Attention - how to keep dogs' attention to you
What is the most important thing you would like your dog to know solid?
"sit", "stay","leave it", "come" ... I think I would have answered to the above question with answer like these if you had asked me 4 years ago.
Some of you have already know that Palette came to our family 4 years ago, and she is my first dog ever. Everything about dogs was new things to me and I learned quite a lot about them through Palette for 4 years.
We enrolled to puppy training class with Palette and, that is when I learned about clicker training and basic training commands.
Many people tend to put more focus on teaching basic command rather than teaching solid "watch me" command. I was one of them. I was looking this "watch me" command as sub command to other basic command you are aiming to achieve with your dog. I thought "stay","come" etc is more important command than "watch me" command. But now, after 4 years with Palette, I feel that "watch me" command or getting dogs' attention is most important command in training. After all, no matter how hard you try, if you could not get dogs' attention, you cannot teach anything to them. I think that dog training is not just about teaching basic command like "come", or to try to curb the unwanted behavior.
So,how can you get dogs attention?
I do daily training session with Palette. I have no set-up training time to do and, training time can be in the morning,can be afternoon, it depends. Then,I have personal rules for training Palette.
My rules are..
1.Make the training time short (we probably do training about 10 min or so) and fun
*Teaching anything new to dogs takes time, even if dogs did not get what you want them to do right away,be patient and be calm.
2. Always finish the training with her succeeded command, and play game - Find it game.
*I usually hide small bits of treats while letting Palette stay at one place, but occasionally,I let her find her own toys and in exchange, I give her jack pot treats.(*unexpected big rewards!*)
I personally think that becoming interesting person, becoming unpredictable person to dogs are also important to get quick attention from them.
So, I usually keep bag of training treats near me when I am reading books etc and, she usually be resting on her favorite cool bed or gnawing heaven with Deer Antlers,maybe staring outside. I say "Palette" and she perks up and come to me,I give her treats.
It is not during training time and it is not daily events and it is something that happens now and then. Of course,I would not give one big piece of treats to her.Just about lentil sized very small training treats. Sometimes,I give her nice good massage to her when she comes. Rewards does not have to be food treat at all. Every time she comes to me, either food treats,or nice massaging, or maybe play with her favorite Frisbee or balls.. something she likes happens, and when I call her for training, she soon comes to me.
Here are things you can do to make yourself interesting/fun person for your dogs.
* Whether massaging or playing or walking or grooming, spending time with your dogs is important
* When you go for walk, you can go brisk walk first,slow walk next, later mid pace walk,jog etc.. Your dogs need to be paying attention to you by walking like this. It is like a game for Palette and I. When we see cars coming,we walk to side of the road,stay still, after cars passing, we continue our walk. This is another game with Palette on walk. Also, we never go for walk the same direction all the time or same route. We have a couple of different routes for walk and we walk different direction per route.
** As side note, I also make sure everything she loves: meal,walk,play,training,ball etc, happen after she sits nicely,and I never put leash on her if she were not sitting. She brings her leash,toss to my hands,she turns around sitting and I put leash on her
* I give her chore. Close door after me, bring leash for walk, call family when dinner is ready etc.. By giving them something to do, you have more opportunity to praise them. They will be happy to be on call
When I do laundry, she lay on floor waiting for me unload the laundry and folds. Then,as soon as she knows I am ready to out, she stands up and go behind the door. She does her job without me asking her. How she does it? Lets watch her in action-close the door.
If you are a blog subscriber or reading from facebook,please click here to watch the video.
Palette thinks she can lend her paws for me, because I got handful!
* When I play ball with Palette, I sometimes do fake throw: I make myself look like throwing ball for her but ball is,in fact, in my hands still and it is behind my back. Palette usually turn around, try to look for imaginary and invisible ball. I can't keep myself quiet so,I giggle and then, she knows, and she goes search around me,find ball behind my back,bark at it a couple of times and come front of me, sit,look me up, quiet waiting for hopefully visible ball be thrown.
* When you train your dogs, after you know for sure your dogs are reliable for command you are trying to teach, you can give them rewards at random. Sometimes, after 2 success or maybe 3 success, or sometimes petting,sometimes quick short play...
* Even simple task you can do by yourself like taking trash out, checking your mail box, going outside to get a newspaper, take your dogs along. I say "Lets go check mail" and Palette perks up and come right to me
* Even if there is no reason you need to go to, occasionally,take your dogs for car ride. They can enjoy different smell in the Air,can meet other dogs,can meet other people and great opportunity for socialization and fun and maybe getting used to be in the car quicker that way. We never take
Palette for car ride just for going to vet. If you limit the time for car ride,they could associate car with vet clinic where they normally not excited to visit. Car ride for Palette does not happen everyday,but when she feels she can come with us wearing her cool looking doggy car seat belt harness, she gets jumpy and dash to car door,sit in front of it. Very ready for ride.
"come" or other training commands can become life saving command for dogs in some situations, and very important for dogs to know them, but foundation to teach them solid important commands will be build with better result if you could get your dogs' attention/focus fast and quick.
Training your dogs is not just happening during your training session but rather, throughout their daily life. Become an unpredictable and interesting person for your dogs and build stronger bond with them each day.
