and today even Jackpot treats weren't as exciting as the vets office and sidewalk were visited in town today. SIGH!!! I have yet to get her attention with anything on a consistent basis. She has very selective hearing.
You know, when things are really distracting, you can use those distractions as her rewards. It's called the Premack Principle and basically goes like this: if you eat your vegetables, you get dessert. That is, you can strengthen a less likely behaviour (being attentive to you) with a more likely behaviour (doing what she really wants to do). The idea is, you become the gateway to everything good. If she wants to sniff, she has to look at you first. If she wants to chase a leaf, she can do, once she's given you attention and you've told her to go. If she wants to say hi to someone, she has to sit until she's released. You can practice this at home to start with with treats. Put a treat on the floor but don't let her get at it. You can gently restrain her if you need, but don't give her a "leave" cue or any other ah-ah noises etc. Instead, if she tries to get the treat, simply and silently put your hand or foot over it. Then you give her a "get it" release and she can have it. Practice this and you'll end up with a puppy who backs off and gives you attention when you throw the treat on the floor because that's how she gets to have it. So that's treats, but the same thing applies to anything she wants. You can practice the same drill with toys. And when there's something good to sniff on a walk (lamp posts are pretty much guaranteed to be smelly), you can do the same there - a slight restraint (literally a hand lightly placed across her chest so she can't get to it) to start off with and then a release which could be "get it" but you could also use a different one, like "go sniff". If you make yourself the door through which she has to pass to get to the good stuff, where she has to wait for that release cue, you end up strengthening the not dragging you around (eating her vegetables) by allowing her access, on your terms, to what she wants (getting dessert).
Thank you for the clear information. Tried it today on a short walk to collect the trash can. She's a handful but I didn't move till she looked at me. Took 15 minutes to walk 50 feet - ok maybe not that long. I was more attentive with using this skill while we did breakfast toss and catch/leave it.
I have the same problem. I live in the country where I have to compete on walks through the property with the smells of squirrels, chipmunks, hares, worms, deer, and even deer poo. Additionally there are sounds in the woods, and sights of trucks going by out front. There is simply no treat that can compete with these smells, sights, and sounds. 210 million smell receptors are wildly at work.
It will eventually keep at it do the ground work it takes a while for their brains to engage there's too many butterflies in there. You won't get perfection or even just good yet but in 2 years the work you do now will mature like they do. They do listen when they mature you do become the most important thing in their world it just takes time.
We could get our 14 year old Lab to pay attention, but eventually I had to got to a gentle leader leash. He was the sweetest dog of all the dogs we have ever had, but he would choke himself to drag you forward. On our property he was more interested in his frisbee than anything else. But out on a trail, forget it. Just too many smells that he never had in his home environment. But he behaved. He came when called even when the smells were intense.
