Location changes, duration, distance and distraction are woven together like the strands of a braid in any behavior.<\/p>\n

I start with one strand, then I add a new strand and as I continue to build the behavior adding these strands, they weave together until at the end I have the completed behavior.<\/p>\n

If I try to skip ahead and start making it harder in too many ways, I\u2019ll end up with a mess.<\/p>\n

The completed behavior in the case of \u201ctouch\u201d is that the dog presses their nose into my hand until I tell them to stop. And the dog will come from anywhere they can hear me, in any location.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, though, when I\u2019ve finished \u201cbraiding\u201d a behavior like \u201ctouch\u201d, something new comes along, maybe a new location or a particular situation and suddenly the dog doesn\u2019t want to touch anymore.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re too distracted by the new thing.<\/p>\n

It can feel like the braid is unraveling completely when this happens.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a worry, sure.<\/p>\n

When a dog doesn\u2019t listen in one situation, sometimes this does mean that the behavior gets messier elsewhere too.<\/p>\n

If this happens, where the braid starts to fall apart everywhere, it just means it\u2019s time to stop trying to braid from where you were.<\/p>\n

\nRepair the Behavior That’s Falling Apart<\/h1>\n

Usually this means you\u2019ll need to step back, doing some unraveling to start a little earlier in the braid.<\/p>\n

You might have to build the behavior back up again. Not always from scratch, but sometimes.<\/p>\n

It can also be really frustrating when it feels like whatever reward you have isn\u2019t good enough to get the dog to do the behavior.<\/p>\n

The dog knows what they\u2019re supposed to do… You have a reward, but the dog isn\u2019t listening!<\/p>\n

They were listening before, but now they\u2019re not! Frustrating!<\/p>\n

Trying to insist the dog must work when it\u2019s obvious that it is not going to, can mess the braid up even further.<\/p>\n

When you see a dog not listening in any situation, it means it\u2019s time to step back, often going back into the part of the braid that still looks nice, and start working on it again.<\/p>\n

What this means is that if a \u201ctouch\u201d in the store was working before, but then a large unruly dog walked by and suddenly your dog isn\u2019t paying attention anymore, even though you have his favorite jerky\u2026 then you might need to go out to the car for a moment and practice \u201ctouch\u201d and other behaviors in the car for a moment, then practice in the parking lot, then go back into the store (and stay away from the unruly dog for now.)<\/p>\n

Rework the braid to get the behavior back.<\/p>\n

Work the Distraction at a Low Level<\/h1>\n

The next thing to do is to get ready for the situation to happen again by setting it up to be a lot less distracting.<\/p>\n

A good solution for distractions that your dog can\u2019t seem to get over is to make that distraction a cue.<\/p>\n

A cue is something that tells the dog \u201cHey, if you do this when this happens, you\u2019ll get a reward.\u201d<\/p>\n

What this means is we first figure out a behavior we would like the dog to do when they see a distraction.<\/p>\n

For service dogs, the best behavior for the dog to do is usually \u201clook at me\u201d. For some people, it might be sit, sometimes it might be turn around and walk the other way.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re going to use \u201cLook at me\u201d as an example though.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how using a distraction as a cue works.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say my problem is that my dog gets distracted by other dogs when we are out in public.<\/p>\n

They stop paying attention to me, and they start messing up their behaviors.<\/p>\n

What I want to do, then, is to have my dog look at me when a dog is in sight or hearing.<\/p>\n

Right now, a dog in sight or within hearing range cues your dog to look at the other dog.<\/p>\n

So I hopefully already have taught my dog what \u201clook\u201d is and I can get the behavior most of the time.<\/p>\n

What I will do is set up a series of situations so that my dog starts to learn that dogs nearby mean, look at me.<\/p>\n

So I might start this by putting a barking dog noise on my phone and stand in an otherwise quiet room.<\/p>\n

Then, I\u2019ll have a friend stand in the other room and play the barking dog noise for just a second.<\/p>\n

As soon as the noise plays, I\u2019ll say \u201clook\u201d and click and reward any sort of look in my direction.<\/p>\n

Then I\u2019ll build this behavior up slowly, by putting the noise nearer, making it louder, playing it longer and asking for a longer \u201clook\u201d.<\/p>\n

I will ask my dog to \u201clook\u201d until I use a release word, like \u201cOK\u201d or \u201cFree\u201d so that the dog knows they can look away from me.<\/p>\n

Then I might take this out into harder, more distracting places that don\u2019t have real dogs and ask for the behavior there.<\/p>\n

\nAdding in the Distraction Comes Next<\/h1>\n

Then I\u2019ll add the real dogs.<\/p>\n

I like doing this at dog parks, actually.<\/p>\n

I go far, far, far away from the dog park, where you can just barely hear or see the other dogs playing.<\/p>\n

Everytime I see my dog looking at the dog park, I\u2019ll ask for a quick look, releasing the look with \u201cFree\u201d. I\u2019ll build it up longer and longer, asking them to keep looking at me until I say \u201cOK\u201d or \u201cFree\u201d.<\/p>\n

Then we slowly get closer and closer to the dog park, asking for quick looks at first, then longer looks.<\/p>\n

After easing into it over a week or two, eventually, I like to get to the point where my dog is looking at me all the way up to the fence, even with other dogs coming over to say hi.<\/p>\n

And then, I\u2019ll get rid of the verbal cue and expect them to look at me without saying anything.<\/p>\n

If I want to really work it, I\u2019ll go into the dog park and expect a look before I say \u201cFree\u201d and let them go play.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019m looking for is this: whenever my dog hears or sees other dogs, I want them to automatically look at me until I give them permission to look at the other dog.<\/p>\n

In some situations, I might release them (\u201cFree!\u201d) to look at the other dog (such as at a dog park), and sometimes they might not get released to look at the dog (such as when we are working.)<\/p>\n

If at any point, the building up of this behavior starts to fall apart – I go back a few steps and work it back up again.<\/p>\n