Puppy only interested in environment / extremely distracted

Hi and Welcome to you and your pup!

At the moment, I don't have specific advice but want to assure you of a couple of things. Your puppy sounds quite normal, and as a very young puppy, it's far too soon to even begin placing labels on him.

Lilli_123 said:

I specifically wished for an easy to train puppy from the breeder

Click to expand...

I don't know how a breeder can make that kind of promise, first of all, but whether "easy to train" or not, you'll both get there. Poodles are very smart but smart doesn't mean easy. It can often mean challenging however . They are soooo worth it!

Lilli_123 said:

none of them say what to do if the puppy refuses to pay any attention at all. I am trying my best but scared that he will grow up to be very badly behaved.

Click to expand...

I would say that your puppy isn't "refusing" to pay attention, he's still adjusting to a completely new family, environment, rules, and so on. Puppies, especially as young as he is, need time to adjust. I also wouldn't worry about him growing up to be badly behaved. In a sense, puppies can't help it until they are shown what to do.

Lilli_123 said:

His nose is on the ground sniffing constantly and I am having a really hard time catching his attention at all.

Click to expand...

Are you outside playing with him, or trying at least, or just out for potty business? One of our members who is a CPDT-KA trainer talks about creating "centripetal attraction" by engaging pups to simply follow them around the yard. If you move away from him, does he follow? If you throw a ball, will he chase it?

I'm quoting her here

lily cd re said:

I do also agree that the first thing to get a puppy to understand is that you are always there to support them and keep them safe, but I also think you have to let them see and engage with the world as noted at their own pace and level of comfort.

Click to expand...

and there are a number of threads on this topic alone. I'm going to link to one because lily cd re and our other CPDT-KA trainer, Click-N-Treat, are involved in the discussion.
(10) What are we doing wrong? | Poodle Forum

This is a very good article to help see things from your puppy's eyes.
Kidnapped From Planet Dog - Whole Dog Journal (whole-dog-journal.com)

At just over 9weeks old, it sounds like he might even be overwhelmed by all the activities.
What's his daily routine with your family? how much sleep does he get?

Lilli_123 said:

I have read lots of books to prepare before he arrived

Click to expand...

If you haven't read these, please do. They're quick reads and always recommended here.

• Ian Dunbar: Before You Get Your Puppy
• Ian Dunbar: After You Get Your Puppy

I recommend this whole section, in fact.

Others will drop by to offer support. Know that the full knowledge of Poodle Forum is here for you.

Sounds like a perfectly normal puppy. I agree with your trainer, use a higher value treat (maybe something just slightly better than the kibble- but most puppies won’t give you the time of day outside without something very delicious), keep sessions very short and spread far apart (like 30 seconds- 3 minutes every 3 hours for example), and most importantly bond with your puppy through observing them without pressuring them and playing (try to teach them to enjoy toys, it will help you immensely with training). I really wouldn’t do much training on a walk or expect a baby to pay attention to me. In fact I don’t think I would be walking a 9 week old at all, since they’re not protected against parvo. If that wasn’ta factor though, I would put them on a harness and long lead and let them explore and learn to be comfortable outside. Meanwhile watch them, be very patient, when they look at you or walk back to you WITHOUT prompting, throw a party and rain treats on them, then leave them alone again and let them explore. Over time this is whats going to build that attention span and value for paying attention to you. During the day too, if you catch your puppy looking at you say “YES!!” and give them a cookie. Do this all the time and you’ll have a dog that never takes their eyes off you lol.

Thank you all so much for your kind replies. I tend to worry a lot and really don’t want to make any mistakes. Puppy class did throw me off too, because he was so much more distracted than any of the other pups. I am so happy to hear you think he is acting like a normal puppy tough.

Rose n Poos said:

Are you outside playing with him, or trying at least, or just out for potty business? One of our members who is a CPDT-KA trainer talks about creating "centripetal attraction" by engaging pups to simply follow them around the yard. If you move away from him, does he follow? If you throw a ball, will he chase it?

