Because it certainly feels like I am. Ben is a lovely gentle dog and we adore him. However he is driving me mad at the moment. He is a rescue dog who has been with us just over 2 months. We dont know his history, just that he was a stray.

I took him to training on Sunday because, while he's great in the house, he is totally distracted when outside. We'd like to let him have fun off his lead but can only do so when there are no people, dogs, cars, bikes, cats, planes, paper bags etc etc around as he is far more interested in them than us. In the house he s fine, will mostly sit when told, will go to his bed etc. But outside he is impossible.

At training he did everything the trainer asked but nothing for me. I've tried to practice as they told us to but have got absolutely nowhere. I've tried his favourite treats to entice him to sit, and when I push his bottom down he will stay sat for a second or two, but there's no way I can get him to wait or to lie down.

I know it's early days but I'm getting really stressed about it. It's not that he doesn't understand, he's just too headstrong and distracted. And heaven help me if there's another dog around, if I want to go in the other direction he just lies down and won't get up.

Any tips for training a wilful nosy dog?

Patience and persistence.

Start with sit etc inside like your are before trying it outside with more distractions. Only when the dog will sit everytime when asked will you even have a chance of replicating that outside.

When you give a command remember you should say it assertively, but not aggressively. You shouldn't keep repeating it over and over. You should say the word and give a hand signal at the same time. And don't give up. If the dog knows what sit is, then don't push his bottom down. It's a battle of wills.

Also I don't think you should have to touch the dog. With sit, get the dog interested in the treat and then lift the treat slowly above his nose so he has to sit down to follow it.


Make sure when training with treats that its something extra yummy so the dog will be interested, and try to train before a feeding time. If the dogs hungry he'll be more interested in the treat you're holding.

Good Luck

Thanks. I know I have to be patient and persistent (unfortunately patience is not one of my better virtues ) but it is difficult when you know that he knows what you're asking him to do but is just too distracted to even listen. When I do let him off the lead he comes back to me brilliantly, except when there is something/someone more interesting around and then he simply doesn't hear me, his total concentration is on that other thing/person. He is a collie cross and we say when he gets like this that he has gone into sheepdog mode and is trying to round them up

Guess we'll just have to persevere with our little rascal

Socialisation!

With a highly distracted dog myself I know that the key here is not practicing more and more obedience behaviors while outside, because all you'll end up doing is repeating yourself.

Instead during you trips outside reward the dog for returning his focus to you. Think about how you can new situations / objects / animals / people to these experiences. Once you can regain focus easily - start to introduce obedience back into your socialisation training.

Keep building your obedience training at home, with short sessions.

HTH

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Jack - Black Labrador
Nalsy & Ponch - Purebred bedwarming moggies

been there bought the t shirt a couple of years ago. training is all about body language and understanding to a dog. you dont have the correct one yet and thats why your dog is walking all over you. your trainer did thats why he behaves. you get stressed or frustrated and YOU loose!!!!! time to take a deep breath, control the situations you and your dog are in and basically bore the shite out of him. to increase your value to the dog you need to limit outside resources that make you worthless to him. there will be a trigger distance to another dog which makes him take no notice, find that distance and use it as a baseline, as soon as you dogs body language changes, turn around and walk away, keep repeating till the distance is shortening. main thing to remember is if he knows how to do something and you tell him to do it, you must make it happen, dont repeat the command as i was told, make him do! as my usual typing tone always seams rather harsh hopefully you can grasp what im trying to say

Thanks. I think I've made a tiny bit of progress today. He just sat four times for me in the park, and I got him to play fetching the ball outside for the first time (he'll do it in the house but never in the park til today). He did spoil it a bit with a sit down protest when he wanted to go in the direction of another dog but then on the walk home I managed to stop him heading towards yet another dog with a short lead and repeating "no". I do feel a bit better about things today though am fully prepared for regression tomorrow, lol.

Ditto what others have said - the more stressed you get the more he will avoid you, which you will see as playing up. Make training sessions short and fun, big rewards (especially outside) when he gets it right.
Also, while in the house, for all the great things (going in the garden, getting in the house, for his dinner, to come upon sofa if you do that....) make him sit, or give you attention and eye contact... THEN he gets his reward!