Friday 15 September 2017

Getting dog’s attention – one of the most important lessons for a puppy

Paying attention to your owner is one of the most important things for any dog or pet.


If a dog is too undisciplined or restless it is probably because he hasn’t learned how to listen and obey various commands. As an owner, you need to teach your dog that being disciplined and obedient is good and that there is reward for doing so.

When we say obedient, most people think that these are dogs with broken spirit; dogs that suffered a lot of abused. This isn’t the case as it is really easy to teach your dog how to listen and more important how to obey without resorting to physical measures.

Attention training basics
As I already mentioned, there shouldn’t be anything negative or violent when it comes to dog attention training. This is the same with any other training. You always have to turn to love and positive emotions as you wouldn’t like to have a dog that is led with fear.

Attention training is important for building a bond between two of you but it is also important as a setup for other forms of training.

If you think about it, this type of training is crucial for setting up hierarchy. It is necessary for a dog to learn that he always needs to obey his master and pay attention to his words even if owner doesn’t have anything to say.

Given the importance of this training, it is best to do it at a young age, while the dog is still a puppy. As it sets up basis for other training you should address if first before anything else.

Attention training sharpens focus and should be done with other commands.

Start with puppy’s name
First thing that a dog needs to learn is to respond to its name.

Like any other process this can be very tedious but you still have to be patient no matter what.

Start by having a dog in the same room as you. Call his name several times until he looks at you. Then, give him a treat and pet him. This is something that should be repeated again in the future until the dog learns that he needs to start focusing when his name is mentioned.

The amount of treats used should be constantly reduced until you stop giving him treats in general. At first you will need a lot of them but this will reduce as the time goes by. Incentive is very important at first; otherwise the dog will never pay attention to you.

Retaining attention
Now here is where things get complicated. Although it is rather simple to teach your dog how to look at you and even respond to its name, it is much harder to keep that attention for a longer period of time.

As you cannot constantly give dog treats, you need to try some other methods that will encourage him to be focused on you. Try talking with him for a while, doing silly gestures etc. You need to be interesting enough so that the dog’s eyes are peeled on you. Each time your dog stops looking at you, you need to call him out again and give him a treat for doing so.

When it comes to some advanced methods, you need to put a dog in a less isolated place.

Make sure there are his favorite toys around him or something else that otherwise attracts his attention. During this step, the other items lying around that are more interesting than you will make it more challenging. If the dog tries to reach out to some of them, make sure to cover them with hand or foot. Even though there should be numerous interesting things lying around dog needs to learn to be focused on you no matter what.

Subsequent commands
Sooner rather than later you will need to add some other commands to your arsenal. Just looking at the dog or calling their name will not be good enough as you will have to find some other ways to command them to do things. This is a part of advanced training and it slowly introduces dog to new set of tricks.

Taking a dog attention training class is a great way to learn these basic dog attention skills which you can develop over time during your dog's lifetime either with further classes or by trying out new commands with your furry best friend.


Have you had much success with dog attention training?

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