Squirrels, Birds & Other Distractions

On a walk with Bo this morning, we encountered a squirrel running in front of us, a bird on the ground ahead of us, and a dog barking at us. Bo's response to these three different distractions was the same -- he looked at them and then he looked at me. His response is a trained behavior.

We began teaching this behavior when he was a puppy and continued the training into his adolescents. Today, we reinforce the behavior with food rewards and praise. When we began training him to look to us when he encountered a distraction, we would say his name and when he looked at us, we'd reward him with food. Now, at five-years-old, he doesn't need us to say his name. He simply will see a distraction and look to me or whoever is holding his leash.