Christine Grabow Webboard User Reg: 04-09-2005
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Loc: Wisconsin
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My GSD does listen to my commands but he doesn`t always look at me. If i tell him to sit for example, he will sit and not get up until i tell him to but he isn`t really focused on me. He is looking left or right or watching the grass grow so to speak. What am i doing wrong since i`m sure it is my fault not the dogs.
I put them in a sit/stay or down/stay and made them focus on the ball. I start with it under my chin to get them use to looking up and then I start calling their name to get eye contact and then praise them the whole time afterwards. I start out with a short stay then progress to longer periods. I always drop the ball straight down to them when finished. I only had trouble a couple of times but I used a pinch collar and if they looked away I gave them a level 1 correction to get their attention again.
Christine Grabow Webboard User Reg: 04-09-2005
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Loc: Wisconsin
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He wont break the sit/stay or the down/stay. He just wont keep eye contact. Am i just fussing over nothing or should i insist on him keeping eye contact with me while he is in the stay command?
Have you taught your dog to heel? Heel is taught with eye contact so this might start a good habit in some other behaviors. My dog was the same way...no attention with her eyes, but her ears were always open. After she learned to heel, she just started watching me all the time! I also trained another dog to look at me on command. I used the cue "eyes" to train eye contact. Again, she started doing it all the time but when she would slip up and look away, a simple "eyes" and her attention was back on me.
I didn't mind the dog looking away sometimes as long as she was obedient and quick with her commands, but a dog who looks away sometimes looks sloppy and probably lacks focus. I guess it's all a matter of preference.
Alison Voore
Top Paw Training: serving Canyon Lake & New Braunfels, San Antonio to Austin.
Dennis Jones Webboard User Reg: 06-13-2004
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Ed cover's it in his Obed video, and from what I was taught at school is everytime your dog makes eye contact click and treat. later on I corrected when he broke eye contact. I'm not a pro, just a fat guy with two dogs.
Lure with a treat to your face (or to focus on the ball) and gradually increase the amount of time you have him do it. Same way you would teach any duration behavior (stay, heel, come)- gradually. Get dog to look at you or ball for a few second. Reward through drive or with the treats. Then add more time & eventually add distractions. It is really helpful for building a puppy's attention span. Train it as a seperate behavior and then use it with the stay.
What do you use your dog for? (sport, show, pet?)
Alison Voore
Top Paw Training: serving Canyon Lake & New Braunfels, San Antonio to Austin.
After about a week of getting treats out and not giving them to them until my dogs look at me and continue to look at me for 4 or 5 seconds with a treat in my hand, they are starting to improve quite a bit. About 25% of the time, they will maintain eye contact with me when I open my hand and the treat is 6 inches away from them. When they do look at the treat it's now only for a split second and they're looking at me again.
This has also carried over to other situations where I don't have a treat waiting. I started doing this because they were getting too excited when I would start to give them a treat and they would lunge for it.
Christine Grabow Webboard User Reg: 04-09-2005
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well, right now he is a pet. I have been thinking about protection work in the future but i`m not sure he can do it. He is a GSD but....i adopted him 2 years ago.He came from a very, very bad background. He is not fearful or aggressive but i have no idea if he has any working lines in him or in other words if he is cut out for this. I don`t want to be one of those people who will do anything to do protection work with their dog (because they think it makes them look cool or whatever) if the dog isn`t really suited for it. I do have Eds DVD, i think i must have missed the part about eye contact(better watch it again <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> If he should turn out to be a great pet and is well trained that is good enough for me.
Christine Grabow Webboard User Reg: 04-09-2005
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Loc: Wisconsin
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Update: I took the advise of holding the treat up by my face. Works great! Almost too great, my dog is obsessed with food so now he wont take his eyes off of me. I`m actually starting to get paranoid with all the staring that is going on now <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Thanks for all the help, it is very appreciated.
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How do you get your dog to focuse on you?
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If he should turn out to be a great pet and is well trained that is good enough for me.
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