Service Description

Does any of this sound familiar? • My dog only listens at home or at a training class and ignores me on walks? • I find walks in public frustrating or embarrassing. • I often feel tense or on high alert when I’m walking my dog, waiting for a distraction that might set them off. • I dread walks in case something goes wrong. • I would love for my dog to be able to relax in a café, on holiday or while I enjoy a quiet drink with friends. If the answer to that is YES then you need DISTRACTED DOGS IN THE REAL WORLD! Course Objective: This 6-week course is designed to help dogs that struggle with distractions by building impulse control, engagement, and focus. The training will include placement and boundary exercises, increasing eye contact, Premack principle applications, arousal modulation games, and structured exposure to distractions. This course will initially take place in our training field, progressing to off-site locations as a group with increasing levels of distractions. Most dogs can focus in environments they are familiar with, where distractions are limited or controlled, like at your house or in a training facility. But you can’t control distractions in the real world. Instead, we need to teach our dogs to relaxed, focus on you and ignore distractions, regardless of where you are or what is going on around you. The more likely explanation for your dog’s behaviour is that they are overwhelmed or excited by the environment. This course will teach you and your dog how to: • Focus in public • Build distractions slowly • Learn to relax at the restaurant, be calm at the café or patient at the pub. • Get your distracted dog's attention when out. • Manage your environment and make good choices that set your dog up for success. • Reducing attention barking at you. • Reduce barking at people or dogs in public. Learning theory / Topics include: • The Three D’s: Helping our distracted dogs and maintaining their attention. • Schedules of reinforcement; learn how often to reinforce your dog and work towards reducing the frequency of treats. • Dog barking at strange people and dogs approaching. • Mat / place training. • Being indifferent/neutral to people and dogs. **IF YOUR DOG IS REACTIVE TOWARDS OTHER DOGS OR SHOWING NERVOUS OR ANXIOUS BEHAVIOUR THEN PLEASE CALL US BEFORE BOOKING TO CHECK IF THIS COURSE IS SUITABLE.**