How Do I Get My Dog To Listen with Distractions – Northern Virginia

Many people quickly realize that their dogs will listen great inside, but then they wonder, “How do I get my dog to listen with distractions?”  Off leash dog training Northern Virginia, ensures that a dog behaves just as well when off the leash as they do when they are on it. If you attempt to train a dog to be obedient off a leash without passing through the on leash training, you will be faced with a hard task.

As I tell people on a daily basis, “If your dog is not near flawless without distractions, why try doing distraction work?”  That is literally just setting your dog up for failure.

Dog Obedience Training Northern Virginia

By the time you finish off leash Northern Virginia Dog training, the dog should be good at responding to basic commands when on the leash such as come, place, sit, and heel among others. The key is for the dog to respond to basic commands even when there are distractions around on and off a leash. The leash should be on the dog at the beginning to ease it into the off leash training session gradually. There should be a successful and gradual progression from one command to the other.

Introduce distractions

The last step is to introduce distractions into the off leash K9 training session. You can choose a place where there are other dogs, cats and people such as a park. Follow the same pattern outlined above and if the dog gets distracted then get back to the earlier training ground until you are sure they have regained focus, before getting back to training in the area with distractions.

If your dog isn’t focused when in an off leash distracted area, than that means you need to go back to the basics of on leash or an area without distractions.

Remember, if your dog isn’t near flawless on a long leash or with distractions, then you shouldn’t even attempt off leash or distracted training.

Nick White
www.offleashk9training.com
www.facebook.com/offleashk9