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eye contact: tip

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Participants
in this thread:
  • Jim Steele
  • maltese.missy
  • Bailey
  • A Zelvys
  • Tailspin
Jim Steele
Austin, Texas
22 posts

Just a tip: It’s really true what they say about eye contact (for my dog, at least). He totally freaks out if anyone stares into her eyes. Training has gotten so much easier for me, now that I’ve realized that.
maltese.missy
chatanooga tennessee
8 posts

funny, same with my dog. she’s a maltese, so she doesn’t scare anyone if she goes crazy, but i still warn people.
Bailey
Canada
8 posts

Since Bailey is a Service Dog it is necessary for her to “look” to me for visual cues and just to generally focus on me for commands. We use “ready” as the cue to focus on me for a command. Once she focuses on me then I give the command for whatever I want her to do.
A Zelvys
Australia
2 posts

After working with many different dogs for years, I have found that there are very few dogs who cannot adapt to good eyecontact. Mind you there is a difference to staring and having a soft look.
In fact dogs who have been worked with food training are very willing to focus. Generally I have found that if dogs are somewhat spoilt they tend to hate someone taking charge and will avoid any eyecontact. Often very sensitive dogs will be apprehensive about eye contact but with patience will develop.
Tailspin
Toronto
105 posts

I agree. Eye contact in dogs is generally considered a threat or a challenge but “soft” eyes are very different from “hard” eyes. Any dog can learn to make eye contact, I have a “gaze” hound myself (not a true sighthound, just a pup who loves to gaze at me!) and we often just bond with eye contact.
Dogs you KNOW often will make eye contact with you with little problem, but staring into the eyes of a dog who doesn’t know you or has been abused and has fear issues is a big no no.
If you want to be able to make contact with your own dog, teach him the ‘watch me” command by luring his eyes with a treat to your forehead and then rewarding him with the treat. After you have done this enough that he understands the concept then you can add the cue. It really comes in handy if you ever have to break his interest in something he shouldn’t be interested in!
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