Dog Training Tutorial: Building Eye Contact & Attention!
one of the first things that we have to
teach a dog that we want to train is
their name the way that I like to do
this is by teaching the dog that when I
say their name I need them to
immediately stop whatever they’re doing
and make eye contact it is important
that the dog’s name doesn’t become
Justin the word that they hear about two
three hundred times in the day it does
help to be careful when and how we use
the dog’s name at least in the very
initial stages of training surely once
the dog is older and more capable of
understanding clear communication they
are able to distinguish the difference
between when their name is being used
without meaning versus when they’re
being told to do something and quite
likely they are able to determine that
by the tone of our voice dogs are
capable of understanding fuller and more
complex sentences as they become
accustomed to communicating with us over
time but much like a human child they’re
not born knowing what we are trying to
say to them as we begin to lay the
foundation having a very simple
consistent and structured vocabulary is
useful in teaching the dog quickly and
effectively teaching a dog to make eye
contact upon hearing their name is
relatively easy if we have a piece of
food that the dog is highly interested
in most dogs will show interest in food
by following it and sniffing it around
with their nose as you hold it out in
front of them we want to start off by
encouraging and rewarding this initial
interest now for a few quick repetitions
quickly move a piece of food directly
towards your face causing the dog to
make eye contact and showing them that
this is a rewarding behavior as you grow
more confident in your ability to
produce eye contact using a piece of
food do the same hand motion without any
clue
next start to save the dog’s name as you
make the hand motion so that they make
the connection between looking you in
the eyes and hearing their name
Oh
start to fade out the hand motion but
continue to use the dog’s name
of it
okay
the most important part of this exercise
is to practice it in lots of different
surroundings because you may find that
the more distractions there are the less
likely your dog is able to perform this
successfully
however build on these distractions
slowly and always quit while your dog is
ahead and successful over time they can
learn to make eye contact anywhere that
you take them remember to always use the
dog’s name in a positive context to
ensure that they will respond to it
promptly the advantage of teaching it
this way is that the dog becomes very
likely to willingly provide eye contact
upon hearing their name and once we have
their undivided attention
they become much more likely to respond
to whatever we ask them to do next
whether its scent stay come or whatever
the situation calls for
