When Your Dog Tunes You Out: Understanding Competing Motivators
How to train engagement that holds up when it matters most...
Have you tried calling your dog while they’re locked onto another dog, squirrel, or scent trail and gotten nothing but a blank stare (if that)? You’re not alone.
In a comment on a post from Dog Snobs, I recently shared some thoughts on a tool called the Pet Corrector, which can be helpful in the moment to interrupt that kind of fixation. However, as a trainer and coach, my goal isn’t just to stop the behaviour temporarily; it’s to understand why it’s happening and build a training plan that prevents it in the first place.
In most cases, the root issue is this:
The environment holds more value than the handler.
Your dog is making a choice because that other dog, rabbit, or rustling bush is more interesting, exciting, or rewarding than engaging with you.
The solution?
We need to shift that balance of value. And that doesn’t happen in the heat of the moment; it happens in training.
I created a diagram to show how different motivators “compete” in your dog’s environment.
Take a look, and think about how your dog responds in different situations. What’s most rewarding to them? What pulls their attention away from you?
Practicing in Layers: Low → Medium → High Distraction
To build reliability, train like you’re climbing a ladder:
🔹 Low Distraction:
Start in quiet, familiar spaces (your living room, backyard). Use high-value rewards, play, or food, and reward frequently for engagement, eye contact, checking in, and following cues. Make this experience so much fun for the dog that they want more!
🔹 Medium Distraction:
Move to new places such as an empty park, a quiet street, or a field with some background activity. Now you’re competing with birds, smells, and movement. Practice asking for simple behaviours and reward generously with play, high-value food, or whatever your dog finds most reinforcing. Dance and play like no one’s watching here!
🔹 High Distraction:
This is real life. Find busy trails, other dogs, wildlife, people, and unpredictability. This is where the work pays off, not where it starts. Use tools if needed (long lines, interrupters, management), but only as a backup. Your dog’s engagement should be built, not forced. If it’s not working here, go back to the drawing board and reassess the previous levels.
In search and rescue training, play was our primary reward when the dog successfully found the “victim.” While we sometimes used food, we mostly relied on tugs or balls, and we always tailored the reward to whatever lit the dog up the most. If that meant rolling on the ground, we rolled. If they needed a chase, we ran. The goal was simple: become more valuable than anything else in the environment. If the distraction is worth $100 to your dog, you need to be worth more.
Training engagement is about relationship and repetition, not just control. Tools can help in a pinch, but nothing replaces the work you put in to build lasting, voluntary connections.
I’d love to hear from you:
Where does your dog struggle most to stay engaged? What environment feels like your “next step” to practice?
Drop a comment below or share your thoughts!
Happy training,
– Karl MacPhee
IDTP, CPCC, PCC
FireTeam K9 Trainer/Coach
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
I'm really glad you wrote this in response to my post. I half expected it, actually. Dezi inside and outside the yard are Iike jekyll and hyde lol. She is perfect at home.
Have you ever come across a situation where you just know the dog will always be the way it is?