I have trained Kodee to "watch me" and he's very reliable on it, but I know that if I wait for him to watch me for more than a few seconds before marking and rewarding, he looks away. I know dogs don't like to be stared at, and I have no problem with him looking away (as long as he obeys the command for a few seconds first), but I was wondering what is an appropriate length of time to expect him to focus on making eye contact w/me? He's a pet, not a working dog, I don't know if that matters. I just want to train him as well as I can, and I don't know how much to expect of him on this command.

I have tried extending the length of time between the command and the marking (like you do when extending the length of sits and downs), but we don't seem to be making any progress extending the time period.

Anyone?

If he does not want to keep eye contact for very long, I think that is okay, he is still pretty young and may be a little intimidated with long stretches right now or it may be a short attention span.
He should get better as he gets older and can focus for longer periods.

That is just my opinion though and I may be incorrect. But that is what I notice with my dogs.

Have you tried spitting the reward to him? When your face is the dispenser of the reward he may decide to look there all the time. I did a drill with my dog where I held treats in each hand and in my mouth at the same time and then raised my hands out to the side. As soon as he looked back to my face I marked and spit it to him. The key was the treat coming from my mouth. Later just start playing around spitting treats to him and then lastly start having him give you attention for a little bit longer periods before he gets the reward. Don't always work for a longer period either, change it to 10 seconds then 30 seconds and then 5. Break it up so he's excited and always anticipating when he will get the reward.

Try doing this while sitting on the ground, with him between your legs. Let him take the treat from your mouth. This is a lot less stressful than having him look up into your face. You're putting yourself in a less agressively dominant position. As he becomes comfortable with this position, move to a crouch, then standing, over a couple months.

 Quote: david eagle

Try doing this while sitting on the ground, with him between your legs. Let him take the treat from your mouth. This is a lot less stressful than having him look up into your face.

David, I will pay for your airfare and stitches if you come do that with Ember and Jesea.....

Just Kidding, that sounds like it may work with a dog or pup that is not "grabby" at food.

 Quote: Carol Boche

If he does not want to keep eye contact for very long, I think that is okay, he is still pretty young and may be a little intimidated with long stretches right now or it may be a short attention span.
He should get better as he gets older and can focus for longer periods.

That is just my opinion though and I may be incorrect. But that is what I notice with my dogs.

Me too. Also, do you maybe have an intense face at the time, kind of willing him to do it and unknowingly showing a challenging expression?

Thanks all. I don't think I have a challenging expression at all - I smile and kind of raise my eyebrows, I think, like a happy, expectant look (I thought that would be less intimidating, but maybe it's making him unsure?) But I won't make a big deal of it. He knows the command and follows it, but I wasn't sure how much eye contact to expect. I'd like him to be comfortable looking into my eyes, and he does watch my face expectantly sometimes, especially if we're outdoors and I'm walking him. It's amazing - it only took one impromtu training session during a walk to get him to start doing that and he's done it ever since. I will try to extend the eye contact during "watch me" a tiny bit over time as he gets older and more sure of himself (and me). Also, I might try dropping the treats from my mouth. I have done that before during his downs, just so he isn't expecting it to come from my hands all the time.

I even hold the treat out to my side with my arms outstretched during the "watch me" exercises, and he still looks at my face, just not for long before he breaks eye contact.

Thanks again for your input!

 Quote: Kori Bigge

Thanks all. I don't think I have a challenging expression at all -

I didn't really think so. :>

 Quote: carol boche

David, I will pay for your airfare and stitches if you come do that with Ember and Jesea.....

Haha. Sometimes Macy is grabby. She's cut my lip once, with her teeth, during this maneuver. The "Training a Competition Heeling Dog" DVD shows how to handle this