-
Getting a Dog to Pay Attention – Top 3 Tips from David Muriello – Video
If you can get a dog’s sustained attention, you have a much better chance of getting the performance you want, on any cue in any environment. And getting attention starts with turning your dog’s head away from distractions. Check out DM’s top three tips for getting your dog to look away from a distraction and look at you.
Do you have other ideas that have worked for your dogs and your client’s dogs?
1:01
-
5 Replies
-
I focus a lot on the foundation work towards hand targeting. I build a strong affinity for a hand touch by reinforcing it a lot when playing games in areas with minimal distraction. Throw a cookie away, then I call out my cue (Vem) as I run the opposite direction for my dog to run back to my hand for the cookie, and I reward with 2. I do this a lot in the beginning. If food driven, they learn this quick. When I’m in public, before the puppy locks in on the distraction or other dog, or just starts pulling, I call out my cue and take a few steps away, show my hand for him to target. Make it a game and if he finds you more interesting, he will stay closer and walk with you. (This takes time 🙂 but with practice, works nicely)
I practice this randomly on regular walks to constantly reinforce my hand. If you end up trying it, let me know how it works for you. Would love to hear too.
-
Great technique and breakdown of steps, @Vincent – Thank you for sharing!
I build a strong affinity for a hand touch by reinforcing it a lot when playing games in areas with minimal distraction. Throw a cookie away, then I call out my cue (Vem) as I run the opposite direction for my dog to run back to my hand for the cookie, and I reward with 2. I do this a lot in the beginning. If food driven, they learn this quick. When I’m in public, before the puppy locks in on the distraction or other dog, or just starts pulling, I call out my cue and take a few steps away, show my hand for him to target. Make it a game and if he finds you more interesting, he will stay closer and walk with you. – Vincent H.
-
I love hand targeting (“touch”) and agree that building a very strong reward history and practice with it is worthwhile. Strive for an enthusiastic automatic-type response and it will be incredibly useful. One reason: I find hand targeting to be one of the behaviors that dogs seem to enjoy doing, compared to say, Lie Down. I think about that a lot when considering cues to use for alternate behaviors (ex., come to me instead of going over there, or turn towards me instead of focusing over there). What would the dog find most easy, most attractive to do right now? Down would be like me asking you to sit on the floor (and then have to get back up), Touch is like asking you to give me a high five. The latter is easy, a pleasure. Dogs seem to agree.
-
Touch is like asking you to give me a high five. – David Muriello
-
@David Agree completely with you! So many other behaviors that can stem from the “high five”!
-
-
Log in to reply.