In this video I give Max a command while he is not engaged. This is his typical response...he does the command but has to look around first to make sure nothing more interesting is coming along.

Unless we are in the middle of an energetic training session where he is locked in on me this is how he responds to most commands. "I hear you and I am going to do it...just one second"

I'm not sure how to interpret this. I don't think it is being defiant or stubborn. Should I not give him verbal commands when I know he isn't engaged with me so I don't reward poor efforts from him? Or should I no reward mark the behavior and give him the command again? Or skip the no reward mark and just give the command again?

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated!

Rather than trying to go a correction you could try conditioning the name as a cue for focus. To do that you basically just say their name and give them a treat a bunch of times. Gradually you build up distraction and distance. Since you're looking for a conditioned response rather than a trained one this is something that you have to do hundreds of reps with preferably very few failures. It does work though.

Once you have the name conditioned it's simple to just add your command afterwards.

Further along in training I don't actually give the dog the chance to comply as slow as the dog in the video did. I just turn my back and walk away from them. One of my dogs would get a no reward marker. My more sensitive dog doesn't get one. They learn pretty quick that they have a small window to earn a reward in. The caveat to this is that the dog has to have a lot of reps of being successful with doing the behavior on command or they are liable to give up.

Wheaton Terrier?

He should be full himself!

Age of dog?

Are you using marker training?

From what I see in the video your dog doesn't seem to have any good reason to respond quickly.

Marker training is all about having fun with the dog because you create a reason for the dog to WANT to respond based on reward as opposed to responding to avoid correction.

There will be a time for both reward and correction but the corrections aren't used until the dog has learned to respond to "earn" a reward.

Also why the harness?

That's not a training "tool" most would use.

Sorry I forgot to add all of the basic information. We do Marker training. We typically do 2-3 high energy training sessions a day. During those sessions he is engaged and active. I don't know if the video showed it but when he sat I marked it and rewarded it. I am still always mark and reward his correct completion of the behavior.

My thought is that when he is distracted no reward makers are not appropriate since he is not engaged.

Since he knows the common behaviors so well if he offers the wrong behavior during training I will no reward Mark (no sorry that's not correct, please try again) and repeat the command.

But when we aren't training and he is not fully engaged, how does he learn to re-engage quickly and execute commands

The harness is because he currently has a skin infection around his neck so I don't want to irritate it with the flat collar he normally wears.

Thanks for the great questions!

Great suggestion, Cathy!

When conditioning the name, do you mark with yes then food when they give you eye contact? Or do you just reward with food immediately?

I think I know the answer but just want to be sure!

Depends on the dog. Most I use a marker with.

 Quote: Mike Mosby

My thought is that when he is distracted no reward makers are not appropriate since he is not engaged.

By doing that you risk inadvertently teaching the dog that it's okay to ignore the first command. Giving a second command just gives him another chance to access the reward when the message should be "you didn't do what I asked".

Good point. Thanks for all of the input, Cathy!

I will also note that I would have given him a "nope" when he didn't immediately respond (this helps keep the communication going & lets him know that he has not responded to you correctly) & then when he did respond I would have rewarded with the "yes" as soon as he started to sit...not when he had already been sitting for a couple of seconds.
Your dog's responses will be better when your timing speed improves. Timing is EVERYGHING in marker work.
You dog needs to be better attuned to you. When I am out with my dogs they constantly have eyes on me...even if one eye is wandering bit. They are always waiting for me to do something.
I had a friend one day comment that even though my dogs were sitting in the truck & I was walking around talking to friends...they never took their eyes off me the whole time. This is very typical of my dogs. If I am in view the watch me. They even sit in the deck staring at the back door waiting for me to come out. They know that the real fun does not begin until I come out.
How old is the dog & how long have you had him & how long have you been doing marker work with him? Just curious.

Thanks for the input, Anne.

Max is an 11 month old Wheaten and we've been working on marker training for about 2 months.

How did you train that level of focus into your dogs?