Making Eye Contact With Dogs

Good Training Makes Good Pets

Eye contact can lead to a well-trained dog. Keep the dog on a leash, naturally, but it's better to train dog so it wants to follow your lead. This method can control the dog for its own safety. Training is a process; before you can successfully train your dog to make eye contact, the dog must learn to recognize and respond when you say its name.

Train with Treats

Once your dog knows its name and reacts when you call its name, you're ready to begin with eye-contact training. Many trainers use small treats to reinforce appropriate learned behavior; if you're a treat trainer, start with a stash of little treats in your pocket (you can use your pet's regular dry dog food). You can approach this in a couple of ways. To begin, say the dog's name while you hold a treat behind your back. When she turns to you, wait patiently until she raises her eyes to yours. When she makes eye contact, reward her instantly. Hold the treat near your eyes and keep her attention there for a time, then give her the treat. For more advanced training, call the dog's name and step away from her. When she moves with you, tell her she's a good girl and produce a treat. Hold it between your eyes and her eyes to help her associate the treat with eye contact. Practice this exercise, moving in different directions, not far from the dog but enough to force her to follow your lead. Any time you work on your eye-contact training, practice the behavior three to five times to help her associate the reward with the behavior.

Train with Clicks

Some trainers use a gentle click to let the dog know instantly when he has performed the desired behavior. That is, at the very instant of the behavior, the trainer clicks, then follows the click with praise and sometimes a treat. Clicker training is different from more traditional methods because the trainer does not give the dog a verbal cue until the dog learns to identify the behavior. Once the dog learns to respond to the clicker, you're ready to train her to make eye contact. Let her look away from you; when she looks back into your eyes, click and reward her with a treat. Continue training in this manner until the dog automatically looks at you for further instruction.

Working Dogs and Eye Contact

This process is designed to train your dog to make eye contact with you when it hears its name. There may be times when you don't want that, though. For instance, if your dog is a working animal and its attention is frequently focused on its work, you might be better to train it to eye contact with a different verbal signal -- something easy for both of you ("Hi," "Watch" or "Look.")

Eye Contact and Aggressive Dogs

When not to make eye contact: In the dog world, a direct stare can be interpreted as a threat or a challenge. When they come face to face, dogs may look away after making their initial head-on contact, to let each other know that they're okay. If you look directly at an aggressive or frightened dog, it may respond in a way that you won't like. Once you have established a bond and an understanding with your own pet (you're the leader), eye contact is fine.