Some of you may have seen this when I posted it on Facebook over the weekend. This is one of my clients working her dog Ruck on off-leash reliability. This is just a small clip of our one hour session; however, Ruck was pretty much at the same level of focus for the entire hour. The main thing that makes this situation so perfect and the dog so reliable is his 100% attention to his owner. Through play, she is keeping him fully focused on her. When your dog looks like this, there is no worry that they are going to leave you and run out into the street, chase a squirrel, or follow another dog walking by. This dog is absolutely committed to his owner because he loves her and he thinks she is FUN!
Even though building up a dog's reliability in this way takes time. It takes lots of reptitions of reinforced recalls, place training, and attention. It takes lots of building up of play drive. This method with get you a much more reliable dog in the long term, since your dog will just continue to get better and better over time. You become better than any other person, dog, or squirrel.
I hope this video inspires you to get out and work with your dog! Happy training!