TEACH YOUR DOG TO PAY ATTENTION

Eye contact is the foundation for many behaviors, like loose-leash walking. The more you can capture your dog offering you eye contact (without being cued first), the more often they’ll check in with you, and the better they’ll listen to you.

You can do this by marking it and paying them when they offer it unprompted during your daily life, or in a structured game like the Attention Game.

Attention Game

Start with treats in your hands by your hips and wait quietly. The moment your dog makes eye contact with you, mark with “YES!” and pay them.

The next step in the criteria is to hold treats in your hands away from your hips a bit.

Then, hold treats out to the side away from your body.

The step after that is to wave the treats around.

Gradually increase the distraction level as they are successful.

Practice this in different environments – in different rooms of your home, in the back and front yard, on walks, and in new locations – to create a strong reinforcement history of paying attention to you in the face of distractions, no matter the environment.