Eye Contact

"Know when to hold ‘em and know when to shut ‘ em"

It’s funny – most dogs love eye contact! They really do…even as small puppies, MOST dogs tend to want to engage you with their eyes. Understanding how to utilize eye contact in your training can give you a competitive edge over someone who casually passes over understanding this portion of attention.

To give you an idea of my own personal experience with “eye contact abuse” I will let you know about an experience I recently had in Utility. I am debuting a new Utility dog, she is green and it’s been a while since I have shown in Utility – 2006 was the last time, if that helps paint that picture a little better. Things were going well the first go out was fine, no biggie. The second go out, call it nerves or what have you, when I gave my dog the signal to take the bar jump, she took off running…TOWARDS ME! It was in this very instance I realized a very valuable and possibly costly mistake. Rather than do my normal Q to the jump (head tilt and then arm signal) I simply stared straight at my dog. I changed her understanding of the exercise and from her experience I only look at her on RECALLS, so a recall she started to do.

Thankfully this story has a happy ending. Luckily, I realized this error while there was still time to salvage the run and I quickly closed my eyes. With my eyes shut, Brandy realized immediately this was not the Q for the recall and my very bright little sheltie promptly turned and went over the bar jump.

There are certainly going to be times when you need to “Kill” eye contact, like in the scenario above, and times when you need to pour it on (Fronts and Finishes). The difference in straight fronts and finishes can be simply where you put your face. I tell my students, “LOOK WHERE YOU WANT THE DOG” and that’s where he will be. Many handlers sway back and forth trying to get the dog in front, many of them spit various amounts of disgusting things not made for human consumption, many follow the dog in and inadvertently allow the dog to guide the head position causing the handler to maintain eye contact during crooked fronts. Remember, earlier I said, “dogs love eye contact” so this is the same as a reward and if you give it while in certain positions the dog can begin to build value to it, so be careful to only build value to the exact position you want. For a finish – you need to “break” front eye contact and give it back when the dog has reached the next position you want to build value to (heel position).

Try this the next time you work your dog. Leave them on a “Novice Recall”, call them to front, but turn your head so your face is facing far right and then the far left. See where your dog lands. Rather than tell them to finish, simply turn your head the direction you normally finish your dog. See what happens there. I know the answer – but I will let you read that book, so I don’t spoil the ending!