I had a female Shetland Sheepdog years ago, Megan, that was incredibly bright, active and energetic but easily distracted. Obedience training was slow and difficult for her (and me). Then, once I began to pay attention to her and her needs, I saw the light. Remember, our interactions with our dogs are a partnership. Why force a dog, why risk turning off their happiness and enthusiasm and causing them to dislike what you are trying to accomplish with them in your partnership by resorting to force and punishment? Why take a risk that the dog will turn off and hate the training? This will only defeat your purpose.

When the light bulb came on for me our training came alive and it was a real delight to work with her. All it took was to see her and her needs in addition to my own, to accept that this was a partnership. Yes, I really did know this. I had trained other dogs before Megan, but none of them were as much of a challenge. Once they understood they could earn a treat/praise or other commonly used reward, they came alive and eagerly participated in our training sessions. Not so Megan. It wasn’t her fault, she had a different personality, different needs, a different mindset, a different agenda.

So what made our partnership come alive and start working? The one thing Megan dearly loved was playing soccer. She did headers, moved the ball with her nose and just went crazy when she saw kids/anyone playing or practicing with soccer balls. She was laser focused on the soccer ball and would not/could not think of anything else. I used that drive to help train her in obedience. When her soccer ball became her reward for doing as I asked, she quickly understood and was able to work with and for me. The reward was well worth the “ask” for her. She became so focused on the reward that she was able to tune out other distractions and work with me to get her reward. Once I found the best reward for her (before you ask, yes, she was a foodie but the soccer ball trumped all food treats), our training went into overdrive. The dog that could not sit still suddenly was able to give me reliable sit and down stays. Also, once she began to understand, food became more useful. The soccer ball was always the most important reward. I used it to help her understand behaviors and cement them into our repertoire, but as soon as the behavior was in place, I was able to use food as a secondary reward.

What a wonderful pup she was. She transferred her herding instinct into soccer (the balls were her sheep 🐏 🐑). She taught me so much. Together we fine tuned my training skills and we went on (as a team) to earn an American CD (AKC Companion Dog Title) and CDX (AKC Companion Dog Excellent title).