Our boy Kona has been enrolled in obedience classes ever since he was 12 weeks old. I know this is early, but where I live there are no puppy socialisation classes available, so we took him to the obedience classes so he could interact with the other dogs before and during the classes during breaks.

He is now 4 months old and the classes are going well. If he knows we exist, he can walk on a lead well, sit, down, stand and stay. But when there are other dogs around his attention span is almost zero, and it's as if we don't exist!! I know this is puppy behaviour, so we don't get angry/frustrated with him at all. But we were wondering, when can we expect to get him to focus on us during the classes? We do training with him everyday, and even in new environments he does really well. It's just when other dogs are around that he gets so distracted. At what age approximately can we expect him to be able to focus on us even when there are other dogs around?
:quest:

He's 4 months old. Don't expect too much. I don't think you took your dog to obedience too early either. Grace started at 11.5 weeks!

Are you training with treats? I use them in our classes and we teach WATCH. I have got the full attention of Grace who is SUPER food motivated. If your dog doesn't like food, but likes toys, hold a ball up to your face to make him watch you closely.

Thanks for the tip!

I'll take a few treats and a tennis ball to the class on Thursday and see how it goes. Hopefully I won't have the attention of the whole class!! :floor

My 5 month old Bodhi has the greatest attention. Others in our class have asked how I do it. Advice I got from who knows where... You have to be more fun than anything else going on. When I started with Bailey two years ago- being a new dog owner, I felt kinda silly acting so silly when not in the privay of my own home. But the truth is- it really works! Earlier this summer, I sat watching a very advanced class- and I watched how people worked with their dogs durning training time outs- they were playful and silly-special toys or games.