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Helping our dogs to return focus to us can be done in many different ways. One of those is the Up and Down Pattern Game from Leslie McDevitt.
My number one request might very well be helping dogs to listen when “distractions” are present. That might pretty much cover just about everything I do as a dog trainer!
Helping our dogs learn how to focus on us, or to refocus on us after a distraction, is something I spend a lot of time helping clients do. It happens in just about all situations. Is your dog struggling with leash manners? Distractions! Is your dog worried about strangers? Distractions! Is your dog not coming reliably when you call? Distractions!
The goal is NOT to keep our dogs focused on us all the time and never notice distractions. That's not realistic nor advisable.
We want our dog to notice distractions, but sometimes not get quite so caught up in them! Notice but not engage.
Leslie McDevitt's Up and Down Pattern Game is just one way to help teach our dogs how to return focus to us. She discussed this game in her book Control Unleashed Reactive to Relaxed.
We work on this exercise in some of my classes, especially my Juvenile Delinquents Class. I also teach it to many of my students in private training.
Here's how it works.
You can be sitting or standing. Your dog can be sitting or standing.
Place a treat on the ground in front of your dog. Once he eats it, hopefully he looks back up at you in hopes of getting another treat.
When he looks back up at you, reward with another treat on the ground. If you are using a clicker or marker, mark when he looks back up at you before you reward.
Sometimes your dog will not look back up at you right away. That's ok. If he notices a distraction in the environment, it's ok if he looks at it. Hopefully, he will then turn away and look back at you. Reward with another treat on the ground.
The goal is for him to notice distractions and be able to look back at you without you having to prompt him. He notices the distraction and makes the choice to look back at you.
Depending on the distraction, some dogs will need longer to watch and process it before turning back to you. Give him as long as he needs, as long as he's not trying to move toward the distraction, or bark at it, or otherwise engage with it.
If he does react, then you need to either move farther away from the distraction or reset and find a lesser distraction someplace else to work on this game first.
There are other variations that can be added in depending on how difficult or easy this is for your dog. There are other pattern games that can be incorporated. But this is a good one to start with.
Try it out and let me know how it goes!
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