Any ideas on how to keep dog focused on you?

[oriondw]

We've been doing attention exercises with my dog for a while now. When at home or on a walk he does very good. Paying attention to me, following me, etc.

When we go to obedience classes though, he looses all attention and just wants to go and sniff, hump, play, roll with every dog in there.

Any suggestions in how to train him to focus even in such places?

 

[dogsrmylife86]

if all your dog wishes to do, after going to a couple lessons, talk with the instructor to see if you could have a corner of the arena to work with your dog one-on-one. keep his attention on you by jerking him back with the lead if it gets too out of hand. eventually, your dog will realized he's there to work and THEN sociallize.

allison

 

[Saje]

I think you should allow your dog to have some play time and learn to socialize. Does he meet a lot of other dogs? When my dog was a pup I took him to off leash parks and he had so much fun. He learned how to handle little dogs and is really good with them
You may want to spent lots of time socializing him inbetween classes or get him to class early and let him 'meet and greet' first. It's normal dog behaviour and important that he learns it. If he gets it out of his system first he will probably be better in class.

 

[oriondw]

We used to go to dog parks when he was younger on daily basis ( to socialize) and he knows how to handle himself around dogs.

He's still mentally a puppy, but he's been getting dominant with dogs in park so we stopped going there. He loves to play around with them. Thing is with "meet and greet" the other dog owners are terrified of him even though he's a big puppy.

I guess the more i do it the better he'll get

 

[hrbib21]

There's nothing wrong with dogs asserting their dominance, as long as they're not physically hurting other dogs. This is normal animal behavior, especially for canine's.

 

[Gustav]

I generally find that having any kind of treat in my pocket keeps my dog focused on me! Lol!

 

[CreatureTeacher]

There's nothing wrong with dogs asserting their dominance, as long as they're not physically hurting other dogs. This is normal animal behavior, especially for canine's.

I have to disagree. Nothing bugs me more than when owners don't bother to teach their dogs polite behavior around strange dogs. I knew a woman whose Aussie would stroll right up and start genially humping any dog who would take it! My dogs were horrified; I'd taught them their whole lives that they were to be extremely polite to other dogs, and they didn't know how to respond to this rudeness. This is part of the reason we only go to the dog park at night. People write it off as "natural" because they don't really understand how rude it is.

If you were picking your child up from kindergarten and saw another child run up to him, knock him down, and jump on him, what would you do? And what if this other child's mother just said, "Don't worry. Jimmy's just really friendly. He loves other kids. He's just behaving naturally."

Grrr...one of my biggest pet peeves!!

 

[Saje]

LOL ^ Emma I love that analogy

 

[oriondw]

I have to disagree. Nothing bugs me more than when owners don't bother to teach their dogs polite behavior around strange dogs. I knew a woman whose Aussie would stroll right up and start genially humping any dog who would take it! My dogs were horrified; I'd taught them their whole lives that they were to be extremely polite to other dogs, and they didn't know how to respond to this rudeness. This is part of the reason we only go to the dog park at night. People write it off as "natural" because they don't really understand how rude it is.

If you were picking your child up from kindergarten and saw another child run up to him, knock him down, and jump on him, what would you do? And what if this other child's mother just said, "Don't worry. Jimmy's just really friendly. He loves other kids. He's just behaving naturally."

Grrr...one of my biggest pet peeves!!

Agree whole heartedly... I hated when dogs tried to hump mine. Thing is my would just take them, throw them off to the ground and pin them down. From that point on they wouldnt come back. Since he got older his first reaction to being mounted is attacking to other dog.

He never starts fights in park, but he walks like a king in there and if any dog try's to push him around.... you know. Very dominant.

He's been socialized since he was a pup too, but they are a pretty dominant breed.

 

[Sunnypup]

creature teacher...I haven't had this problem yet with my pup but how does one teach a puppy to be polite around other dogs? He does really well with the exception of thinking that big dogs tails are his personal playthings I just don't want to have a problem to start with. thanks.

 

[Saje]

She'll ^ be back on Sunday. Or maybe it was monday

 

[oriondw]

Solved the problem.

Apperantly he was just shy at first. After he got used to the dogs he started ignoring them like he does everywhere else

 

[gaddylovesdogs]

I taught the "look at me" command. Hold a treat behind your eyes and tell your dog, "Look at me." when he/she looks at you, praise and treat.