Hi! It's Lily here from Dogfullife.
In this video I wanted to show you how to teach your dog a great foundational skill,
and that is attention, especially unprompted attention.
I’ll also talk about why I usually recommend using a different cue other than your dog’s name.
So train along with me in this step-by-step tutorial.
For this training video I’ve structured the content as follows:
what is the goal behavior,
why is it awesome possum,
how to teach the behavior,
troubleshooting,
and building fluency to take it to the next level.
You can use the timestamps at the bottom of the video
or in the description below if you want to skip to a specific section.
There are two goal behaviors.
One is that when you give a verbal cue your dog will look at your face.
The second is that your dog will give you more attention without you asking for it,
also known as unprompted attention.
This behavior is awesome because who doesn’t want more attention from their dog.
It helps to build the bond between you and your dog.
They look to you for guidance and they learn to check in with you every so often.
You can use it to get your dog’s attention away from something they shouldn’t be doing.
And it’s also one of a set of behaviors that is really handy for loose leash walking.
People often use their dog’s name to get their dog's attention,
but the reason why I often recommend training an additional cue is because we often use our
dog’s names in many different contexts that have nothing to do with attention.
For example, we use our dog’s name when we’re showing cute pictures of our dogs to our friends,
when we tell our significant other this silly thing our dog did today,
or maybe some of you have used your dog’s name in vain.
So it’s always helpful to start with a new cue.
What you’ll need to initially teach this behavior are:
a positive reinforcer like food
a quiet, low distraction environment,
and optionally a clicker, if that’s what you use as your marker.
You can either start sitting or standing. Either way is okay.
Just do whatever will be easier for your dog depending on their size and comfort level.
Put your hands in a neutral position, for example behind your back or lowered at your sides.
Make a kissy noise and mark when your dog looks at your face.
Then reinforce.
And repeat this a few times.
Once your dog is reliably looking at your face when you use the kissy noise
and you would bet money that your dog would do it again, move on to Step 2.
Make a kissy noise and mark when your dog looks at your face.
Reinforce by placing the food on the ground. While your dog is eating the food,
walk a few steps away and then repeat.
Putting the food on the ground gives you time to walk to another location.
To teach your dog to give you unprompted attention,
find opportunities throughout the day to mark and reinforce your dog paying attention to you.
In this example, I’m in the backyard with Kiko.
I haven’t prompted her but she decides to give me attention on her own.
You’ll probably find many opportunities throughout
the day where your dog gives you attention without you asking for it.
If you want more of that behavior, reinforce it!
Some dogs may not readily look at your face or give you eye contact,
because eye contact is actually intimidating body language in the dog world.
So if your dog doesn’t look at your face, here are a few things you can try.
Use a different sound or a high-pitched noise, like “pup pup pup”.
Wait to see if your dog gives you unprompted attention.
Mark and reinforce for close approximations, like their head oriented towards you,
or looking at your chest, or looking at your chin.
If your dog follows hand movements, you can move your hand to your face.
If all else fails, you can use a food lure and hold it in front of your face.
With these last two options you have to take extra steps to fade out the hand
movement or the food lure, so only use these if you've exhausted all the other options.
Now that your dog understands the behavior, it’s time to solidify it by building fluency.
A dog is fluent in a behavior when they can perform it in a wide range of situations.
For example, practice this behavior in different environments, like in different
rooms in the house, in the backyard, in the front yard, during walks, or at the park.
Use it when your dog is doing something in the house they shouldn’t be doing,
like chewing on furniture legs.
Get their attention and redirect them to an appropriate chew toy.
When you’re in the backyard and your dog is intensely focused on something else,
get their attention and reinforce it with a "Find It" game or with a game of tug
During a walk, ask for a check-in now and then
by getting their attention and reinforcing with high-value food.
I hope you enjoyed this video and found it helpful.
Comment below and let me know what you think.
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