Overview of Attention & Engagement Program

Some dogs are naturally much more independent than others. Some find the environment to be far more rewarding than you. Some are scanning the environment so much for threats they cannot spare a moment for you. Some simply have never learned that checking in with you is actually a good thing! If it is extremely difficult to get your dog's attention, I can help!

As with all my training programs, we start with the Intro Lesson where we'll focus on making sure your dog's base needs are met. If your dog has a high need for exploring that isn't being met, it's going to be very difficult to train them to pay attention!

For more information about base needs, you can visit the Intro Lesson Page here.

In the supported training portion, I'll select an attention and engagement training plan that meets your dog where they're currently at, and work to build on that. Crucially, we will not be nagging or bribing a dog to pay attention, as that creates a dog that will only pay attention begrudgingly, or if you have a high value reward. Instead, we'll use their natural desire to pay attention to the environment as the reward, as well as setting up the environment so that pay attention is really easy to do at first.

These training plans often do require finding areas that are the appropriate level of distraction, so be aware you may need to be able to find areas of multiple distraction levels.

Extreme Inattention

Timing/Scheduling for Program

Attention training can be very variable for each dog. Typically the first few training sessions actually see a lot of improvement quickly, but it can take a while to train your dog in a lot of scenarios with a lot of distractions.

How long it takes for each level of distraction can change a lot, but most dogs and humans are confident with the ideas after three weeks, and have moved onto slightly more distracting areas in six. I have found it generally takes continued practice for 6+ months to really cement in attention in many places, but it's the kind of training that typically can be done just during your life after 6 weeks, opposed to dedicated training sessions.

Coaching or Pro Daytrain Track?

This training can work well with both Coaching and Pro Daytrain, but Pro Daytrain does run the risk of the dog really learning to pay attention to me, and not you. Typically the transfer works well, particularly with the once-a-week independent training sessions you will do if doing the Pro Daytrain track.

For more information on Coaching and Pro Daytrain, please click here