Teaching your dog to “check in” with you through eye contact can be a brilliant way to teach calm responses and keep your dog’s attention, even when exciting things are happening around them. It is also a wonderful way for your dog to learn that they can make things happen by just looking at you. Ideally, your dog will learn this so well that they won’t have to think about it when they want something—just make eye contact with you, and the world is theirs. It’s like giving your dog a way to ask for your permission for the things he wants in life, rather than making poor decisions or forging ahead on his own.

Here’s how to train this behavior:

1. Begin in a quiet place and ask your dog to sit. As soon as your dog sits and then looks at your face, click and treat.
2. Repeat several times. After several repetitions, your dog will learn that good things happen when he/she makes eye contact. Be sure to reinforce offered eye contact.
3. Once your dog is offering eye contact reliably, you can add a cue, such as “Look at me” or “Watch me.”
4. Next, you can start adding distractions. Begin with an easy distraction so your dog won’t be overly excited (for example, an old toy) and work your way up to bigger distractions (favorite toy).
5. Practice a few minutes each day around the house and yard. When your dog is ready, try moving to more distracting settings, such as walks.
6. Use real-life desires as reinforcers. If your dog wants to go outside, wait for eye contact before you open the door. Get eye contact when you are going to feed your dog each day. Looking at you will make you put the bowl down. If your dog wants to sniff around on walks, get eye contact, and then give permission to do that. In other words, teach your dog that checking in with you makes all the things they love happen.
7. To make this behavior a “default behavior” that your dog uses to ask for what they want, reinforce eye contact even if you have not cued it.

With practice, your dog will quickly learn to look at you for guidance, no matter what is going on around you.

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