When we go for a walk, we often do so with the aim of giving our dog some exercise.
So we move forward, we play, we do activities, we run, we walk, we jump, we throw sticks, we swim, we chase other dogs… In short, we’re in action.
And it’s great to do activities with your dog! It allows you to spend quality time together.
But…
What we can observe is that, ultimately, we rarely take the time to do nothing outdoors (i.e. outside our homes, including in the garden). We feel like we are (almost) wasting our time if we do nothing… However, we risk conditioning the outdoor environment to be associated with excitement and action.
The dog ends up with an ON button and an OFF button and comes to make these associations:
Outdoor = excitement (since always in action)
Indoors = calm (as often left alone)
The consequence we regularly observe:
Your dog gets very excited when outdoors and you struggle to get his attention. He reacts to everything and anything. The slightest stimulus is a pretext for excitement, as he has always been conditioned to act this way in this environment in the presence of these stimuli.
To counteract this conditioning, you will need to change your habits:
Do activities, including at home.
Spend moments in absolute calm and stillness, including outdoors.
So, have you ever tried simply sitting down and doing nothing outside? Letting your dog decide how he wants to behave? Trying to get your dog to normalise other stimuli and come up with other behaviours?
This may be the most difficult exercise to perform.
If you have already tried this, please feel free to write your testimonial in the comments section 
Wealth is in Sharing 
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