Training your pup at home can be an arduous process, especially if their attention is constantly bouncing around to different areas of the room. We recently wrote a blog that included tips on how to get your dog to focus if they seemed disinterested in training, and we wanted to give you a new tool in your arsenal that can help in similar situations. This trick is called ‘Eyes on Me.’ Outside of training, this trick can also help keep your dog safe while outdoors and stop them from annoying or endangering other people or animals. Keep reading to learn this helpful trick!
Explaining Eyes On Me
Eyes On Me is a cue every dog owner should teach their pet. Simply put, this cue will grab your dog’s attention and have them look directly at you, allowing you to better provide new commands and stop them from continuing their current behavior. The relatively short process of teaching your pup this cue could save countless hours throughout their life, where you do not have to continuously yell or scream to grab their attention.
As always, this process starts by bringing your dog to a familiar and quiet area of the house, absent of distractions. Bring with you treats that will act as the reward system as you begin to build an association between the command and the intended action.
- Show the treat to your dog and grab their attention.
- Hold the treat in front of your face, up at eye level. Make sure your dog continues to focus on the treat and your face. If they break eye contact or become distracted, repeat the process.
- Reward your pet with the treat only if they successfully follow the treat with their eyes from your hand up to your face and maintain that eye contact for 3 to 4 seconds.
- Grab more treats in both hands and repeat the process. This time, reward the treat with the opposite hand and ensure your dog continues to look at your face up until the point they begin eating the treat.
- Continue to repeat the process to build an association between ‘following the hand’ and ‘a tasty treat.’
- Begin to teach your pet without holding a treat in the hand that goes to your face. Your dog should start learning that they are following the hand up to your eyesight, not simply following the treat.
- Add a verbal cue, such as the aforementioned ‘Eyes On Me’.
By the end of this process, your dog should associate the verbal command with looking up at your face. This allows any further orders you give to have a better chance of being listened to, as your dog should be more focused on you than other distractions.
Outside distractions are usually the reason why you need to employ this trick, so training should ideally incorporate distractions once the association has been made. You can throw an object, wave your other hand, or wiggle a foot during training and see if your dog responds to the distraction. If they do, hold the treat at your face and only reward them when they successfully look away from the distraction and back to you. Even with many distractions in daily life, your pup should hopefully be motivated by the treat to ignore them and focus on their owner.
Teaching minor tips and tricks to your dog at home is much easier when you have a dedicated command to grab their attention. If you are looking for a Sarasota or Bradenton dog training school for more advanced classes, call Gulf Coast K9 Dog Training for more information.
