Teaching our dog to focus on us is the single most important thing we can ever teach them. How can we expect our dog to do anything for us out and about if they cannot focus on us.

Think about a 5 year old at Disneyland. That is about what our dogs feel like when outside. There are so many sights, sounds and of course smells, that we cannot even fathom. If our dog is overwhelmed by the environment and/or distracted, they are not going to pay attention to any cue we give them. That is why focus is #1!

The following discussions and exercises, will help you build the level of focus we need when we move on to actually addressing the reactivity.