Hello -- this is my first post here! I have a beautiful black lab named Mia -- she's 12 weeks old today. I've noticed when I'm trying to teach her something she will not make eye contact with me! Very hard to get her attention. Does anybody know how to get a puppy to look directly at you? I know I'm not supposed to compare, but I don't remember things being so difficult with our last lab. I love Mia to pieces but she seems to have her own agenda sometimes!! Would appreciate any suggestions!! Thanks, Nancy
Re: Eye contact I think different people will have different opinions on whether or not eye contact is even necessary - I certainly don't expect her to look me right in the eyes when we're training, but I do really encourage "checking in" with me, say on a walk or something, I reward her for turning to look AT me… not in my eyes, just at me. But you can train a specific look at me cue.. You would want to build it up slowly, saying "yes" or clicking when the dog looks you in the eyes, and building up the duration - i.e. at first, if she looks at you, right away click/yes and treat. Then after that's good, start building it up to 2 seconds, 3 seconds, etc… however long you want to build up, in small stages. After she has the behaviour, you can start adding a verbal cue such as "look!" or "focus!" to the behaviour. This was fairly easy to teach I found in puppy class, although to be honest I haven't really kept it up much because I don't really need her to be staring into my eyes. I need her to be looking at me and interested in me, particularly while walking or against distractions (like the birds she sees across the street, often I use her name to get her attention)… so think about which you would like, a sort of "turn towards me and look at me" kind of cue (or even just a behaviour you reinforce by treating when it occurs) or specifically eye contact when you say her name or another word? Also, welcome to the forum! I also have a black lab girl, Maisie, who is almost 19 weeks. She certainly has her own agenda most of the time… however since FOOD is priority #1 on that agenda, and I'm the food deliverer, she deigns to obey… sometimes…
Re: Eye contact Thanks so much -- yes, I guess just looking towards me is what I want. Think I'm just frustrated. She has a ton of energy! We were supposed to start puppy classes tonight but trainer injured herself. We'll see what I can accomish till the class begins!!
Re: Eye contact Ah, okay. In that case, I would start - rewarding when she turns toward you voluntarily, say on a walk or when you're trying to train - playing the name game, so calling her name, and then rewarding when she looks at you: start with baby steps like, if she looks your way, treat. You can build it up so she comes to you when you say her name, or takes a few steps towards you, or whatever behaviour you want. Good luck! They do have a lot of energy and it can be overwhelming trying to work with them! Maybe try training after she's had a walk or a play or some other energy reliever, before she goes to sleep?
Re: Eye contact We were taught in our first week at puppy classes "Watch". Kneel down to Pup. Put treats in a tight fist in both hands let pup smell the treats whilst your hands are still clenched and hold your arms out to the side of you within pups reach. Look at pup and when she gives you eye contact give her a treat do this several times then introduce the word watch. Eventually after lots of sessions of this you should have your hands in front of you and be able to keep the eye contact for up to a minute. This is great for times when Rolo gets distracted and we need to cross the road for example I would say Rolo watch he looks at me and then sit, wait and then we cross. I hope that makes sense I'm sure I had a video of my daughter doing this with Rolo but can I find it, No I can't! Give it a try. Good luck.
Re: Eye contact Welcome Nancy and your puppy Mia. My Dexter can be reactive to other dogs when he is on the lead and I was having trouble dealing with it ,we looked dreadful trying to get ast some dogs.I had some 121's with a trainer and one of the things we worked on was a really strong 'look at me' .The start of this was rewarding Dexter for any eye contact with me.I use a clicker so it and treats were on me all the time ....gradually you build up the time and then try doing it in different locations.I needed to train it for a specific reason though ..... Mia is only little too...Dexter was nearly 2 when I was working on this so he had a decent level of focus anyway but the trainer suggested if you are having trouble getting your dog to look at your face to hold the food up at eye level and reward for even the briefest glimpse of eye contact when the dog takes their eye off the food and looks at you. Good luck and nice to see you on the Forum x
Re: Eye contact Hello, and a warm welcome to the forum! I spend a lot of time rewarding for attention, but not eye contact. Eye contact is now something I actively regret training (although lots of people do find it useful as they have said above). My dog will try it for quite long periods when we are shaping, and it's not a helpful behaviour, I've got to try not to engage with it or risk it becoming some kind of mad staring competition. I now spend my time not rewarding it, or trying not to. And outside, I don't want to distract him from his environment, I want him to cope with it, so I don't want him seeking my eye contact. For attention, just start in a very low distraction environment, sit down with a marker and some treats, and reward any movement towards you or towards looking at you. Just keep doing it, and slowly up the level of distractions, until she is doing "check ins" quite frequently. It does take a while....
Re: Eye contact Hi and welcome to the forum I use 'look at me'. I find it a good way to get her attention when she's doing something I don't want her to do. I started the way maisiesmomma describes. I Aldo find it useful when lead training as Harley is a puller! She is 18 months old and we are still working on the lead walking!
