teach your dog how to give eye contact
One of the first steps of training any behavior is to teach your dog to focus his/her attention on you. After all, a dog that is not looking at you is likely not listening to you either! In this video, KPA CTP Tara Oster is teaching her client’s dog Bingo to offer eye contact. Tara begins shaping the behavior by waiting for Bingo to offer eye contact and rewarding her as soon as she does. Once Bingo offers eye contact reliably, Tara will add a cue.
Here’s how to train this behavior:
- 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.
- 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.
- Once your dog is offering eye contact reliably, you can add a cue, such as “Look at me” or “Watch me.”
- Next you can start adding distractions. Begin with an easy distraction so that your dog won’t be overly excited (for example, an old toy) and work your way up to bigger distractions (favorite toy).
- 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.
With practice, your dog will quickly learn to look at you for guidance, no matter what is going on around you. For more training tips and ideas, check out our blogs and our Dog Trainer Foundations course!
Happy Training!
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