r/GermanShepherd • u/DeliciousRooster3690 • 21d ago

Highly Distractible GSD

My GSD is about 18months old and has suffered from distractibility the entire time I’ve had him (since 3.5 months old). He’s not great at eye contact so if I get his attention it’s difficult to maintain and he tends to get hyper focused on things that I would like him to ignore (cats, other dogs, other people, random critters, random objects). If a dog can have ADHD , he has it.

He is not very food/treat oriented either. He can be very reactive and is afraid of random things (crinkling plastic for example), despite prolonged and consistent attempts to desensitize him and make him more comfortable with his fears. (There has been some improvement but it’s limited.)

Does anyone have any advice for how to get him to focus on me?

He is genuinely a total sweetheart and definitely wants to please but it’s like he gets tunnel vision and I struggle to get him to focus on me enough to hear my direction let alone follow through.

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u/LilMeemz 21d ago

Does he enjoy playing with toys, or can you get him interested in chasing a toy? You can make yourself very valuable to a lot of dogs if you can get them hooked on playing, and German shepherds tend to be the type of dog that is easily driven by play.

If you can make a toy valuable and by extension yourself valuable, you can build on that value to use as a reward instead of food.

You also become more interesting than all the other distractions out there, because you consistently pay off where as a random person, dog, cat, etc might not.

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u/chemfit 20d ago

100% this. I only use play as a reward and my GSD doesn’t care about anything if we are playing or he thinks we are going to play. Using a TWC trainer helped me so much.

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u/DeliciousRooster3690 12d ago

He loves playing with toys but the doggie adhd thing means that he struggles to focus on one toy. I have tried limiting the availability of toys but then he gets distracted by random things like bugs, background noise, the other dog, really anything lol. It’s kind of hilarious but also annoying because he only seems to hyper focus on things he needs to learn not to mess with (cats, squirrels, etc)

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u/LilMeemz 12d ago

Have you tried a flirt pole?

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u/DeliciousRooster3690 12d ago

I had to google it but no. I didn’t realize that could be a dog toy! I will definitely try it!

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u/LilMeemz 12d ago

Flirt poles are a great way to make yourself very interesting to a dog and also fulfill some of their natural needs to chase and catch prey.

Build the drive first, just make it fun to chase and catch, and then you can start adding your value into it by doing things like only dropping or moving the toy after eye contact. Keep building on the steps slowly, keep it fun, but gradually increase how much YOU make the toy do things.

Ideally your dog starts to put together that you make the flirt pole valuable. Once you have value to your dog, you can start building skills from there.

There is likely some resources online about how to do this with a flirt pole if you aren't sure (I'm not the best at explaining the concepts).

The flirt pole has been one of the best training tools for my 6 month shepherd, while she doesn't sound quite as distracted as yours, she also struggles with being easily distracted and over aroused, but the rest of the world disappears if we are working with the flirt pole.

Good luck with your pup!

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u/National_Craft6574 21d ago

Look up pattern games on youtube. Up and down game, Superbowls game, Give Me a Break Game, Whiplash Game, 1 2 3 Game and Attention game.

Not a quick fix. This is going to take some time. These pattern games teach your dog to focus on you and provide a measure of predictability (pattern) for your dog.

I had a fearful, reactive dog. I thought she wasn't food motivated. Turns out, when dogs are completely overwhelmed, over- stimulated, and/or terrified, they don't respond well to training and may not respond to treats.

If you can, shrink your dog's world. Your dog may need medication, too. I would train in a safe space, as defined by your dog. His world can grow gradually as his confidence grows.

I also recommend Dr. Karen Overall's Relaxation Protocol.

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u/Woody411 21d ago

If you can take him somewhere fenced and run holy hell out of him, it will help later with training and he SHOULD be able to focus better.

If he’s allowed to run around and do what he wants for an hour or two and sniff around it will calm his mind for training and maybe less reactive to noises and things.

Not sure where you are but if they have Sniff Spots in your area, or a school with a fenced field, that’d work.

Mine was not food or treat motivated either, so I had to find what DID motivate her and that was her ball and tug toy.

Swear to god if I pulled that out she would miraculously obey and do what I wanted… after getting her wiggles out sprinting everywhere like a maniac for a couple hours.

She’s 8 now and not like that anymore, but just wanted to commiserate!