Teaching your dog to automatically disengage from distractions in the environment and focus on you instead is a brilliant skill for adolescent dogs. In effect the distraction becomes a cue to check in with you.

To start with you are going to reward your dog whenever they look at another dog, person or other distraction in the environment.

Once you have made the association that these distractions mean good things come from you, you can start to wait for your dog to look at you without prompting when they notice the distraction. When they look to you, move further away from the distraction and reward.

Begin at a distance and give your dog as much time as they need. If they take more than a few seconds, consider increasing the distance between you and the distraction to make it easier for your dog next time.

If they’re doing really well, and promptly checking in, you can start to work closer to distractions

Practicing this in plenty of environments around different distractions will help your teen remain calm and focused wherever you are.