Is my dog's constant garden sniffing and ignoring me normal behavior?

This Behavior may be due to the fact that she is more comfortable in her own environment. Being at a dog park, it is sort of an unfamiliar environment and is not where she normally is so she may feel more comfortable and that she can get away with more in your backyard. Also, there may be more distractions in the backyard that she is familiar with. I would recommend keeping her on a leash in the backyard and teaching her commands in the backyard when I'm the leash. Once she respond to those command on the leash reward her with treats to reinforce the positive behavior. I am glad to hear that she is listing to you when outside of the backyard versus the other way around. I would also suggest training her with a dog clicker or whistle to see if this helps more than your own voice. I hope this helps! Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions or concerns and I will be more than happy to help you further.

This type of behavior is not unusual. Olive is likely watching out for any 'intruders' and she is protecting her territory. It will help to work on the recall command. This should be done with several, short, daily training sessions. Here is also a link about excessive barking. It contains some good information and helpful tips: https://www.petcoach.co/article/5-tips-to-stop-excessive-barking-in-dogs/ Please feel free to post any additional questions.

This sounds like very normal dog behavior. If you really must change it then you can do a quick, gentle but firm correction on her leash and use a consistent term such as "this way" or "leave it". It is also important to give her a time in which this free behavior is okay. You can unleash her and say "go play" for example.

This is a common problem for many dogs! For starters, I would recommend not letting her off-leash until you have worked on her training a bit more - you can use a long line (a long, light-weight leash up to 50 feet long) to give her some freedom at the park while still having her under control. To teach her to come, first practice at home in a very boring environment. Use very tasty treats that she doesn't get any other time - things like chicken, roast beef, or cheese work well for many dogs. Call her name, and say "come!" in an excited voice. In the beginning, you can also show her the treats if you need to. As soon as she comes to you, give her a handful of treats and lots of praise. When she can do this in the house, try it outside in your yard on-leash. Work up to practicing at the park on her long line, always making sure that you have yummy treats to reward her with. Once she's reliable, you can begin letting her off-leash for short periods, as long as she always comes back for her treat when you call her.

In the beginning, pets come to their owners because they are in a new environment, and the human is their source of food, water, treats, pets, etc. Once they become more comfortable, they notice that there's a whole big world out there, and you are not so unique anymore. So they don't come running just because they're called. As with any othercommand or behavior, they have to be taught to come. Put Ricky on a leash and have him sit. Standin front of him and tell him to stay (this may take some practrice before he'll actually remain in place). Go to the end of the leash, wait a few seconds, and then call "Ricky, come!" (Not "come, Ricky'--there is a difference!) If he starts to come before you've called him, or even finished calling him, say "no" and put him back into a sit. If he waits until you've called and he comes, praise him! If he doesn't move, give a very gentle tug on the leash after you've called and encourage him to come. Once he is very reliable, start running backwards as he's coming towards you, to increase the distance. When you're ready to take the leash off (after he does it right every single time), put him in your smallest bathroom with you and close the door. Do the same thing as above. If he doesn't come or wanders around because he's not ont he leash, you can easily get him and correct him. As he progresses, you can move to larger rooms or the garage. DO not try this outdoors until you are absolutely sure he will come. If he does not, and you cannot correct him because he is out of reach, it will set your training way back. Good luck with this!

There must be a smell there that is very interesting. A in heat female, food, some small animal or another dog marked there. It sounds pretty normal to me. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.

If there are a lot of distractions in the yard it may be better to go in some kind of an enclosed pen. You could also work on a command like 'look at me' or something similar where she makes eye contact with you inside and then practice outside. If she is wandering off you may also want to consider simply having her on a long lead when she's out in the yard - that way you can draw her towards you to get her attention and begin training again. Keep in mind that younger dogs do better with more frequent, shorter training sessions since their attention span may not be as long as an older dog.