I have a 3 year old male kelpie who is very reliable and dependable. He's pretty awesome with most commands which I can't really take credit for, his breed is purpose built for obedience and reliability. He's a very work-oriented guy and likes training and learning. Certain things have been challenging though, specifically regarding his attention span, I would like to hear this sub's thoughts.
He has trouble remembering to maintain my walking speed while off-leash heeling. He knows the command, enthusiastically obeys it, and can walk to heel while concentrating, but his concentration will drift after about 20-30 seconds and he will gradually speed up and start walking in front, requiring me to repeat the command continuously like 3 or 4 times a minute. What's the best way of making his brain remember to maintain my walking speed so I don't have to keep reminding him?
He is very nervous of boisterous off-leash dogs that run around without their owners and has trouble concentrating on commands when they're nearby, even if they're not focusing on him. He wants to keep an eye on them rather than concentrate on me. I understand his feelings but it's basically still a distraction that he needs to learn to filter out. What's a good process to train his brain to ignore them?
Anyone know any exercises or games that might help him improve in these areas?
@justasimplea Regarding point 1 my dog is the same. I don't have the heart to put the e collar back on and correct her everytime she picks up speed. I did it for a few days when she was around 1.5yrs old and she would heel properly but over the year since then she's shifted back to staying 3 to 4 meters in front of me.
Human walking pace is visibly slow for a dog, it must be fucking annoying to walk in slow motion for them. So I figured I'd just leave her be. If people are nearby or I'm crossing a road I'll call her to heel but otherwise I let her enjoy the walk.
My wife laughs and says poor thing when she has to slow down to our pace.
@aylynfaith Usually I don't mind where he walks but I'd like to get him capable of walking to heel in busy urban areas (even if I mostly keep him leashed for other people's comfort). I don't think an e-collar would fix the problem since he does enthusiastically obey the command, the problem is with his attention span. He's much better at it when he's tired from a run but even then I still have to keep reminding him.
I gotta admit it's also an appearance thing, an obedient heeling dog in a busy environment makes a guy look like he has some serious big dick energy
