You can hope for the best when your dog is presented with something distracting, or you can prepare for it in advance. Can you see why Side 1 didn’t work?
Side 1:
My dog, Simon, and I are out for a stroll. All of a sudden a boy appears on a skateboard and rolls down the sidewalk past Simon. Simon is off leash and starts to chase the boy, or more specifically, the skateboard. He thinks chasing skateboards is so much fun! He’s had a lot of practice doing it since I rarely have him on a leash. I haven’t trained him to do anything, but he’s a good dog and I’m sure he’ll listen to me, especially since I have some treats in my pocket. I call him to no avail, then pull out a few treats and wave them in my hand, calling out “Treats! Treats, Simon, treats!” Simon continues to chase the skateboard, then disappears around a corner. I’m so discouraged. This treat training business doesn’t work at all!
Side 2:
My dog, Jiggs, and I are out for a stroll. All of a sudden a boy appears on a skateboard and rolls down the sidewalk past Jiggs.
I’ve taught Jiggs several tricks which he will do on cue. His latest trick is to touch my hand with his nose when I hold the palm of my hand toward him. He learned to do it in my kitchen first, where there were no distractions. Each time he touched his nose to my hand, I’d give him a treat. When he was doing this reliably, we practiced it outside in the front yard where there were distracting things like birds and different sounds, but not anything too exciting.
I haven’t tried the “nose touch” trick yet using a skateboard as a distraction. This could be too exciting for him, so I’m not sure if he’ll respond. “Jiggy!” I call in the happiest voice I can muster. He turns his head toward me and I show him the palm of my hand which he touches with his nose. Yay, the “nose touch” worked! I quickly offer him a treat. Meanwhile, the skateboard disappears around a corner. I’m so excited to see that training in small steps and using a valuable reinforcer such as food, has paid off. His desire to touch my hand is stronger than the desire to chase a skateboard!
Whew! Simon could sure use some help!
Jiggs is lucky he has a caregiver who knows what he’s doing!
I’d say that Jiggs isn’t a labrador retriever. My lab switches from not being interested if she is determined to do what I don’t want her to to being hysterical because she sees a person who gave her a treat on the trail in the past and I’m restraining her from running at them and body-bumping. Obviously my technique is wrong!
Thanks so much for your comment, Sylvia. You’ve prompted us to re-write Side 2 of this story to include more details. Stay tuned!