Look at me game

[DIPANNITA DAS]

Hello Adrienne,

I am so excited to start my dog training course with you.

I went thru the instructions in your “look at me” game and watched the exam video that you did with Einstein. Honestly I find easier to learn from a video than reading and happy to see that your course includes both. 
 

However I still have some questions about this game which is as below:

When I ask my dog to look at me and once we have “eye contact” how long should I maintain that eye contact before treating him which also means releasing him from look at me task? 

when I play this game with my dog he looks at me for quite a bit say 30-40 secs and then he tends to look away when I signal him again to get that much duration of eye contact again. So how long or brief should I really keep it? Is it meant to be just a split second like you were doing in your video where once you smacked and as soon Einstein looked at you, you treated him and you did not held on to the eye contact for long when he looked at you ?

So how it is meant to be played, are we trying to get his attention for a split second to distract him from whatever is going on around him or we are supposed to make him hold the eye contact so that he can ignore everything else going around him? I hope I am able to put my question properly?

 

thanks in advance 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there, 

Welcome to the forums, great questions!

When I ask my dog to look at me and once we have “eye contact” how long should I maintain that eye contact before treating him which also means releasing him from look at me task? 

So in regards to "look at me" you can start with brief eye contact or 0.5-1 second, but then you can raise criteria (which means you'll start making the exercise a little more challenging) by delaying marking (click of clicker or yes!) and giving the treats. So in the middle of those 0.5-1 second reps, start adding in a few of 2 seconds, then 3 seconds, and gradually you work your way up, but make sure mix in some shorter ones so the exercise doesn't get too difficult and you can keep your dog focused (for example you can do 0.5, then 1, then 2, then 0.5, then 3, then 2, then 0.5, then 1, then 4, etc.)

When I play this game with my dog he looks at me for quite a bit say 30-40 secs and then he tends to look away when I signal him again to get that much duration of eye contact again. So how long or brief should I really keep it? Is it meant to be just a split second like you were doing in your video where once you smacked and as soon Einstein looked at you, you treated him and you did not held on to the eye contact for long when he looked at you ?

If you are losing his interest in 30 to 40 seconds, then that's likely too hard for him, or he may be thinking you are looking for some other behavior so he may be trying something else. Try to ask for less (lower criteria), and then gradually mix in some longer ones but also some shorter ones as explained above. 

So how it is meant to be played, are we trying to get his attention for a split second to distract him from whatever is going on around him or we are supposed to make him hold the eye contact so that he can ignore everything else going around him? I hope I am able to put my question properly?

The exercise is meant for teaching the dog to enjoy eye contact, it opens the ability to communicate with the dog, and yes, it comes handy for when we need our dogs' attention when he is distracted by something and we want to the dog to focus on us. Time may come when we may need to have our dog's attention for longer than a split second, such as on walks when we are walking by some distractions, so it's very valuable to build on that. 

This is covered here at the bottom: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/

Since on walks there are more distractions, make sure to have a fluent response first at home in a quiet area, then at home around distractions, then in the yard, then in the front of the home, then on quiet roads, before practicing on actual walks with distractions.

If you ever encounter a challenge, take that as a sign that your dog wasn't ready for that level of distraction and practice on recreating that distraction in some way but at lower level before re-presenting it (for example, on a walk there is a cat and your dog isn't responsive to your smacking sound and fails to look up, in this case, try to recreate a similar situation where you can make your dog succeed, but in this setup it's a little easier, like the cat is at a farther distance, or if it was a fleeing cat, try practicing with a friend willing to drag a stuffed animal tied on a string or practice with a remote controlled car). 

To overcome strong distractions, you may find it helpful to invest in higher value treats (I like to use baked liver cut in strips), and tossing treats to the ground may also help too. 

Happy training!

[DIPANNITA DAS]

awesome, thank you so much.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Your are very welcome!