🐾 “Help! My Dog Doesn’t Listen Outside” – And how I finally fixed it.

For ages, I thought my dog just didn’t want to listen when we were outside and it was SO annoying.

At home, he was brilliant. He’d sit, lie down, wait at doors—he’d even give me an enthusiastic high five. But the moment we stepped outside, especially into a busy park, or a street full of smells and sounds, it was like I disappeared.
Suddenly, “sit” was a maybe, and “come here” became… well, optional.

I remember asking myself over and over again:

“Why doesn’t my dog listen to me outside!”
And the frustration? Oh, it was real. I’d worked so hard—why wasn’t it sticking?

Eventually, I decided I needed help and that’s when I called Emilia. She taught me something I wish someone had told me from day one:

👉 Dogs don’t naturally generalise behaviour across different environments.

Just because your dog knows how to sit in your kitchen doesn’t mean they know how to sit at the park when the wind’s howling, a kid is kicking a football nearby, and a squirrel just ran past.

And honestly, once I understood that, it changed everything.

Why Doesn’t My Dog Listen Outside?

I used to Google “how to get my dog to listen” and “my dog ignores me” like it was my full-time job. But what finally helped was getting the 1:1 help I needed to shift my thinking.

It wasn’t about my dog being difficult. It was about the context completely changing his experience.

The outside world is full-on for dogs:

• New and overwhelming smells
  
  

• People shouting or laughing
  
  

• Dogs barking nearby
  
  

• Flappy bags, fluttery birds, noisy scooters
  
  

• Wind, rain, heat…
  
  

All of those things impact your dog’s focus and emotional state. I started to notice that mine was easily spooked by wind. Or would shut down when it was too hot. And if there were Crows or pigeons? Game over—his brain was gone.

Emilia helped me by getting me to ask the right questions. I stopped asking, “Why won’t my dog listen outside?”
And started asking, “What’s making this hard for him right now?”

How Emilia helped ME, to help My Dog Learn to Listen—Everywhere

Once I understood how specific his learning was, we started proofing his behaviours in all kinds of situations. We trained:

 ✅ On quiet streets
✅ On noisy, crowded ones
✅ At parks full of dogs
✅ When it was raining, windy, hot, cold
✅ With birds flying past, people picnicking, toddlers melting down nearby

We built things up gradually, and I paid more attention to how he was feeling rather than just whether or not he “obeyed.” Emilia helped me read his bosy language and understand what was going on for him in each unique situation. She helped me realise that my dog is so much more aware of his surroundings than I am. He has a heightened sense of hearing and smell to contend with.

And you know what? It worked.
Bit by bit, he got better. More focused. More responsive. More able to listen to me even outside. Because I got better at understanding him and what he needed from me in order to be successful.

(Laura MacDonald & Jodi, Clients of Emilia O’Hara Dog Training - The Distracted Hound 6 month Programme)

Why Some Dogs Struggle to Generalise

Dogs don’t automatically take a skill they’ve learned in one place and apply it everywhere.
They’re heavily influenced by context cues—sights, smells, sounds, even surfaces.

That’s why your dog might behave beautifully with you, but ignore your partner or your kid. Or why they can do “down” in the garden but not at the vet. It doesn’t mean they’re being naughty. It just means they don’t fully understand the skill in that new context yet.

And the same goes for emotions.

Let’s say you’re helping your dog feel more relaxed around people. If you only work on that with one friendly person at home, but then take them to a market full of strangers, they might still react. They haven’t had enough positive experiences in different environments to generalise that calm feeling.

When Dogs Do Generalise (and It’s Not So Great)

The flip side is that some behaviours—especially emotional ones—can be generalised really fast.

Think of resource guarding. A dog might start by guarding one special toy, but over time, without help, they could begin guarding more things: food bowls, random socks, space on the sofa.

That’s why catching behaviours early and giving dogs the right support is so important. We don’t want those tricky emotions spreading like wildfire.

So What’s the Answer?

If you’re feeling stuck and thinking:

• “My dog won’t listen to me outside.”
  
  

• “Help, my dog ignores me!”
  
  

• “How do I get my dog to listen around distractions?”
  
  

Here’s what works:

💡 Start simple, and change one thing at a time—like practising your dog’s recall in a quiet park before trying it on a busy beach.

💡 Notice how different things (weather, surfaces, smells, people, your own mood!) affect your dog’s behaviour.

💡 Make it fun. Keep sessions short, low-pressure, and rewarding, (think toys or food, whatever your dog loves).

💡 Think of training as helping your dog connect the dots—gently, with patience—not drilling commands until they give up.

Final Thought: Your Dog Isn’t Stubborn—They’re Just Learning

Your dog isn’t trying to give you a hard time.
They just might need more chances to understand what you’re asking—in the places where it actually matters. Think how long it takes you to learn a new skill, have that patience with your pup.

The world is full of distractions, but with the right approach, your dog can learn to tune into you, even when life is chaotic.

So if you’re stuck in the “my dog doesn’t listen to me outside” spiral—
Take a breath, take a step back, and try again somewhere simpler and if you need support, contact me via email or instagram. I’d be happy to help, even if it’s to give you some free tips.