Kori, I'd skip any obedience at all in the begining. Just play a game, no commands or anything. The more fun it is the happier he is to look in to your face.Don't add the pressure of any obedience. Re-intro the command later when he's comfortable looking at you even when you pause the game. Try backing away from him and just clapping your hands to have him moving toward you spitting treats every couple of steps.

Kori,
Your pups age could well be a factor in his ability to focus on you for a longer period of time. I also would like to know if you have this pup around other dogs as a way of life. The dog is a social animal and those social needs need to be met by you and not another dog. If your dog is hanging out with another dog it may not feel the need to listen or focus on you for very long.
Another thing you can try is putting the dog on a sit (on a tie out) and tell him to watch you while you start up close to him (about 2 ft. away). Make sure you also have him on a 6 ft. leash. Now after you give him the command move the treat from your nose towards his nose while repeating in a calm voice to "watch me". Start with 5 seconds if possible and slowly work up to whatever you want. After you have success at 10 seconds begin to walk a half circle around the dog while working this exercise. When you've reached the end of a 6ft. leash try a 30 footer and start adding distraction.
The movement of your hand holding the treat and going from your nose toward his will help to keep his attention.

I start teaching watch me to very young puppies, as soon as they are in the house with me and starting the potty training process. All my dogs know that when I reach for the doorknob they have to offer a sit and look at me.

Dogs LOVE to go outside, so use it to your advantage. Little Rush already gives extended eye contact at the door (with a sit) and holds it until I click or say YES. At first they just stare at the door and you do NOTHING, just keep looking at the dog. The split second they look up at you to say "HEY what's the holdup here?" , mark and open the door.

Opening the door to go out is the reward in this case. You can also reinforce with food too, but for this exercise at the door, I haven't found it necessary.

I have found this to be a very simple way to introduce this concept to dogs, and I don't introduce any word or cue for this until much later.

My dogs have to offer the sit AND the eye contact on their own, with no prompting from me or the door doesn't open. They figure this out very quickly if your timing is good.

Excellent idea, Cindy...I do the same kind of thing when feeding, but hadn't thought of doing it for trips outside. Thanks! I will be integrating this today!