{"id":1157,"date":"2016-05-23T14:15:47","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T19:15:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/puptownhouston.com\/collegestation\/teaching-dog-deal-distractions-public\/"},"modified":"2022-01-10T19:36:47","modified_gmt":"2022-01-10T19:36:47","slug":"teaching-dog-deal-distractions-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/puptownhouston.com\/collegestation\/teaching-dog-deal-distractions-public\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Your Dog to Deal with Distractions in Public"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WoodlandLet\u2019s be honest, your dog is going to be exposed to a lot of things in their lifetime.\u00a0 This includes distractions like other people, animals, and things that might scare or \u2018trigger\u201d your dog like sirens, loud voices, and even thunder (a lot of dogs are terrified of storms).\u00a0 Good training can help your dog ignore a lot of these distractions and consistently behave well.\u00a0 Our Woodlands dog training experts<\/a> \u00a0incorporate this as part of our training for dogs of all ages.\u00a0 Our \u201cno approach fits all\u201d training style helps us to understand what distracts one dog instead of another and why so we can provide individualized training for great results.\u00a0 To learn more please visit us online at Pup Town Houston<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dog obedience classes are a must to ensure you have a well-mannered, socialized dog that is a great companion and faithful friend.\u00a0 You want to make sure that your dog doesn\u2019t \u201cwalk you\u201d or find its way into a harmful situation.\u00a0 This is why training, including ignoring or avoiding distractions, is so important for your dog.\u00a0 Not to mention you don\u2019t want your dog to hurt another animal or even worse, a person.\u00a0 If you aren\u2019t ready to enroll your pup in classes just yet, here are some tips on teaching your dog to overcome distractions and be a good canine citizen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Understand Triggers<\/h3>\n

As simple as this sounds, it is important to know what your dog finds particularly fascinating.\u00a0 Some dogs can\u2019t resist the urge to run up to another pup while others love to chase squirrels or other small animals.\u00a0 If your dog has a penchant for sniffing holes in the ground, this could be a potentially dangerous behavior as this could be an insect nest or home to a poisonous snake.\u00a0 And if you think a high-pitched siren makes humans wince, imagine what it does to Fido\u2019s senses!\u00a0 Once you know what your dog\u2019s triggers are, you can figure out the best way to help your pup not give them a second thought.<\/p>\n

Set up Success<\/h3>\n

When helping your dog overcome distractions, develop a series of steps like levels 1-5 to help your dog reach its goal.\u00a0 If you are teaching your dog to sit, begin in a quiet environment until your dog has the command down pat.\u00a0 Then gradually introduce a series of distractions while you are giving the command to help your dog ignore the outside factors and focus solely on you.\u00a0 Start off with a very mild distraction like having the TV on in the background and as your dog completes each step, move your pooch to the final step, like being outside next to a whole family of squirrels while successfully sitting on command.<\/p>\n

Positive Reinforcement<\/h3>\n

\"WoodlandsAs you have a level of 1-5 for your dog\u2019s distraction factors, find a level 1-5 of treats for your dog with 1 being something they love and 5 being a treat your pooch will dance and do backflips for.\u00a0 As your dog completes each level of overcoming distractions, increase the level of treat to increase positive reinforcement and a greater reward for a greater level of difficulty.\u00a0 Increasing the positive reinforcement is an effective way of holding your dog\u2019s attention no matter what distraction may arise and you want to make sure you and your dog are prepared for any situation.<\/p>\n

Create Distance<\/h3>\n

While you are teaching your dog to ignore distractions, an effective tactic is to create distance from the distraction.\u00a0 Let\u2019s say your dog loves to chase squirrels and you realize you need to help your dog overcome this behavior.\u00a0 While you are in the first steps of helping your dog ignore this distraction, put as much distance between your dog and the squirrels as possible.\u00a0 When you are in the final steps of training<\/a>, move your dog closer to the squirrels.\u00a0 By desensitizing your pup to the distraction, the goal is to reach the point of said object no longer being a distraction.<\/p>\n

The same principle can be applied to dogs who are very eager to make new friends as you should be cautious of a new dog until you are familiar with its personality.\u00a0 By shrinking the stimulus area, you are not only teaching but also protecting yourself and your dog during this important learning experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s be honest, your dog is going to be exposed to a lot of things in their lifetime.\u00a0 This includes distractions like other people, animals, and things that might scare or \u2018trigger\u201d your dog like sirens, loud voices, and even thunder (a lot of dogs are terrified of storms).\u00a0 Good training can help your dog […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[36,28,29,30,37,38,39,31,32,33,34,35],"class_list":["post-1157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dog-training","tag-obedience-classes-for-puppys-in-the-woodlands-tx","tag-puppy-trainer-woodlands","tag-puppy-training-woodlands-tx","tag-woodlands-professional-puppy-trainer","tag-woodlands-puppy-obedience-classes","tag-woodlands-puppy-obedience-training","tag-woodlands-puppy-obedience-training-classes","tag-woodlands-puppy-trainer","tag-woodlands-puppy-trainers","tag-woodlands-puppy-training","tag-woodlands-puppy-training-expertexperts","tag-woodlands-puppy-training-specialist"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/puptownhouston.com\/collegestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/puptownhouston.com\/collegestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/puptownhouston.com\/collegestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puptownhouston.com\/collegestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puptownhouston.com\/collegestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/puptownhouston.com\/collegestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/puptownhouston.com\/collegestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puptownhouston.com\/collegestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/puptownhouston.com\/collegestation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}