Once a month I hold a free seminar for a local shelter.
I don’t just teach the attendees how to understand and train their dogs. I put on a show. I dazzle them with canine knowledge, I illuminate them with stories of my long and adventurous career in dog training.
I share stories of danger and excitement.
And the audience sits there spellbound hanging on each word until…..
…..they get an update on their cell phone.
I was sharing a story of a full scale riot I was involved in years ago and the role the dogs played in it.
While I was sharing this story, a person in the front row was watching and listening to me when all of a sudden a quiet “bloop” came from her phone. She stopped listening to me and pulled her phone out of her purse!
And then engaged in a long text conversation!
Can you believe this? A chance to watch me, The Amazing Dog Training Man, impart my wisdom and knowledge that will help turn their dog into the perfect little angel they want them to be!
The nerve.
Here is the instructive part. At the end of the talk she approached me with a question.
And her question was gold!!!
She came up to me and asked, “What can I do to get my dog to pay attention to me? I just want her to listen to me.”
I had to overcome every urge inside me to take out my cell phone and start texting someone.
I didn’t, I am a professional afterall (but I really wanted to watch her face as she talked to me and I ignored her and texted away.)
Instead I said that attention was a fickle thing. That it’s fleeting, that in order to keep your dog’s attention on you, you have to be more interesting than anything else in the environment.
I added that you can use consequences to hold your dog’s attention. The best consequence is to reward and reinforce your dog for responding to you.
She said that the most difficult command was walking on leash. Her dog was so distracted on leash. I let her know what her options were but I don’t know how much of a dent I made.
She seemed very anxious to get back to her phone.
Oh well.
It is funny how distracted humans are nowadays. My very good friend was rear ended on the highway yesterday and his car was totaled. Luckily, he was not seriously injured but looking at his car you would think differently.
I can’t help but think that the person that smashed into his car was in some meaningless text conversation. People are easily distracted.
So is your dog and they don’t even have opposable thumbs.
If you have a tough time walking your dog on leash and need more information on what to do around distractions, The Leash Walking Secrets Course will show you what to do.
And you know what?
You can login any time. If you get a call, text, update, homing pigeon, smoke signal or anything else that gets your attention, you can hit the pause button and come back to it.
Here’s where to go NEXT:
Best,
Eric