Walk is more than chicken

[angelala]

I have a fluffy maltese which is 1y.o.. Whenever i walk him to the park or grassland and want to train him, he always ignore my treat and wants to go somewhere else and sniff. It seems like my command and treat doesn't make any impact on him when he is out. He is fine in the house and I walk him at least twice a day for up to at least 1 hr a day.

[andym]

dunno if u use the same field or area all the time but i found is hard work trying to train my dog less she had a good sniff in the area for at least 15 mins then a bit of a play and bring training into it, so i might throw a ball for a while let her fetch it and bring it back or just let her sit with it, when i want to start training instead of letting her sit with it i will recall her back, then work from there.

[arbie]

Hi angelala. I had the same trouble with my rottweiler pup. He always starts off with a serious spell of play, be it a ball , a stick he's picked up or whatever is handy. While he was at play, enjoying himself my commands fell on deaf ears, that is until I bought a common referee's whistle,{ as demonstrated by Victoria last week}. I've been using it for just two days and the result is I'm fast running out of treats. It's well worth £5 pound or so.

[Aidan]

Commands in new places are like brand new commands, but they learn them a little quicker each time you do it.

Can you use these same commands in each room of the house?

Can you use these same commands in your front and back yards?

Can you use these same commands at a friend's house?

Can you use these same commands on-lead at the field?

Work on your commands in each location in this order. Start at the beginning as it it's a new behaviour each time. Sometimes this will mean simply rewarding her for paying attention to you very briefly, even accidentally!

A little shortcut, if you crouch down they will often come over and see what you're up to. I'm pretty sure Victoria uses this trick.