I have a female doberman that just turned 1 year old recently.   I have worked on obedience training with her since she was a puppy.   She seems extremely smart and eager to please for the most part.  Most of the easier, basic commands she gets a grasp of in about 5-10 minutes.  By the next day she can usually do them on the first command, even at distance.  

She is EXTREMELY food driven.  So I use a mix of high quality treats combined with positive reinforcement.   I mix it up so she doesn't expect to get food every time which seems to have worked so far.  I use a verbal command along with a hand gesture for each command.  Things she does very well now are:  heel, sit and hold at distance, down and hold at distance, placing exactly where I want her (distance doesn't really apply to this one because I point to the exact spot where I want her to go and hold), leave it- I can throw a ribeye at her feet and she won't touch it until I tell her it's ok.

A lot of basic commands like that she does really well.  I work with her every day for at least a few minutes.   The problem I am having is that I have a hard time getting her attention when a distraction is present.   We have other dogs, but she will follow commands even if they are barking and going crazy.   We have a large fenced back yard which is a completely different story.   She doesn't like anything that doesn't belong in, or near, her yard.  We have had crazy amounts of rain so we are seeing a lot more critters like turtles, frogs, etc.  When one of those makes it in the fence she goes ballistic.  She has ripped a mole from the ground and caught/killed a bird that waited too long to take off.  So she seems fairly protective of her space.  There is also a dog at the end of the road that wanders up onto our property every so often.  She really hates that.  

When a distraction like that is present she is completely focused on it and seemingly tunes me out.   The problem I am having is that she is completely different when away from home.  People tell me to take her to where distractions are more frequent and work with her.   However, she is very calm and listens to me when we are somewhere else.  

I am not sure how to work with her when we are at home.  If I should try a long lead, or walk her on a short leash when she is out and distractions are present.  I would like her to do everything on or off a leash.   Anyone have any ideas I can try to get her to focus on me in those situations?  I have searched youtube, but there are a lot different opinions.  Also, most of them say take her to the distractions, but as I said, that doesn't really work for her.  

Any tips for giving her commands when she is in full guard dog mode would be appreciated.

Invest in a really long lead and 'perhaps' a pinch collar. I say 'perhaps' because you may not need it.

Use the roaming / stray dog as a 'training aid' along with your long lead.

Continue to use the long lead until you are SURE your dog will stay on your property (unless told it can do otherwise) and follow your commands no matter what.

I had mine out front yesterday morning for their first potty break of the day at 6AM and a stray dog was standing in my neighbors front yard barking like mad at my girls the entire time. Really pissed me off... This likely pissed off my neighbor lady too as the stray was very near her front porch while doing all the barking at 6AM.. What 'should have been a 2 minute potty break took damn near 10 minutes because of the stray mutt trying to stir up trouble. My girls listened and stayed in my yard as they were told but it took them a lot longer to go potty because they were so irritated by the stray dog being so close to THEIR yard. Once my girls got done I gave them the command for 'inside' but instead of going inside I made them SIT, STAY, and QUIET by the side door while I watched the stray through one of the bushes. (the stray thought we were gone)

As soon as I saw the stray get to about the middle of my yard and begin to lift his leg to piss - I sent my best listener to GET his ass. (she was the dog most agitated by his presence as well)  I allowed her to chase his ass down the street about three houses or so before I called her back. Any longer and she would have caught up completely and got him - Was VERY close already at the point that I recalled her. Her coming charging around the corner like that and then making a VERY growly / barky beeline for the stray made him piss on himself some as he was trying to get the hell out of dodge...

I successfully used that stray dog to work on a pile of different commands with MY dogs. QUIET, WAIT, STAY, GET, STOP, COME, etc...



Until you have STOP and COME proven 100% with your dog - Continue to use the long lead to make sure that YOU can physically STOP your dog if need be. You never want to get into the habit of allowing your dog to just blow off or ignore your commands. The long lead is there to help you make SURE that your dog responds.

If using your Doberman to run strays out of your yard like I describe above you also need to consider how long the other dogs legs are and how much warning he gets before he notices that your dog is after him. A short legged dog will be overtaken fairly quickly by a long legged Doberman and won't even have a 'chance' to get the hell out of your yard while a dog with longer legs that 'sees it coming' will be able to get away before YOUR dog / dogs get to your property line and STOP. (your should have no issues teaching your Doberman where the magic 'property line' is in your yard if you have patience and practice with them as often as possible)


I raised my Dobermans with some of the longest Flexileads I could find at the time. Got them used to the idea of following commands from a distance... Became very natural to them over time to think 25 feet away was the same as 6 as far as my ability to control them by having them on a leash. Flexileads are PERFECT for 'around the yard' boundry line training in MY opinion.