Click to expand...

We do play outside, mostly on the porch as i have to have him on leash in the yard. But I will try and put him on a long line to play in the yard as well. He likes to play tug and will chase a ball too.
If I move away in the yard he does not care, mostly because he already knows his way around there I think. Out on walks he loosly follows me in that he keeps zooming around to the left and right of where I am walking and will catch up if I move too far away. He will usually not look at me though. Where I live it is generally recommended to take puppies out even before they have all their vaccinations. I did do fewer walks in the beginning, but then he had lots of extra energy he used for jumping and biting me...

I will try and work on generally being more exciting .

Rose n Poos said:

At just over 9weeks old, it sounds like he might even be overwhelmed by all the activities.
What's his daily routine with your family? how much sleep does he get?

Click to expand...

Our schedule is still moving around a bit. Currently during the day mostly he will sleep for around 2 hours, have a potty break (5 mins), a short play session (5-10 mins), roam around a bit inside where I can see him, then back to sleep. Three times a day I do a short walk (~15 mins) instead of the potty break, plus we cuddle in between. We also take the car to go somewhere (puppy class, short visit to family, vet, socialization) instead of our evening walk some days.

Phaz23 said:

I agree with your trainer, use a higher value treat (maybe something just slightly better than the kibble- but most puppies won’t give you the time of day outside without something very delicious)

Click to expand...

Would you not be worried about him refusing his normal food, now or later? I am wary of ignoring the breeder's recommendation as they were very insistent on this point.


Thanks everyone for the reading recommenations, I will look into all of them. Ian Dunbar's books I have read already.

If your yard is fenced I don't think you need a leash. I never bothered with the leash since I have a fenced yard. My yard has tons of distractions including chickens so it was a great place to develop that bonding that is the basis of so many important things like rock solid recalls. The only thing that prevents Javelin from recalling is if he is eliminating. I only ever call him one time and if he doesn't show up right away I just wait rather than calling again. His recall is proofed against not just crazy birds, but also being in the middle of evacuating his bowel.

Start working on the puppy bond that makes the centripetal attraction develop in the house if you worry about distractedness (always start with lowest level distractions). You can use toys that you can play with puppy directly then get up and wiggle the toy and trot off to another room. Make sure you make it possible for pup to easily catch you and then engage with you and the toy again. The toy is yours and you control access to it such that pup will follow you to get that interaction. Once you have that engagement in the house then go to the porch. Put up a blocker so the puppy can't get out as you repeat the same process in a more distraction laden location and then you you will go out in your yard and repeat the process.

He really does sound like a normal puppy. He's just a a baby. They take a while to grow up. Have you ever tried to help a 4 year old human make a picture with bits of construction paper? Part of the time they are cutting out the paper shapes. Part of the time they are pasting the shapes to the paper backing. The rest of the time they are seeing what else the scissors will cut and are eating the paste. It doesn't mean the kid is bad or unteachable. It doesn't mean you are wasting your time with art projects. It just means the kid is a kid.

If you happen to have a herding breed in your puppy class, don't make the mistake of comparing your pup to that one. Shepherds and collies tend to have laser focus on their handlers. It's just the nature of these breeds. You will get good focus too if you play lots of fun games and keep things exciting for him. It will just come later after you have been working with him a while.

I deal with treats by keeping a variety of flavors in my pouch. I find that having a variety of flavors keeps the puppy interested. He wants to know the next flavor to come out of my pocket. So I might reward with a piece of kibble, then a piece of dried liver, then two more pieces of kibble, then a dried minnow. Including kibble in the mix also helps ward off diarrhea. Giving an entire pouch of dried liver to a 10 week old puppy will have wetly explosive results, shall we say. Too high value, like steak, might overwhelm the puppy in some situations. He can't think about anything apart from diving into my pocket to get some of that steak. Too low and the dog won't work. What is too high or too low depends on the situation. In my living room I might be able to practice with kibble. In class I might need to use steak or chicken pieces to get his attention back from another puppy.

