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Dog Training Workshop, and an element of the Dog Science Network
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Distracters and Potential Distracters
Anything that serves to distract your dog from his training or interferes with the execution of his commands is called a distracter.
Anything that might distract your dog is called a potential distracter.
Once it is proven that a given potential distracter does, in fact, distract your dog, it is thereafter, considered to be a distracter, until he learns to ignore the thing and tend to the business at hand.
If it is done right, by gradually fading distracters into your dog's training regimen, you can, thereby, inoculate him against some of the many stimuli that might otherwise divert his attention from his educational pursuits.