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. 

Video: With Me Off Leash

Bo is trained to walk at our left side and to keep our pace. 'With me' is the verbal command for this trained behavior. It's commonly known as 'heel.' When he is working on a leash, his leash should be loose. He should not pull ahead or lag behind but instead stay on his mark at our leg. 

In this video, Bo is walking with me OFF leash. You see he maintains his position at my left side, keeping pace and visually checking in with me. When I stop, he stops and sits without any verbal prompting. We use food reward based training to teach Bo to walk at our side on and off leash. One of the most helpful training tips I got related to training 'with me' was to be sure I was giving Bo his food reward on his mark.