when training as well as your dogs.
Above all have fun and make yourself the type of owner that dog really wants to listen to.