At this age the puppy class really should be about socialization and learning to learn. My current puppy Ritter didn't really master how to sit or lie down in his puppy class. I taught these at home. What was invaluable were all the other experiences. He learned not to be scared in a big echoing room and not freak out when someone knocks over a chair. He learned that sometime he gets to play with other puppies and sometimes he doesn't. He learned that sometimes we run around and sometimes we just sit and watch someone else run around. Again, think of pre-school for 4 year olds. You aren't expecting the kid to come out knowing long division. Everyone is usually happy with a kid that can get along with other kids, pay attention to the teacher, and (hopefully) not eat paste.

I have very few expectations for young puppies actually learning. I want puppies to be exposed to a ton of sights and sounds in a positive way while they are still little sponges open to socialization, and learn to find me valuable when offleash outside. I like to disappear out of sight when my puppy isn't watching. It causes a bit of stress and teaches them to pay attention to where I am and follow me while they are still at the stage where they are afraid to be left alone. Plus I work on recall. Lots of sniffing and exploring and teaching puppy to jump on things and go over and under etc.

Housetraining, sit, down, stay, good leash walking, etc are bonuses, not focuses for me with a young puppy. Plenty of time when puppy has a bit more attention span to learn those things. I have taught adult dogs sit and down in a single session, and housetrained adult dogs in 2 days. Puppies take longer, and that's normal.

I also came from herding breeds and found my poodle highly distractable. 30 s sessions were far more helpful than 30 min sessions. I noticed I would come back the day after trying to teach something, absolutely frustrated because my puppy didn't understand, and she'd do it perfectly the first time the next day. It was like she needed to sleep on it, not more repetitions.

Handfeeding can also be good for bond building.

If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend this thread and Dr. Sophia Yin's socialization checklist there.


Oh - and pictures, please?

Breathe. Breathe again. It will be ok. I had a distracted poodle puppy. She was nothing like all of the other puppies in class. A super ball in a room full of marbles. Noelle stood out and I thought I was the worst dog trainer.

To help you dog learn to pay attention... Stop trying to get your dog's attention. Just go outside, with your dog on a leash, and a pocket full of very tasty things. Hang out on a chair and watch your puppy. Sniff here, sniff there, look here, race there, just wait. Do nothing. Say nothing. Wait for the puppy to notice you. The instant your puppy notices you, become the fun machine. Treats, praise, love, affection. Puppy turns away, you become silent and wait.

You might wait a long long time. Wait for your dog to make contact and praise and treat and praise and treat as long as the puppy is paying attention. First few check-ins take a long time. By the fifth check-in, you'll notice the interval getting shorter. And shorter, and eventually your puppy will check in with you every few seconds.

If you push, and prod, and insist, and make weird noises, and do things to get your dog's attention, you will slow this process to a crawl. Make it the puppy's choice and you will see your puppy choose to connect with you. When you step outside, your puppy is like a five-year-old in Disneyland. Everything is attractive and interesting. Your puppy has not learned yet that YOU are the most interesting thing out there. This exercise will teach your puppy that you are valuable. http://www.mwbcr.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Auto-Check-In.pdf This is one of the most useful skills to train a dog. More useful than sit. Everything else will flow from this starting point.

Once you have the puppy choosing you out of all the distractions in the environment, you'll be able to use that to play hide and seek behind trees. And make a huge deal out of the puppy finding you. When your puppy chooses you out of all the other things in the environment to interact with, that's worthy of a celebration. If you celebrate those choices, you'll be off to a great start.

Lilli_123 said:

Thank you all so much for your kind replies. I tend to worry a lot and really don’t want to make any mistakes. Puppy class did throw me off too, because he was so much more distracted than any of the other pups. I am so happy to hear you think he is acting like a normal puppy tough.


