Getting your BC's (full) attention

[Lewis Moon]

At +- 15 weeks Cerbie is training really well. We try to work with him for two short sessions every day and so far he knows about 10 commands. His biggest downfall is his attention: If we have it he responds....if he's destracted by a really stinky smell that needs investigating or if one of his playmates has just come to the park...not so much. Most of the time I can call his name authoritatively and his head snaps around and he responds.....but sometimes the smell or the playmate is just too much. What are some good strategies to cement the "Pay Attention!" signal? I'd like to use his name (spoken with authority) rather than keys, whistles or other items I might not have in my pocket at the time.

[Carlasl]

He is just a puppy he is going to get distracted and sometime around 6-10months he may decided he is not going to listen to you at all. Try not to call the dogs name or ask for a come if you do not know 100% the dog is going to do what you ask or that you cannot enforce that command then don't say, If I say come and the dog is off lead and interested in something else then I have just shown my dog that they do NOT have to come when I call them. My pup Maya is 8mo old and she is rarely off lead outside and even on lead occasionally inside while we are training.

 

The other key thing is to make training FUN FUN FUN, very short training sessions, LOTS of tasty treats and fun tug sessions or playing ball. If you use the come command be sure something good is happening when they come, even if it is just to send them back out to sniff whatever they were smelling in the first place (Premack principle).

 

I used to believe that my dogs should do what I ask them to because I am the "master" and they are the dog and dogs want to please their owners and blah blah...now I am a walking treat and toy dispenser and my dogs are MUCH MUCH happier and much more obedient.....some of that will fade as the pup gets older, but for now I try to make coming and playing with me the best thing ever.

 

As far as getting attention when you call your dogs name, If you clicker train this is pretty easy to do (even if you don't clicker train it is easy to do with this game). Start out in the house with no distractions. Have some very yummy treats, when the dog isn't paying attention to you call its name, when you get the slightest head turn your way click and have the dog come to you for a treat. Pretty soon as soon as you call your dogs name they will be whipping around and running to you full speed. Then you add distractions slowly.

[desertranger]

A trick I learned is to call him and when he looks at you pop a treat into him then let him go back to sniffing. Whenever you want his attention it's call, when he looks, treat, let him return to whatever. Eventually he's going to realize there is a treat when he pays attention to you.

[Root Beer]

Releasing the puppy back to what is interesting is an excellent reward for turning his attention to you when called.

 

Personally, I prefer to incorporate food into this framework and I would probably start inside. I would let the puppy get distracted by a scent on the floor, a toy, etc. Call his name, wait for eye contact, give a food treat and then say something like, "OK, go play".

 

This will teach the puppy that paying attention when called is rewarding. You won't always release the dog back to what he wants throughout his life, but if you do so on a pretty regular basis, the dog learns that it is rewarding to disengage from the scent or distraction of interest and turn to you.

 

With a young puppy, I would try to set this up maybe twice a day and do just a couple of reps. With an older dog, I would still set it up twice a day, but I would work for longer periods of time with larger distractions.

 

FWIW, I do this with my dogs on walks a couple of times a week as part of their sport training. At least when the weather is nice. We take a leash walk (one dog at a time). I cue the dog to heel (on either right or left) and we heel a bit on the road. Then I release the dog to just be a dog (that's my cue, "Go be a dog") and he can sniff, look at the cows across the road, take a pee, whatever. Then I cue heeling and repeat.

 

This has done wonders for their attention, their heelwork, and it's a win/win because the dog still gets to enjoy part of the walk on his or her terms, but we also work on focus in a very powerful way.

 

With a puppy, of course, I wouldn't use heeling. I would just cue attention, reward, and release. Probably not on a "walk", either. I'd save that until the puppy is a bit older.

[JohnLloydJones]

What are some good strategies to cement the "Pay Attention!" signal? I'd like to use his name ...

