When we talk about dog motivation and engagement, we are talking about building a dog that genuinely wants to work with you. A well engaged dog is focused, driven and actively choosing their handler over the environment.
The GOAL is simple. You should be more rewarding than the distractions.
Your struggling because you’re unintentionally boring your dog. The same routines, low energy handling, and predictable rewards mean the environment quickly becomes more exciting than YOU. When this happens, pulling focus away from smells, other dogs or prey movements becomes a losing battle.
YOU ARE ALWAYS COMPETING.
If you’re competing with the environment and it offers more value than you do, your dog will choose it every time. That is not bad behaviour. It’s how motivation works.
Strong engagement training is not about, shouting louder or constantly paying for eye contact, its about building value in YOU through energy, clarity, structure, and meaningful rewards. When done properly, your dog will check in, offer behaviours and stay focused even around distractions.
The good news is this can be fixed. Improving your engagement, and focus impacts everything - want a better recall and overall behaviour to improve.
A dog that chooses you first starts with an owner worth choosing. | 