We do play outside, mostly on the porch as i have to have him on leash in the yard. But I will try and put him on a long line to play in the yard as well. He likes to play tug and will chase a ball too.
If I move away in the yard he does not care, mostly because he already knows his way around there I think. Out on walks he loosly follows me in that he keeps zooming around to the left and right of where I am walking and will catch up if I move too far away. He will usually not look at me though. Where I live it is generally recommended to take puppies out even before they have all their vaccinations. I did do fewer walks in the beginning, but then he had lots of extra energy he used for jumping and biting me...

I will try and work on generally being more exciting .


Our schedule is still moving around a bit. Currently during the day mostly he will sleep for around 2 hours, have a potty break (5 mins), a short play session (5-10 mins), roam around a bit inside where I can see him, then back to sleep. Three times a day I do a short walk (~15 mins) instead of the potty break, plus we cuddle in between. We also take the car to go somewhere (puppy class, short visit to family, vet, socialization) instead of our evening walk some days.


Would you not be worried about him refusing his normal food, now or later? I am wary of ignoring the breeder's recommendation as they were very insistent on this point.


Thanks everyone for the reading recommenations, I will look into all of them. Ian Dunbar's books I have read already.

Click to expand...

Re: food

tbh it sounds like the normal food might be a bore. If I only fed my dog kibble, he would probably go on a hunger strike. He eats a variety of freeze dried raw foods and healthy table scraps. I give him meats and cheeses for training treats, and yes sometimes he does turn his nose up at his regular food and tries to live purely off of cheddar cheese lol but hunger eventually strikes and he chows down. If you’re very worried though, try to make play his biggest reward and get him hooked on toys and then you won’t have to worry about treats.

Also my dog is brilliant but doesn’t act like a border collie, australian shepherd, or visla so in puppy class we were not necessarily the “strongest” looking group and he’s not a food hound, BUT training wise (and intelligence lol) mine was far more advanced than the other puppies, he’s just not into doing repetitive tasks once he understands something and is curious about the world so puppy class is a bore but grass is awesome. That’s actually why I ended up training him for nosework which he is intensely focused in, he is 5lbs and will DRAG me to a scent. All this is to say, is don’t compare yourself to others, only pay attention to the dog in front of you, and learn about what they love. When they develop a strong preference for something and you have that relationship, then incorporate that into training as a source of fun and reinforcement.

A book I highly recommend about puppy focus is Control Unleashed: Puppy Program


Another small note, sometimes excessive sniffing is a sign of stress, so make sure your puppy is feeling okay in those classes and calm, and don’t pressure him too much or you might push him into reactivity when he’s trying to learn how to be calm around other dogs by keeping his head down and nose busy.

On the topic of treats, now is also the time to start teaching your puppy to have a soft mouth when taking treats from you. Puppies naturally get excited at the prospect of a tasty treat. They tend to nip at your fingertips with great enthusiasm, and they may even jump at your hand. People, naturally, don't enjoy getting nipped with sharp little puppy teeth. The instinctive reaction is to let go the treat and snatch your hand back to safety. Unfortunately, this instinct simply encourages the puppy to nip harder and jump higher. You may even draw blood if the puppy accidentally catches you with a sharp little fang.

Instead, keep the treat between your fingers until you feel the puppy's tongue come up to lap the treat. Think of it like setting the treat on his tongue. You will feel his teeth - it's unavoidable - but the tooth pressure should be gentle, only strong enough to keep the treat from falling back out of his mouth. If he bites down hard don't surrender to your sense of self preservation. Leave your fingers in his mouth. Hold old onto to the treat until he releases the pressure and laps the treat instead. Then let the treat sit on his tongue.

By consistently insisting on gentleness when taking treats you will encourage him to have a soft mouth. You will also discourage him later from leaping at your food when you are carrying a sandwich or a dinner plate

Thanks again for all your encouragement, I am feeling more confident already. I will probably give up on the no treat strategy and also keep working through your other recommendations. The puppy already appreciates the extra play sessions