 

When Rhys bach came to me, he ignored me completely. He showed no reaction to any verbal command -- we knew his old name, but he ignored it completely. The initial cue I use to cement his new name, Rhys, was food. Every time I fed him, I would shake his bowl and call 'Rhys'. From there, every time I called his name he would get something -- maybe just a bit of praise and affection.

 

To begin with, call his attention when you expect him to respond, reward (treat or praise, as appropriate). Bit by bit do this in more challenging situations and eventually he will respond even if he's distracted by some really interesting smell.

[Lewis Moon]

When Rhys bach came to me, he ignored me completely. He showed no reaction to any verbal command -- we knew his old name, but he ignored it completely. The initial cue I use to cement his new name, Rhys, was food. Every time I fed him, I would shake his bowl and call 'Rhys'. From there, every time I called his name he would get something -- maybe just a bit of praise and affection.

 

To begin with, call his attention when you expect him to respond, reward (treat or praise, as appropriate). Bit by bit do this in more challenging situations and eventually he will respond even if he's distracted by some really interesting smell.

 

Serendipitously, when we used small bits to hide his pills, we found out Cerbie LOVES string cheese. I think I'll cut up a couple of sticks and keep them in the fridge. Then when he is playing with his sheepie (yes, we got him a stuffed, cartoon sheep for Christmas) I'll call his name and reward attention with his favorite treat. I'll also say his name when I feed him and at other opportune times, like when we greet and wrestle when I get home. He seems to know his name pretty well....I just want it to cemented as an attention signal.

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

I never bothered with any sort of attention work until Daisy was older. Never got serious with it until she was 3. I know I should have, but we had much, much bigger fish to fry. Anyway, she's the kind of dog, that if you say her name and reward her once her eyes are locked onto yours till the end of time. She's very intense that way. What I would do is say her name, click and treat for eye contact, toss a treat away from me for her to go get it and then repeat saying her name and rewarding for eye contact. Eventually, I worked in a watch me command that means eye contact for a longer duration by saying her name, getting eye contact, saying "watch" and having her hold the eye contact. At first is was only for a few seconds and we worked up to a longer period and with more and more distractions around. Now she can watch me while a dog is staring at her (a big, big trigger for her) instead of reacting by barking or lunging.

[Lewis Moon]

I really like the idea of a "Watch" command.....I also like the idea of Cerbie making eye contact rather than staring a hole in the "Bag from whence all blessings come" (the treat bag).

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

To get the eye contact over the staring at the bad of food, hold one treat between two fingers (so they can see the treat) and bring it up to your nose/eye level while saying "watch". They will naturally follow the direction of the treat and give you the eye contact. Eventually you'll be able to fade the treat and just use your finger up to your nose as the hand signal. I like using both verbal and hand cues when training my dog so that I have a way to give the command when they are out of ear shot or in a really noisy environment, like a training center etc.

[Lewis Moon]

To get the eye contact over the staring at the bad of food, hold one treat between two fingers (so they can see the treat) and bring it up to your nose/eye level while saying "watch". They will naturally follow the direction of the treat and give you the eye contact. Eventually you'll be able to fade the treat and just use your finger up to your nose as the hand signal. I like using both verbal and hand cues when training my dog so that I have a way to give the command when they are out of ear shot or in a really noisy environment, like a training center etc.

Cerbie actually started "chaining" commands together, I started to pat my thigh when I said come and soon he started to wait for the command AND the pat before coming. For now I have to be really conscious of not doing anything extraneous when I am giving commands. Later on I hope to be able to use that to teach hand signals too.

[Guest echoica]

another way to teach 'watch me' that i use for training (with the clicker):

 

hold the treat/toy away from you. the dog is naturally going to stare at it and not you. say 'watch me' (calm, happy tone always). the dog won't get what the cue means at first obviously but you are sticking it in for later. at the exact moment the dog looks at your eyes - and you might have to have good reflexes for this at first - click (or say 'yes' for a marker) and give a treat from the other side (not the original treat the dog was staring at). this builds the bond between you and your dog because over many repetitions and making the dog hold eye contact for longer time it starts to become an automatic response - as in, ooooh there is something interesting over there...i need to look at my mom! try 'watch me' with the treat in different positions. throw it on the floor. use a favorite toy. have someone else hold the treat. the dog will eventually find looking at you more interesting - which is even better because he is choosing that himself - and find the distractions much less appealing...and start to generalize this elsewhere with the command 'leave it' or not.