Did you notice that everything you do for your dogs can teach something? You've got a cute puppy eyes when you have meal and you reach over bits of people food and give them? Now, you were trained by your dog to give them food when they look up to you with cute irresistible puppy eyes They are very good at training humans!
"sit", "stay","leave it", "come" ... I think I would have answered to the above question with answer like these if you had asked me 4 years ago.
Some of you have already know that Palette came to our family 4 years ago, and she is my first dog ever. Everything about dogs was new things to me and I learned quite a lot about them through Palette for 4 years.
We enrolled to puppy training class with Palette and, that is when I learned about clicker training and basic training commands.
Many people tend to put more focus on teaching basic command rather than teaching solid "watch me" command. I was one of them. I was looking this "watch me" command as sub command to other basic command you are aiming to achieve with your dog. I thought "stay","come" etc is more important command than "watch me" command. But now, after 4 years with Palette, I feel that "watch me" command or getting dogs' attention is most important command in training. After all, no matter how hard you try, if you could not get dogs' attention, you cannot teach anything to them. I think that dog training is not just about teaching basic command like "come", or to try to curb the unwanted behavior.
So,how can you get dogs attention?
I do daily training session with Palette. I have no set-up training time to do and, training time can be in the morning,can be afternoon, it depends. Then,I have personal rules for training Palette.
My rules are..
1.Make the training time short (we probably do training about 10 min or so) and fun
*Teaching anything new to dogs takes time, even if dogs did not get what you want them to do right away,be patient and be calm.
2. Always finish the training with her succeeded command, and play game - Find it game.
*I usually hide small bits of treats while letting Palette stay at one place, but occasionally,I let her find her own toys and in exchange, I give her jack pot treats.(*unexpected big rewards!*)
I personally think that becoming interesting person, becoming unpredictable person to dogs are also important to get quick attention from them.
So, I usually keep bag of training treats near me when I am reading books etc and, she usually be resting on her favorite cool bed or gnawing heaven with Deer Antlers,maybe staring outside. I say "Palette" and she perks up and come to me,I give her treats.
It is not during training time and it is not daily events and it is something that happens now and then. Of course,I would not give one big piece of treats to her.Just about lentil sized very small training treats. Sometimes,I give her nice good massage to her when she comes. Rewards does not have to be food treat at all. Every time she comes to me, either food treats,or nice massaging, or maybe play with her favorite Frisbee or balls.. something she likes happens, and when I call her for training, she soon comes to me.
Here are things you can do to make yourself interesting/fun person for your dogs.
* Whether massaging or playing or walking or grooming, spending time with your dogs is important
* When you go for walk, you can go brisk walk first,slow walk next, later mid pace walk,jog etc.. Your dogs need to be paying attention to you by walking like this. It is like a game for Palette and I. When we see cars coming,we walk to side of the road,stay still, after cars passing, we continue our walk. This is another game with Palette on walk. Also, we never go for walk the same direction all the time or same route. We have a couple of different routes for walk and we walk different direction per route.
** As side note, I also make sure everything she loves: meal,walk,play,training,ball etc, happen after she sits nicely,and I never put leash on her if she were not sitting. She brings her leash,toss to my hands,she turns around sitting and I put leash on her
* I give her chore. Close door after me, bring leash for walk, call family when dinner is ready etc.. By giving them something to do, you have more opportunity to praise them. They will be happy to be on call
When I do laundry, she lay on floor waiting for me unload the laundry and folds. Then,as soon as she knows I am ready to out, she stands up and go behind the door. She does her job without me asking her. How she does it? Lets watch her in action-close the door.If you are a blog subscriber or reading from facebook,please click here to watch the video.
* When I play ball with Palette, I sometimes do fake throw: I make myself look like throwing ball for her but ball is,in fact, in my hands still and it is behind my back. Palette usually turn around, try to look for imaginary and invisible ball. I can't keep myself quiet so,I giggle and then, she knows, and she goes search around me,find ball behind my back,bark at it a couple of times and come front of me, sit,look me up, quiet waiting for hopefully visible ball be thrown.
* When you train your dogs, after you know for sure your dogs are reliable for command you are trying to teach, you can give them rewards at random. Sometimes, after 2 success or maybe 3 success, or sometimes petting,sometimes quick short play...
* Even simple task you can do by yourself like taking trash out, checking your mail box, going outside to get a newspaper, take your dogs along. I say "Lets go check mail" and Palette perks up and come right to me
* Even if there is no reason you need to go to, occasionally,take your dogs for car ride. They can enjoy different smell in the Air,can meet other dogs,can meet other people and great opportunity for socialization and fun and maybe getting used to be in the car quicker that way. We never take
Palette for car ride just for going to vet. If you limit the time for car ride,they could associate car with vet clinic where they normally not excited to visit. Car ride for Palette does not happen everyday,but when she feels she can come with us wearing her cool looking doggy car seat belt harness, she gets jumpy and dash to car door,sit in front of it. Very ready for ride.
Training your dogs is not just happening during your training session but rather, throughout their daily life. Become an unpredictable and interesting person for your dogs and build stronger bond with them each day.
Did you notice that everything you do for your dogs can teach something? You've got a cute puppy eyes when you have meal and you reach over bits of people food and give them? Now, you were trained by your dog to give them food when they look up to you with cute irresistible puppy eyes
They are very good at training humans!
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