Building off of last week’s topic of polite ordering, now that you’ve got your beverage you need your dog to be able to walk past distraction smoothly to get back to your table. Start with your basic loose leash walking behaviors and build off of those!
When walking past other people or distractions, reward more frequently to make yourself more exciting than the distraction. You can set up a simulation of this at home by making an obstacle course of chairs. You need your dog to be able to navigate small spaces, so put the chairs closer together, then practice walking through them, rewarding more when in the tight spaces.
Then, add some of your dog’s favorite toys along the way in the obstacle course as a distraction. Again, reward more generously when passing the distraction to keep your dog’s focus on you. As you practice, you can try passing the distractions without an immediate reward, but make sure to still mark (verbally praise with “Good Dog!” or “Yes!”). Then reward your dog when you make it to the end of the obstacle course. This will translate to when your hands are full with a beer in one hand and a leash in the other and you are trying to make it back to your table. You now get to enjoy your beer!