 

good luck!!

[Rave]

How to get a puppy's attention? Be interesting and fun. Be someone your pup wants to pay attention to. I suggest you find a good puppy class to enroll in to help teach you how to be those things, or how to use food/toys to help you be those things. Don't expect too much from a puppy until you lay the relationship groundwork.

[bc friend]

You've gotten some really good advice - my two cents is that if you have a puppy who is not food oriented, then you need to find something else that the dog really loves to entice him with. Of the 3 bc's I've had, 2 were not food oriented. With Sara, I used a rubber "stick" about 8" long which she loved to chase - even if I just tossed it up in the air right next to me and let her catch it. I'd call her name, wave the stick and she'd immediately come. Katie responds to a squeaky toy which she is only allowed to play with under close supervision. And remember, Cerbie is a puppy - it takes time to build those ingrained habits!

[Mariji]

He is just a puppy he is going to get distracted and sometime around 6-10months he may decided he is not going to listen to you at all. Try not to call the dogs name or ask for a come if you do not know 100% the dog is going to do what you ask or that you cannot enforce that command then don't say, If I say come and the dog is off lead and interested in something else then I have just shown my dog that they do NOT have to come when I call them. My pup Maya is 8mo old and she is rarely off lead outside and even on lead occasionally inside while we are training.

 

The other key thing is to make training FUN FUN FUN, very short training sessions, LOTS of tasty treats and fun tug sessions or playing ball. If you use the come command be sure something good is happening when they come, even if it is just to send them back out to sniff whatever they were smelling in the first place (Premack principle).

 

I used to believe that my dogs should do what I ask them to because I am the "master" and they are the dog and dogs want to please their owners and blah blah...now I am a walking treat and toy dispenser and my dogs are MUCH MUCH happier and much more obedient.....some of that will fade as the pup gets older, but for now I try to make coming and playing with me the best thing ever.

 

As far as getting attention when you call your dogs name, If you clicker train this is pretty easy to do (even if you don't clicker train it is easy to do with this game). Start out in the house with no distractions. Have some very yummy treats, when the dog isn't paying attention to you call its name, when you get the slightest head turn your way click and have the dog come to you for a treat. Pretty soon as soon as you call your dogs name they will be whipping around and running to you full speed. Then you add distractions slowly.

 

This is fantastic and exactly what i would have said. Your puppy is much too little to expect full attention at a park, you will be moving to fast, you need to slowly add distraction otherwise you could ruin all the training you have been doing if you pup learns to ignore you because you moved to fast. The dog WILL learn that training is way more fun than anything going on around it and they learn this over time as long as you keep up the rewards whatever it may be. It takes time and your training will make a huge difference. I have a 6 month old that i can train anywhere and command full attention, but that isn't a trait of the dog that is slowly increasing distractions and me being where everything yummy and fun comes from.

 

Also it is great to have a dog that comes back checking in on you every now and then but you only want a behaviour if you cue it. I have my pup now will come back and check on me hoping she will get a treat even if i didn't call her so she will come into me and me instead of rewarding her with food she gets a pat, because it is good she checks in but not without me cuing it. Then she will take off again. This shows me she is always listening out for me and wants the chance to be called.

 

As for eye contact if that is what you want simply hold a treat out in an open palm when the pup dashes to eat it which you can almost guarantee they will close you hand. Keep repeating till the dog waits and then reward them with that treat. Once they learn to wait ask for attention, so wait till the dog looks at you instead of your hand then reward. Once they know to leave the treat put it on the floor and release them to the treat if they give you eye contact.