To have a calm dog at home, you need to work on three areas:
1) Clear Boundaries
2) Clear Communication
3) Trust Building Exercises
Most conventional "Sit and have a treat" style training does not address any of these issues so if you're feeling a bit lost in the world of dogmanship, you're not alone!
Dogs instinctively want to defend and protect. You may not think that's what they are doing, but if you try and step into "perfect position" which blocks their line of sight on a walk, you will probably find they are pushing forwards, pulling back or ducking and bobbing their head to make sure they can still see everything.
The problem you face is that points 1, 2 and 3 (Boundaries, Clear Communication and Trust) are all connected - a dog won't listen among distractions if they do not trust you to protect them from those things and you cannot create boundaries without them listening to you.
To get started you need to change your communication style...start teaching boundaries and then go out on a walk to practice some trust building exercises. It takes practice and commitment - weekly classes are best! But I'm working on getting some training videos up on my website so that you can practice these where weekly classes are not an option.
If you ARE keen on weekly classes...I recommend The Alpha Canine Group in Knoxfield. All work is vocal tone based, they teach you boundaries, clear communication and each week includes trust building exercises under maximum distraction. And their memberships are for LIFE, so you have no excuses not to keep on attending.
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