Thanks for the advice.. I will start looking for a long lead to practice with.   Your training seems to be a bit more advanced than what I have been able to accomplish so far..  I am working on it though.  

We have a large fenced back yard that I keep her in for now unless she is on a leash.  If it wasn't for the fence that dog would probably already be dead.  I would like her to get where your dogs are at eventually.  Unfortunately, it seems she is only limited by my deficiencies in training.  

It has been a lot of fun working with her so far so I am going to keep at it.  

Thanks again.

ETA:  What type of collar do you think would be the best to start with?  My wife and I have discussed that quite a bit.  We get differing opinions from pinch collars to more traditional chains, and even harnesses.  

When mine were about the age of yours I used regular flat nylon collars with their tags and such attached as their primary collars and for walks, trips to the park or training I would slip a pinch collar (medium size links) on in addition to that. Leash would get attached to the pinch collar but its 'effectiveness' is greatly reduced due to it having that other collar between it and the dogs skin.

You can still give a correction if needed and it WILL reduce efforts by the dog to pull you but the level of 'pinching' is nothing like using a pinch collar alone. If you 'need' to be able to give a stronger correction simply remove your primary collar and put it in your pocket while training with the pinch collar.

After a short while I got to where I would slip the pinch collar on the dogs for walks or training but not even attach it (leash got attached to regular collar instead) - Dogs still behaved as though it was attached and listened accordingly.

You can easily add or remove links to adjust the pinch collar to fit any size Doberman as they are growing but more than likely you will have no need for that sort of thing by the time the dog is a few years old. When used properly your dog will NOT fear the pinch collar and will come running (to go for a walk) if they hear it jingle.

It's not "guarding", it's prey drive (except for other dogs).

The three "d's" in dog training are distance, duration and distraction. Some are more challenging than others.

When it comes to distraction it's a question of desensitization, focus and trust. You have to train in the presence of the distractions that are the problem in a way that guarantees you can compel obedience instantly. This generally means on-lead. E-collar training, if used, should be prefaced and backed up with on-lead training.

My dogs will refuse food in the presence of strong distractions, so you can't count on food as the bigger distraction in some dogs. I was proud of my young male Akita today. We had turkeys in the yard and I worked him inside the fenced area. He refused food rewards but did what I commanded. I suspect he though his reward was going to be me opening the fence gate so he could go chase turkeys, which unfortunately was not the kind of focus I am looking for...

I'd recommend to stay away from he flexi leads as I've seen too many of those fray, snap, or break at the worst times, even when they are "rated" for the weight of the dog. A good quality long lead is a great training tool. This is similar to one that I have in the 20' flavor. Long Lead

Thanks for the advice everyone.  I am taking it all in to help myself be better for my dog.  

When I start she will still be in the fence so if I were to drop the lead, or if it were to break, it wouldn't be catastrophic other than giving her an opportunity to ignore me.  Working with her outside the fence will come a bit later.  

Thank you for the link though.. She is quite strong already so I definitely want to have a quality lead for her.

I really like these leads from Ray Allen http://www.rayallen.com/category/RAM-Tech-Working-Leads - light, strong and durable  I got a 6' and a 20' three years ago when my GSD was a pup. Still use the 6' one every day.  If your dog can handle the corrective "pop" of a pinch collar, I suggest getting one of these http://www.rayallen.com/product/stainless-steel-pinch-collar/Pinch-Dog-Collars or  http://www.rayallen.com/product/fur-saver-stainless-steel-choke-chain-collars/Choke-Chain-Dog-Collars

Two things though - if you haven't had experience working with these type of collars - 1. Make sure it fits your dog correctly.  2. Read up or watch some videos on the proper use of these collars. They're used for a quick "pop" and let the lead go slack, not for playing tug-o-war with your dog's neck.

The 6'  lead is good to get her used to it (and just a general lead) then the 20' is good for immediate corrections at a distance. Once those are mastered, you then can cut a 6-8" piece of lead (from a cheap nylon lead, of course) and attach that to the collar for even longer distance training. This works because sometimes the dog will react differently without a lead attached to the collar.

Have fun and definitely still give rewards and praise.