May 20, 2011
My dog does great with obedience work at home, but at the Schutzhund club she has a hard time paying attention to me. What do you suggest?
Full Question:
Hello, I have a 13 month old female GSD and I belong to a local Schutzhund club, recently they started obedience class with the younger dogs. I have your video on Basic Obedience and Building Drive and Focus and many more, my problem is she is distracted in the obedience class by other dogs, at home and alone her drive and focus is great. In your video Basic Obedience you say you don't care for these classes because they are crank and pull, should I discontinue these classes and work more on her drive and focus and any suggestions how she can overcome this problem.Thank You.
Cindy's Answer:
I think you are rushing the distractions too much. If she is great at home, then move to an area outside of your normal training area and work there, then move to different areas with low level distraction. A class full of dogs is a very high level distraction and many young dogs would not be able to focus in that environment at first. Once she can give you excellent focus with mid level distractions, maybe train in an area where there is one other dog at a distance and gradually move closer.
Make sure your dog is really wanting to engage with you with no distraction all the time before you add more.
I want my young dogs to play with me ANYWHERE, ANYTIME and with ANY THING (ball, tug, towel, plastic bottle, pine cone, etc...)
When my dog can do this I am ready to add more difficulty.
Make sure your dog is really wanting to engage with you with no distraction all the time before you add more.
I want my young dogs to play with me ANYWHERE, ANYTIME and with ANY THING (ball, tug, towel, plastic bottle, pine cone, etc...)
When my dog can do this I am ready to add more difficulty.
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