Outside

Author: Denise Partlow

Instagram: @modernk9 Carolinas

Now that you have spent several weeks practicing impulse control indoors, it is time to take all of these learned skills outdoors.

But this does not mean that you start where you left off. In fact, now that you are adding in such a challenging environment, we typically have to start right back at the very beginning – but you may be able to advance a little faster as your dog will start to remember what it is you’re asking and will be able to follow through quicker.

So what does this look like?

I would start with some impulse control at the doorway, with the door open. Help your dog to understand that just because the door is open it does not signify anything, except that you expect him to stay in a relaxed but focused state. I would work on this for several days before you advance out of the door. One new thing you can start incorporating here is rewarding your dog for engaging and disengaging with the environment. This means when your dog looks at anything passing by you can mark and reward. He most likely should turn his head to you to receive that reward. If he doesn’t, that’s OK put it to his nose anyway and get him used to this process. Once you have practiced this enough, eventually he will start looking at you voluntarily and then you will mark and reward him for disengaging with the environment to engage back with you.

Once he has been successful with this, then you’re ready to head out the door. Put a long line on your dog, and hang out just in the front of your house. Practice recall, practice a sit stay, place stay & a down stay along with some engage/disengage. You can even play a structured game such as tug.

It won’t be perfect at first, but you have to build value in these activities by practicing, rewarding and making sure your dog is feeling comfortable in the environment he’s in. If he’s not, then you went too far and you need to back up-go closer towards your front door.

Your dog may not be ready just yet for passing dogs, so if you spot one, give plenty of distance and capture your dog’s focus-maybe even go back inside until you both are ready for the next step (tomorrow’s post).