# Sitting and STAYING



## Murph's Mom (Dec 9, 2020)

My pup Murphy will be 12 weeks in a couple of days and I am so pleased with training so far! Currently when we're outside, he's fascinated by every car, person, bike, puppy, etc. that goes by. He responds to these things by just sitting and watching quietly (and hoping the person will come give him some loving). This became a bit of an "issue" when we were walking on the sidewalk a few houses up from our home. As we were walking a car tried to pull into the driveway of the house we happened to be in front of at the time. The issue- Murphy just sat there, right in front of the driveway, staring at the car. I was able to distract him enough to get him a few feet out of the way so the car could pull in, but he quickly reverted his attention back to the car and just sat on the sidewalk, staring at this person who was just trying to go home. Most of our neighbors are very dog friendly and would love a cute pup saying hello, but this person seemed to have no interest and appeared annoyed by Murphy (even though he was just sitting like a good boy). At this point, no amount of my distractions, treats, commands, anything was successful at getting Murphy to take his attention off this neighbor. Once the person finally went into their home and was out of sight, we were able to walk back down to our yard. 

I guess my question is, how should I have handled this situation? Or what skills should I be teaching to avoid this in the future? We are currently working on "come here" and he does well most of the time, but not when another person or more exciting distraction is around. He also meets several new people a week, but 90% of the time anyone we go around is highly interested in petting the cute little fluffy puppy so I think maybe he's expecting to get attention from anyone he sees? 

Apologizes for the lengthy post, I just want to make sure I know the "right" way to handle these situations in the future. Any and all advice would be appreciated!


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

I think you handled it just fine and really having a dog sit when he sees new people is a goal lots of people work to attain. Just keep working on getting him to focus on you and as he matures he'll be a great dog. One thing I learned here that was helpful is never let the pup ignore your call. If he's on a leash pull him to you or go get him. When I started really enforcing and rewarding, Rukie's recall improved to probably 98%.


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## DblTrblGolden2 (Aug 22, 2018)

I live on a farm but have a busy driveway at times. All of my dogs are trained that when they see a car they come to me and sit. They aren’t allowed outside without me unless they are in the fence. I would use this behavior to my advantage. You will eventually learn a hurry command with your heel. Then when you see a car you can say “hurry” cross the driveway and allow him to sit in a safe place And watch if you like.


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