Learning to "work with distractions"

I have been doing Skye's training with her when there are lots of distractions around, so she learns to concentrate even if there are all sorts of things going on around her. This morning my sister Beth was playing with a football and I practised getting Skye to ignore the ball (she was wearing her jacket) and walk past. I had some treats but even so Skye was really keen to go and play and was trying to pull me over to get to Beth - we will need to do lots more practice, but Skye did well for her first training session with the distraction of a ball (which included a tennis ball). Beth was quite a distance away from us and I'd like to work towards having Beth really close to us and Skye still ignoring the distractions and concentrating on what I ask. As well as with a ball, I will make other distractions - children playing, food (on tables, on the ground, and someone eating), dogs (playing and on lead close by) and lots more.

Puppy Class last night was also a great opportunity to practice with distractions and I called Skye away from her game with the other dogs, asked her to sit, rewarded her and then released her again to "go play!". Skye came every single time I called her and I made sure to have a very tasty treat to give her. We also did some heelwork practice, and our work I'd been doing with her at home paid off, she didn't pull to get to the other dogs, but walked nicely by my side. When asked her to "sit" or "down" she did as I requested and she now responds to both voice cues and hand signals for these two commands.
 Skye gets on well with all the other dogs at class. I haven't ever put her jacket on at class, as she does have lots of off-lead play time with the other dogs, but next week I will take her jacket and put it on her for the last 20 mins or so of class when she is calmer and see how she gets on! Skye never wears her jacket during "play time" or when we are home, only when it's her "work" time. The assistance dogs learn the difference between work and play because of their jacket, which means even assistance dogs get a chance to relax and just be dogs sometimes.

My sister Beth has a turn handling Skye at Puppy Class

I save Skye's favourite treats for the more challenging things, such as working with distractions and when we are out and about, and save the kibble for when we are at home doing the simpler things. I am starting to reduce the treats now, she doesn't get a treat every time for "sit" and "down", just 1 in 3 times she will get a treat. Skye's doing really well.