Distracting environments - your ideas please!

Okay, so I'm now trying to work on Takara's focus. She's usually very focussed but I was shocked today when I took her down to Tesco to do some quiet stay exercises quite how badly focussed she was in such a distracting environment.

I knew I couldn't expect the same behaviour as I got at home or in the park whilst in this new environment but I didn't expect to not be able to even lure her into a sit! Her attention span was shocking to say the least so I felt that before I started on quiet stays in distracting environments we had to go back to basics in those environments.

I now need a list of places to work on it. So far I have (in no particular order):
supermarkets
town (for later on!)
pubs/cafes
ringcraft
fun dog shows

We will continue to work on it in the park but she's very focussed in places like that already.

Any ideas to add to my list?

Hi Lottie , how about a large county show ? Plenty of distractions there . I'm taking Missy to the Royal Highland Show tomorrow. She's bad for trying to rush up to people to say hello. With thousands of people around , I expect her to be very excited to begin with , but will quickly settle down and walk quietly by my side. There are also lots of quieter areas where I can do some sits , stays , etc. And of course , I'll be taking the clicker and treats along too !

the fair is a good one, with all the hot dogs, lights, and rides its a fab way of making your dog bomb proof, round live stock is good too, or a small country park with a looky see the farm animals are good, somewhere with a lake with loads of swans and other birds are fab, { my GSD never got over his fear of the turkey though,

a huge male one he ran when ever he saw it, he was fearless with all else in his life but that turkey with its testicles under its chin scared the bajjeesus right out of him, lol,

my mates horse used to play up somit cruel when we passed the emu's totaly hillarious, my lad never bothered but monty jumps around like a loony with arabella squeeling dont be silly its just a huge chicken,

Thanks guys,

missysmum - her attention span isn't too bad at large shows because she's been to a few and does ringcraft so knows to concentrate on me when we get in the ring - but it would probably help to do some focus exercise outside of the ring when she believes she's no longer 'working'

Thanks Shona - now I come to think of it we've got a big park with an animal park in that we walked through yesterday! Takara was quite taken with the sheep and completely confused by the huge pig, liked the goats but was completely transfixed on the chickens!

Think we'll have to give that a try

How about near a school when they are coming out in the afternoon? Lots of children, adults, bikes, cars, noise?

Thanks yeah I thought about that earlier today - I'm a bit concerned though that parents will be suspicious of someone hanging around the school gates

You could always go across the road from the school and make it obvious that you're training!

At one point, Max was scared of smaller wheeled items (prams, bikes, skateboards etc) so one night we saw a groups of kids on skateboards. I asked if we could sit near them, so Max could watch and not be freaked out.

I was treated to a group of 8 or so kids on boards and rollerblades showing off every trick they knew (they were quite good) and Max is much happier with that kind of stuff now!

Thanks we may just have to give that a try!
Off to the pub tonight!!