My dog knows commands!

That’s awesome! You’ve already put in work to teach your dog what words mean and that they can earn some positive reinforcement from you! That’s a huge first step! And this is very common for dogs to not want to listen when they’re distracted. If you got your dog as a puppy, my hunch is that they were awesome and excited to listen to you until about 8-14 months old (puberty), and then they started to test the waters. No worries, though, this is typically an easy fix!

You’re boring

I’m sorry! I hope that’s not mean. But that’s a humongous part of what’s going on. Your dog is looking for stimulation and things that fulfill their genetic needs to chase or bite in part because they aren’t getting enough fulfillment from you. How do you fix this? Play. Play a lot. Play at least once a day for 20-30 minutes per session (you can take short breaks in between for water and rest but make sure your dog stays focused on you while you sit with them and pet them). This makes you interesting and makes it much easier to say “hey, don’t worry about that squirrel.” Learn more about play here:

https://www.thetrustedcompanion.com/thetrustedcompanionblog/play-why-its-important-and-how-to-do-it

How to get my dog to listen when distracted

Play. Play must always come first so that you are interesting and relevant. But then, we need to set up a communication with your dog, a language. We want to positively condition a way to get their attention when they’re focused on other things, and you can do this a number of ways. We would start with leash pressure most likely, as that’s the easiest form of communication for your pup to understand, and teach them that when they follow the leash pressure (and not fight against it), they get praise and reward! Once they understand that easy form of communication, we can use it to teach other forms of communication. Once you understood verbal communication, your parents and teachers could use that verbal communication to teach you how to write or even to teach you other languages!

Off leash reliability

Once we’ve begun teaching them how to follow the leash, we can then use that to teach them how to understand an electronic collar. These tools are quite misunderstood in the dog training world as some are adamantly opposed to them and others use them incorrectly. However, if used correctly, they are a great form of communication to teach your dog how and when to pay attention to you even under distraction! Much like the leash, we would start with low levels of distraction and practice understanding the language before we graduated to those bigger distractions. We want to ensure they know the language before we lean on it when it matters!

Obedience prevents anxiety

If you are at the early stages of your dog not listening to you when they’re distracted, you may not see any anxiety in your dog right now. And honestly, there is a small percentage of dogs who just never have anxiety, even if their owners do all the wrong things. In reality, though, most dogs struggle when they feel like there isn’t a leader present, and it makes them very nervous. If your dog is testing the waters, as their genetics tell them to as they grow, and they are learning that what you say doesn’t matter under distraction, then they are learning you are not a leader. The majority of dogs I’ve worked with know “come” or “sit” or “down”, but they just won’t do it when there are distracting things around. Well this teaches them that in those situations, mom or dad doesn’t matter, and if you don’t matter, then they become responsible for their own safety (from their perspective). This is the foundation for anxiety and most aggression. So asking your dog to listen when they are distracted is not only convenient, it is also important in keeping them safe and from running where they shouldn’t, but it also ensures you develop a relationship that keeps your dog happy, relaxed, and confident!