Can you get a stubborn dog to focus? Can an independent breed reliably come when called?
The short answer is yes, you just have to do things a little differently.
I’ve written about this strategy before – see Is There Hope For Your Stubborn Dog?
Today, I want to share a real example of how we put it into practice.
If you’ve got one of these stubborn or “selective hearing” dogs, you know the drill:
At home, they’re a star student. They’ll do whatever you want for a treat.
But the moment you take them out into the world, it’s like you don’t exist. They’re too busy sniffing, exploring, or chasing after imaginary squirrels to pay attention. Calling their name feels about as effective as shouting into the void.
That’s exactly where Team Henry was when they joined our coaching program.
Adolescent “why should I?” personified
Henry was nine months old when we met him. Squarely in the rebellious teenage phase. He’s also a Chinook, which is a relatively new breed with a lot of the same ancestry (and independent streak) of northern breeds like huskies and malamutes.
Double trouble.
One of Team Henry’s biggest struggles: Leaving the dog park. Henry had no intention of giving up his off-leash freedom, so every trip ended with a frustrating game of “herd the dog into a corner.”
Fast forward to now, and Henry’s human, Katy, sent this update:
“My environmentally focused northern breed Chinook is now focused and engaged with me most of the time. I’ve been able to recall him at the dog park with a high success rate [Editor’s note: !!!!!] and he chooses to check in with me in highly distracting environments before running back to play again.”
Here’s how Team Henry achieved this
We started with a focus on building Henry’s connection with Katy.
The first step? Finding what truly lit him up. Through trial and error, we discovered a new favorite activity: social play (playing without toys, basically). It brought out a goofy, engaged side of him that Katy hadn’t seen before.
She described one breakthrough moment in a text to us:
“We had the first snow of the season, so that made everything outdoors extremely exciting for Henry. I used that as an opportunity to try more social play outdoors since no treat I had could compete with snow. We played chase in the fresh snow. I threw handfuls up in the air for him, and we rolled around on the ground making snow/doggy angels together. Social play continues to be a big thing for him.”
We met Henry where he was at. Instead of labelling his hobbies as “distractions,” we used them as opportunities:
He loved to sniff, so Katy pointed out areas that might smell interesting. He liked finding sticks to chew, so she helped him find the best ones.
This made walks feel like a cooperative adventure rather than a war for his attention.
Long-line walks in the woods became a major part of Henry’s training:
Rather than restricting his freedom to force engagement, we actually gave him more freedom.
He got to explore and get all his enrichment needs met, which meant he didn’t have to act like a starving kid in a candy store every time he was outside.
After that, he was able to focus better, and we started incorporating more engagement exercises during these walks.
Turning Distractions into Rewards
Instead of fighting with the distractions in your dog’s environment, you can put them to work for you and turn them into rewards. The first exercise I always use to teach dogs this concept is one I call the Slingshot Game, where a dog moves away from something they want in order to earn access to it.
That was a terrible choice for Henry.
He didn’t really get it, and the whole experience was frustrating for both of them, even though Katy was very diplomatic about it to spare my feelings. Very kind.
Alright, f**k the Slingshot Game, I said.
Not in those exact words, probably.
We broke it into smaller, easier pieces to make it easy for him to succeed at every step. This is critical for independent types, as any degree of frustration can extinguish their tiny ember of interest in training.
We also worked on reinforcing “check-ins,” rewarding Henry for voluntarily reorienting to Katy, even in distracting environments. He didn’t need to make direct eye contact; just turning an ear toward her or glancing in her direction was enough to earn a reward. This, combined with the shared exploration thing, built a habit of keeping an eye on his teammate, rather than disappearing into his own world.
Solving the Dog Park Dilemma
We started by asking an important question:
Why was leaving the dog park such a bad thing?
Because it signals the end of fun, of course.
So we changed that.
We created a ritual where, immediately after leaving the dog park, Henry and Katy would head next door to the regular park for another favorite activity, like exploring, sniffing, or playing. Leaving the dog park no longer meant the fun was over. It just meant it was time for the next adventure.
Leaving the dog park became something to look forward to.
And sure, we did start on formal recall work eventually.
But instead of doing endless drills (which can make dogs less likely to respond over time), we conditioned it to create the Hell Yes response. See, most dogs have conditioned phrases that make them immediately snap to attention and say HELL YES!
Phrases like:
Wanna go for a walk?
Want a treat?
Dinnertime!
Sometimes they aren’t even words. Just the sound of the treat container opening is enough to make a lot of dogs come running.
Most dogs learn these “cues” by accident, but you can take the same approach to conditioning new phrases on purpose.
We conditioned the recall cue to predict amazing things and spark excitement, making it something that Henry wanted to respond to.
And what do ya know, it worked!
Katy’s update continues:
“At his heart, he is still a spirited northern breed and I would never want that to change, but now he is choosing to engage at times in a more similar manner to how a handler focused dog like a Shepherd might. It’s been really awesome to see and has really helped increase our bond and relationship.”
We LOVE this because it perfectly captures the spirit of this approach.
It’s not about changing who your dog is – it’s about building a partnership that works with their instincts instead of squashing them.
By embracing Henry’s natural drives, Katy went from chasing him around the dog park to having a dog who chose to stick with her.
That’s the magic of engagement training. It’s about getting your dog to want to pay attention, because they know life is better when you’re in it together.
How we can help:
Team Henry found success with the Focus Fido coaching program, which you can read about at the link above.
Get the Engagement & Focus Foundation course
Not ready to commit to coaching? This course introduces a lot of the exercises and strategy we used with Team Henry. It’s a good budget-friendly way to start seeing some results.
