# What are you doing for Distractions?



## Chris Michalek (Feb 13, 2008)

When I was at the Desert Dog K9 trials, I saw many dogs fail around spray hoses. Lately, I've been working around sprinklers and it's been working great to help proof many things like motion exercises, heeling, long down stays. The sprinklers have been a good way to beat the heat too.

I also work with my dogs at the various outdoor malls where there are tons of materialistic weirdos and goth teens.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Chris Michalek said:


> When I was at the Desert Dog K9 trials, I saw many dogs fail around spray hoses. Lately, I've been working around sprinklers and it's been working great to help proof many things like motion exercises, heeling, long down stays. The sprinklers have been a good way to beat the heat too.
> 
> I also work with my dogs at the various outdoor malls where there are tons of materialistic weirdos and goth teens.


Other dogs being trained in sight; people eating and a grill loaded with meat 
( :lol: ); another dog catching a frisbee; people throwing a ball around; various noises; a cat(!) .... much more.

Sprinklers -- good idea.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Oh, I forgot -- going to the high school up the street and working where the dogs can see the kids trooping back and forth or the football games, crowds, night lights, etc.


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## Carol Boche (May 13, 2007)

I bring the dogs to our shop and equipment yard during the workdays....lots of activity, heavy equipment moving, people wandering about. Air tools, hoses, water being sprayed in the concrete truck mixers and what not....

I also walk around town, work in the field next to the grade school.....and the fire department is great to work around when we are having trainings.


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

I bring the decoys on the field and even place the bite suit pants on jumps and other mean distractions like that. The more distractions you can add is great. Problem is you need to be in position to correct the dog if it goes for a valuable distraction. A heel on leash or a hurdle is great for a distraction but at this point with my dog I would not want to do change of positions @ 18m or a retrieve with a decoy on the field she'd just say screw you dad and nail him if I had nothing to correct with.


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## Anne Vaini (Mar 15, 2007)

Chris Michalek said:


> When I was at the Desert Dog K9 trials, I saw many dogs fail around spray hoses. Lately, I've been working around sprinklers and it's been working great to help proof many things like motion exercises, heeling, long down stays. The sprinklers have been a good way to beat the heat too.
> 
> I also work with my dogs at the various outdoor malls where there are tons of materialistic weirdos and goth teens.


 



I love the question! Given my response will be different since I am training Service Dogs and Therapy Dogs...

Medical equipment (especially oxygen machines that hiss)
Wheelchairs - the dog need to learn to heel with a wheelchair without getting its toes rolled over when turning and without getting its tail stuck in the spokes of the wheels.
Emergency vehicles, equipment, and personnel
Retail / Shopping Centers / Grocery Store - I tend to work on sit stay, stand stay, and down stay in the meat dept!
Restaurants
City Bus
Medical Facilities - hospital, clinic, nursing home, etc.
Schools
Cats, rabbits, other dogs (neutral and not)
Children, Teens, people with unusualt gait or appearance
Spooking - training the dog to accept being spooked from behind - like a kid pulling it's tail while heeling, being knocked with a shopping cart, toes or tail run over by shopping cart
Traffic - start training puppies their obedience in the median of a highway - 3 lanes on each side
Crowds - University Campus, sporting events, expos
Dog park - train dog to be totally neutral to other dogs and people trying to get the dog's attention
Food refusal / Food on the ground
Everything and anything!


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## Thomas Barriano (Mar 27, 2006)

Chris Michalek said:


> When I was at the Desert Dog K9 trials, I saw many dogs fail around spray hoses. Lately, I've been working around sprinklers and it's been working great to help proof many things like motion exercises, heeling, long down stays. The sprinklers have been a good way to beat the heat too.
> 
> I also work with my dogs at the various outdoor malls where there are tons of materialistic weirdos and goth teens.


I think semi naked college girls, either mud/jello wrestling or
a wet t shirt contest would make a nice distraction, but I can't convince the wife to let me try :-0


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## Rachel Schumacher (Oct 11, 2006)

Chris thanks so much for mentioning sprinklers and spray hoses. Just sent an email to one of my trainers and I am looking forward to a wet training. My male goes nuts with sprinklers and spray hoses, this will be an excellent new distraction.

How about food - kibble and later raw meat (think green tripe)- on the training field. It's part of Mondioring trials and a nice distraction.


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## Anne Jones (Mar 27, 2006)

Train with a distraction of anything that you can think of & then some. Nothing is out of line...short of something where the dogs can be injured, obviously. The noiser & more visual the better. I also take my dogs out on the field together & run them together retrieving their balls & also incorporate OB within that & also put one in a down & work OB with the other, some heeling etc. & do simultaneous OB with them. I also take one out of the truck to work & let the other watch & then switch dogs. Keeps them on their toes, especially when watching the other work. I have stopped & taken my dogs out of the truck to do some OB when I have run accross some wrokers cutting down trees, doing small construction on side roads where it is safe to walk the dogs by etc. Parades are also great for visual & noise & crowds.


