I Am Less Interesting Than A Magpie

[Poppy's mum]

Apart from the magpie phobia that means she stands stiff and alert watching all the birds on the field, my dog has an issue with distraction and attention generally. The moment we are out the front door, she pays little or no attention to me. She walks well enough on the lead but, as her breed dictates, spends her time gazing at anything and everything but me (barks madly at magpies).

I watch constantly in case I can click and treat, but to no avail.

Any ideas what might work? She doesn't seem interested in food at all when outside.or toys.

Inside, I can get her to sit, drop, come fairly reliably. She seems like a fast learner. She sits for her dinner. Offers a sit to get her toy back if I remove it. Offers a sit to have her lead on.

Edited November 15, 2011 by Ginger's mum

[Aidan3]

Lessen the distractions for a while. It's different for every dog, but sometimes just working on simple things in the back yard can help. Or grab the leash, do all your "we're going out" things, but do some work before you actually leave.

[Nekhbet]

I agree with Aiden, you need to start adding distractions in slowly. Start at your front door, when she's learned that move out to the yard etc. Small bits every day and she will get used to it. If she gets too distracted just bring her back inside for a bit then start again

[jacqui835]

Don't worry, my dog was the same, and it was embarrassing at classes because he would listen to me with half an ear, and the rest of his attention was devoted to looking for small animals to chase. When I gave a command, his response was slow and sometimes he got it wrong because he wasn't paying enough attention. And the worst part was that instead of listening to me to get the correct command, he would just do all the commands he knew and hope he got it right so he could continue to focus on the small animal - ie wouldn't even look at me unless he absolutely had to (we trained in an area where there were possums in the trees).

One thing that helped me with this sort of thing was to teach my dog that interacting with me was really rewarding. I taught him to initiate a lot of the contact, because I had tried for months to correct him when he was distracted by any moving animal etc but to absolutely no avail. I would stand in an empty field with the dog on the lead, and just wait. I would have something really tasty and smelly in my pockets (bbq chicken works a treat). As soon as my dog looked at me, I made really happy exciting noises and started to sort of jog backwards and the dog followed enthusiastically, they tend to want to chase when you go backwards. I would get him to chase me a bit and then give him the food. Very soon he stopped worrying about what else could happen in the empty, boring field and was continually trying to engage me. Key was keeping sessions short at first so that he couldn't get bored of the food and the game and try to entertain himself again. 5 or 6 pieces of food and it's time to leave on a high, so that your dog only remembers what an amazing time he has with you and how exciting you are and he associates engaging with you with having fun when out in the open.

Hopefully this works for you, my dog naturally checked in with me from time to time, but if you just stand there with their lead on they should eventually look at you to see what's next.

[The Spotted Devil]

Definitely start slowly and use the best treats you can think of. A hungry dog helps too! My working ESS is extremely birdy but she will ignore them when training. On a walk she is a bit of a nightmare - much better when she has a job to concentrate on.

[Poppy's mum]

Thanks - will try all this.