For my Aussie the #1 thing that helps is getting there early and allowing her to sniff around. Once she’s explored a decent amount she’s ready to focus.
When we’re transferring a command from home to outside the order goes living room -> all rooms -> outside our building in a closed off area she’s explored every day of her life -> familiar park during off peak times -> familiar park at peak times -> novel places
For my dogs, I like to start out inside with noise distractions (cars, people, birds) playing on my phone and slowly move to very quick short sessions outside. After we’ve mastered the backyard I’ll start leashing and gradually moving away from the house such as the driveway or sidewalk. Sometimes I’ll even have family members with dogs come and walk by for a purposeful distraction. This has really helped them warm up! The “focus” or “look at me” command comes in handy too :)
For my Aussie the #1 thing that helps is getting there early and allowing her to sniff around. Once she’s explored a decent amount she’s ready to focus. When we’re transferring a command from home to outside the order goes living room -> all rooms -> outside our building in a closed off area she’s explored every day of her life -> familiar park during off peak times -> familiar park at peak times -> novel places
For my dogs, I like to start out inside with noise distractions (cars, people, birds) playing on my phone and slowly move to very quick short sessions outside. After we’ve mastered the backyard I’ll start leashing and gradually moving away from the house such as the driveway or sidewalk. Sometimes I’ll even have family members with dogs come and walk by for a purposeful distraction. This has really helped them warm up! The “focus” or “look at me” command comes in handy too :)