It’s one of the most common frustrations I hear from dog owners! “My dog behaves perfectly at home, but as soon as we’re out and about it’s like his ears switch off!”

So why does this happen and more importantly, what can we do to make sure our dog keeps listening and responding in the face of new places and distractions?

Why your dog stops listening when you leave the house

If your dog is well-behaved at home but stops listening to you on walks, here are some common reasons why this might be happening:

Distractions:This is the most powerful reason - the outdoors is full of interesting smells, sights, and sounds that can be highly stimulating for dogs. When they’re so distracted by these enticing experiences, it’s much more difficult to keep your dog’s focus on you and on following commands.

Lack of generalised training: Dogs often behave well in a quiet, familiar environment like home (where there’s nothing more interesting to focus on anyway!), but they may not fully understand that the same commands apply outside. This means they might need more training in different settings to learn that listening is required everywhere, not just at home - this is called proofing, and we’ll cover it below!

Excitement or overstimulation: Walks are exciting! The leash, other dogs, people, or just the opportunity to explore new territory can increase your dog’s excitement level, making them less responsive to commands.

Reactivity to stimuli: Some dogs react strongly to specific triggers, such as other animals, bikes, or loud noises. If your dog gets overly focused on a trigger, they may temporarily “tune you out” while they fixate on the distraction. When their adrenaline is pumping, it’s difficult to get them calm and focused on you, they are out of learning state and more reactive.

Lack of bonding: If your dog does not see the need to pay attention to you while out and about, it’s a good sign your mentor bond needs work. Strengthening your dog’s bond with you and reinforcing your role as the leader during walks can help.

Simple tips to help you teach your dog to listen while out and about

1. Lower your dog’s excitement before you enter a new environment

The best way to do this is by using a clicker and high value treats to run through some calming commands such as Sit, Down, Watch and Wait. This gets your dog calm and focused on you, which will lead to a much better response rate once you get out into the world.

If you haven’t used a clicker before, it’s simple! Start by throwing treats on the ground then making a click as your dog eats them. Once you’ve built this association between the click and a treat, you can incorporate it into your training. Give a command, click the INSTANT your dog responds to mark the behaviour you want, then follow up with a tasty treat. If you don’t have a clicker, you can use a simple “yes” in place of a click. I suggest you do some simple commands using a clicker and treats like this before you go anywhere new and exciting e.g. before a walk, entering a dog park or going into someone’s home. It only takes a few minutes, but will make a huge difference in how responsive your dog is to you. Aside from helping to calm your dog down and get them into a focused state, it also reminds your

dog that you have a pocket or pouch full of treats before you head off, which is an extra incentive to keep checking in with you!

2. Situational awareness

With a dog in training, you need to be switched on to your environment. Always keep on the look-out for something your dog might react to or be distracted by. “I see a dog and person approaching, I need to make sure I’m communicating with my dog and keeping them in contact with me so they’re not rushing up to that person and dog before I say so…” or “I see a child on a scooter approaching, I’m not sure how my pup will react to a scooter so I’m being aware, putting on a lead, moving to a short distance away and using my clicker to keep my pup focused on me.”

3. 80/20 rule

Don’t expect your dog to be in training mode full time, it’s too hard for them to maintain that level of focus and they’ll go sour on the work. For example with lead walking, your dog needs free time to explore and sniff those wonderful smells, it’s excellent enrichment and stimulation! So when walking on lead, aim for 80% free time exploring and sniffing and 20% walking to a heel or other trained commands (around roads or busy places). Often the best time to practise heel walking is on the way home when your dog is a little less excited. Remember you want your dog succeed, and you also want them to have a good time! It’s not about full time focus and obedience, just about making sure your dog will respond when it matters.

4. Intervene early to prevent inappropriate behaviours

The more accurately you can learn the subtle early warning signals of your dog’s behaviour, the quicker and therefore easier you can intervene before things escalate. There is a space between your dog ‘orienting’ towards a stimulus, and going into a full-on ‘target’ behaviour where your intervention will ensure your dog’s response is appropriate. If you leave it too late, your dog’s adrenaline and distraction will be too high for you to be effective.

So if you see your dog hyper-focusing on something, give a firm Leave It command and click and reward with a treat when their focus comes back to you. Don’t leave it until they’re rushing off - by then it’s too late, and you’ll have a very hard time getting a response!

5. Make yourself fun when out on walks

Play with your dog, reward your dog for returning to you or play fetch if your dog’s into that. This will make you more interesting, so they are more likely to come when called and keep in contact with you out in distracting places. Hide and seek is a great one! When your dog is distracted, duck behind a bush, tree or corner then call your dog to find you. Reward profusely with praise and treats when they find you, a great game to keep your dog checking in. Also remember to regularly call your dog only to give them a treat and release them to play again - if you’re only ever calling your dog back to put them on a leash or take them home, they’ll quickly learn that recall only means the fun is over. Don’t let this be the case.

6. Proofing

Proofing is when you take the commands you have taught your dog at home, and practise them in a variety of different and more distracting environments to ensure they work while out and about in the real world (and not only when you’re the only interesting thing around). For example, you might teach Sit at home, then practise it in different places like at the beach or dog park!

Proofing can be a very difficult phase - it’s easy for your dog to pay attention when there’s nothing interesting around, but much harder when there are lots of sounds, smells and other people and dogs to check out.

When you’re ready to start proofing your commands in more distracting scenarios, make sure you gradually increase the complexity of the environment. For example you may go from your living room, to your backyard, to a quiet green space, to a park, to a beach, to a dog park.

In each new environment you proof your commands in, work through a hierarchy of tools. Start on a short lead with more control, then when all is going well move to a retractable or long lead so you can give your dog a bit more freedom but still maintain control, then move to letting your dog drag the long lead for even more freedom (but still retaining the ability to stand on the end of the lead to regain control if needed), then finally move to off-lead.

Remember to use clicker and treats to reward your dog when they respond in those more distracting locations!

7. Use a hierarchy of training treats

Save your dog’s favourite training treats for when you’re out and about! When practising commands at home or in quiet, low distraction zones, simply use your dog’s normal kibble to reward the right behaviour. However, when you head out on a walk, to the beach or to the dog park - majorly up the ante and use something your dog goes absolutely NUTS for. This helps incentivise them to stay close, listen and respond to your commands in the face of distraction.

8. Walk your dog hungry

Reduce your dog’s meal before walks so they are a bit hungrier, and therefore more motivated by the training treats you’re carrying. You can make up for the lost food amount with training treats, or feed the remainder of the meal when you get home. Once the behaviours are well established and consistent, you can fade out the clicker and treats.

Let’s get those ears working! I hope these tips help you keep your dog’s ears switched on while you’re out and about!

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