should dog look you in the eye when in training? - Page 1

Hi guys, need some feedback. My now 11 month old male is a fine dog and reasonably obedient given training thus far.Good dog all round. However when training him, he never really prefers to look you in the eye, avoiding contact when he can. He does listen and obey most times, its just that he doesnt like to engage eye contact really. My 6 month old female on the other hand loves eye contact and constantly looks to me for next command etc. What is the norm?Is there a norm?Anyone have any suggestions?Thanks Alex

Klekoni, for some training exercises the dog is required to look you in the face. It is a very good thing if they will, becuase it is evidence of an established bond. Some are very independent in their nature and will not easily make eye contact. This seems to be true with the dogs who are more dominant. One may notice these dogs will usually not turn their faces for eye contact, but rather they will roll their eyes towards the master if there is any movement at all. I think there is a clear relationship between the ease of facial/ey contact and the strength of the dog's dominant tendancies. Bob-O

So your saying there is an inverse relationship i.e. the less they look you in the eye the more dominant the dog? Unfortuntately this doesnt seem to be the case with my dog. He certainly is not dominant. I suppose there is an exception to any rule! thanks for the input though. Much appreciated.

My personal competition dog does not give eye contact. She was from a repeat breeding and after seeing many of the offspring I will definately say it is genetic. These does are very good workers and have full eye contact in the start. finish and here positions. Some have incredible obedience and I believe if the focus was demanded you would end up with nothing but a sore head and a dog that feared and hated you. JMHO ---Bob

Good commentary. Perhaps dominance may be less of an issue than the characteristics of independence that are developed from innate self confidence. I believe this quality is one that is definitely inherited, as there are those dogs who need nothing in the way of confidence development and there are those for that we must use a tremendous amount of positive reinforcement and socialization to build their confidence to acceptable levels. Bob-O

Klekoni ---The way I have trained this dog is she MUST know where the left hip is at all times and her responsibility to position herself correctly. Btw her father heeled with his nose pointed directly at the ground. I believe his German handler tried and lost the battle for focus. Bob

Take your dog and do a hundred starting positions spiting hot dog from your mouth this will at least create habit for the dog to look at your face for the reward. It may not create the desired eye contact that you want. Step1 dont feed the dog a few meals to make sure he is hungry. Step2 do the above several times a day for 10 mins for a few weeks. Step3 dont feed your dog the usual amount cut his meals down and feed him in training. result you should now have a dog that looks non th less at your facial area.... Don't use your hands in this training to take the hot dog from your mouth this will make the dog watch your hands. Use your teeth to bite off small portions then spit that small portion to your dog when you get that desired "look at me" behavior. The non spicey little smokies work very well for this.

sound advice everyone... although not entirely convinced about the spiting hot dog from my mouth. Not sure about that one LOL!

klekoni, I also would recommend the hot dog thing. I coulent get my dog to look me in the face if her life depended on it lol! So I started giving her treats my "spitting"(sounds worse than it really is) them to her. She eventually got the idea that she had to look at me to get her treats. You can use any food really, not just hot dogs. My dog likes salami(sp?) or chicken, any food works fine. I just started this a couple weeks ago, and so far she will look at me in the starting positions, and will fuss by my side, but wont look at me while she is walking, still working on that. Hope this helps. Andrea

HOT doggy for the track. Go this route and it is short. Limited drive guys. For novices only. Find a real mentor please. Someone that understands basic dog training at least. Just My Humble Opinion (yea right EH)---Bob