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## brad robert (Nov 26, 2008)

Connie Sutherland said:


> Other dogs being trained in sight; people eating and a grill loaded with meat
> ( :lol: ); another dog catching a frisbee; people throwing a ball around; various noises; a cat(!) .... much more.
> 
> Sprinklers -- good idea.


 great ideas


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## Jeff Oehlsen (Apr 7, 2006)

I have night crawler appear and disappear rapidly around the dog.


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## Connie Sutherland (Mar 27, 2006)

Jeff Oehlsen said:


> I have night crawler appear and disappear rapidly around the dog.


Kurt Wagner or worms?


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

Sirens, loud speakers, blue lights/strobes/LED's, gunfire and lots of people yelling. 

DFrost


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## Marina Schmidt (Jun 11, 2009)

Chris Michalek said:


> many dogs fail around spray hoses.


What? My dog (who isn't the bravest) doesn't even care about high-presure water blasters. But okay, he's so water-crazy - I could keep him in an aquarium.


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## Chris Michalek (Feb 13, 2008)

Marina Schmidt said:


> What? My dog (who isn't the bravest) doesn't even care about high-presure water blasters. But okay, he's so water-crazy - I could keep him in an aquarium.


My Malinois goes nuts for sprinkler heads and the hose in the yard, he loves water and likes to swim but when I brought him to the park, he wouldn't come through the sprinklers to play tug. He kept looking for way around it. Eventually he figured out it wasn't such a big deal but then he wouldn't stay on the tug when I dragged him over the sprinkler jet.

Now it doesn't matter.

At the trials there were spray hoses that was make the dogs stop moving towards the decoy. Some even ran off. 

I've been doing OB around sprinklers too. I know exactly when they come on and where the heads are located. I would make my dogs sit or platz a few minutes before the sprinklers would come on. At first they both broke the position. Now they don't. 

There were simple things like sitting or platzing in a puddle that were issues a couple of weeks ago. Now they don't care. If you're forced to trial in the rain this water work will help.


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## Ted Efthymiadis (Apr 3, 2009)

bitches in heat.

anyone else do this when they know of a bitch in season?


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## Chris Michalek (Feb 13, 2008)

Ted Efthymiadis said:


> bitches in heat.
> 
> anyone else do this when they know of a bitch in season?



speaking of which, I just saw that Mythbusters episode where the only thing that distracted the dogs long enough for the busters to get to the safe was the scent of a dog in heat.


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## Anna Kasho (Jan 16, 2008)

Ted Efthymiadis said:


> bitches in heat.
> 
> anyone else do this when they know of a bitch in season?


Yes indeed. At the moment there are two bitches in heat in the house, and I work OB with everyone singly and in groups, using the other dogs as a distraction... :twisted: O


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

When I work my dogs on the side or front yard (corner lot) I usually get an audience of YUPPIES with their Labs, Goldens, Beagles, Grey Hounds, rescue mutts, etc, etc, in their cute little red or blue neck scarves. 
The applauds and yapping furbabies is a great distraction.....Well......for me. My dogs think they are all pretty pathetic and boring.
Working them at the local parks ads bike riders, joggers, dog walkers with their flexi leads:evil: and one of the parks is along side the fire and rescue dept. Now those guys I like! :-D
Sometimes I miss the gunfire, fence jumpers, corner "pharmacys", almost hourly sirens, etc of the old neighborhood....:-k Mostly not though! :lol: 
Red or blue neck scarves has a whole different inferrence then. 8-[:-D
A distraction is anything that might get the dogs attention off of you.


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## Anna Kasho (Jan 16, 2008)

OK. The biggest distraction for my dogs is a rapidly-moving someone (running, skateboarding, bicycle) suddenly appearing around a corner or from between parked cars, in the dark. Especially if the someone appears to jump out and move towards us. It's that moment of unexpected startle/threat and the fast motion trips their prey drive... A good test of control, IMO...

(hey is that like Jeff's nightcrawler? LOL)


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## Jim Nash (Mar 30, 2006)

OB next to busy tennis courts , soccer fields and baseball fields . Detector or OB work in a gynasium with basketballs , kickballs etc. scattered around as others kick them around. OB with folks walking around in bitesuits and/or sleeves with other sleeves and suits laying around . OB or bitework around gunfire , flashbangs and smoke with others running around .

We once had a classroom we planted a narc. hide in where ever chair had tennis balls on the end of every students chairlegs . I thought some of the dogs were gonna have a heart attack. 

Your only limited by you imagination on this subject .

We just did our first demo at our state fair . A Husky breeding group did an OB demo before us with one of the bitches in heat . It was a big distraction for some of our dogs .


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## David Frost (Mar 29, 2006)

Jim Nash said:


> We once had a classroom we planted a narc. hide in where ever chair had tennis balls on the end of every students chairlegs . I thought some of the dogs were gonna have a heart attack.
> 
> .




A couple of the schools we train in have the same thing. The first few times it was funny. I know what you mean about some of the dogs having heart attacks. ha ha.

DFrost


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