I've been searching around for marker training type info and keep running across things like.focus training or focus exercises. Im assuming they are things you do to build interest in you during training or just everyday life situations.
What are some examples of focus training/exercises or building focus that you all use? Is this something that's done all the time? Daily? At home, in public?

There are levels and levels of focus (and engagement) exercises. But a nice beginning one for me is the "look at me" or "watch me" game.

Do you know this?

It can be started either by random capturing of a glance at your face, or by deliberate lure (lure speeds it up, but both work just fine). To lure, I move the yumbo reward to a spot between my eyes or on my forehead and when the dogs eyes meet mine I mark and reward.

I add a little duration when this is solid. I might use an intermediate bridge later, for more duration.

When even a little duration is solid, I might stand sideways and wait for the dog to realize he must come over to the side to look into my eyes. Not too tricky .... I don't turn all the way around yet ....

You get the gist.

That's a "yumbo" reward .... not "jumbo."

Mychal;

Focus and engagement are required in any style of training. A dog that will not focus on you or engage with you during training is not learning, and his motivation is not high enough. The more focus you get from your dog, the faster he will learn, and the easier he will be to motivate.

There are three levels of focus; No focus, half-a$$ focus, and good focus. If your dog does not have good focus during training sessions, you need to improve engagement. There are several ways to accomplish this. You can make the reward more exciting (more dynamic), you can increase the value of the reward, and you can start your training sessions with some familiar, short exercises that are quick and easy for your dog and offer many chances for the dog to get marked and rewarded.

I do a little routine with my dog before long training sessions, and even sometimes instead of a long training session. I will call her to me, move her to heel, move her to between my legs then back to front, command her to "look", and throw in some position changes (sit/down/stand/stay), marking and rewarding for everything and clicking my tongue (auditory stimulator) and praising her the whole time.

bump

I understand. We need to work on this. I am not familiar with to many of the games I have seen talked about. I've been searching around in the video section for ideas.

We do well some of the time, then others he is just not interested or just loses focus. My fault, I know. I need to find some activities that he likes to build engagement. When outside in the yard he follows me everywhere, but when training there are a lot of times he just isn't into it. A lot of times to gain interest, a quick game of hide and seek gets him going or just running back and forth in general.

We definitely need to work at this. I have the motivational concepts DVD I need to look at all the way through and maybe that will give some direction as well.

Thank you for all of the advice.

Finding the right activity isn't as important as finding the right reward. It's anticipation of the reward that creates the desire to focus on you and stay with the task. With the right reward the dog will do most any activity you can train.
Both my GSDs will work for a game of tug but one prefers food so food it is for that one. The "right" reward can be completely different in two similar dogs.

Good point. I guess I didn't think of it like that. I see people talk about high value food rewards and low value rewards, but I haven't really found something that he goes nuts for. Really it all seems relatively close to the same value for him. Granted I haven't tried everything...

I haven't marker trained before, so I'm learning as I go. I'm always amazed at the progress and things peoples dogs are doing for them on here. Finding the "right" reward I guess is a big part of that.

I find that the value of food goes up in a hungry dog. As a result I tend to hold back a meal if I'm planning on doing a training session. If I train after I get home from work, I'll delay dinner until sometime after training so my dog is hungry. If that isn't enough I might even hold back breakfast. I'm not suggesting that you starve your dog, but shifting meal times around a bit so your dog is extra interested in food while you train can be helpful.

I've also found that treats that smell a lot are more interesting to my dog. She really likes cut up bits of food rolls like these --> http://leerburg.com/1136.htm

I wouldn't say that she went nuts for them right away, but after a bit of clicker training, she's gotten more and more motivated for food. I'd say that she's grown to anticipate it more after learning that she'll get a click and food in response to a behavior.

Leerburg sells a video with Michael Ellis on "The Power of Training Dogs with Food" and it's got some good info on treat delivery that might help build interest. For example, Michael demonstrates how he moves food during delivery to get the dog to chase the treat which seems to build additional interest http://leerburg.com/training-with-food.htm

For "high value" food rewards, think stink. The stinkier the better. dried liver. braunschweiger. bleu cheese. fishy cat food. (or, even a pleasant "stink" like bacon)

A doggie cookie might cut it at home...but in the outside world filled with distractions, you need the big guns.