Watch/Look command

[Chris Smith]

Nalu is just not getting the "watch" or "look" command. It really seems like he has no idea what I want him to do so I feel like I must not be showing him the right way. I hold a treat up near my face but off to the right or left side and tell him "look" and I want to give him the treat when he makes eye contact with me.

It seems like the more we practice it, the better he gets at "watching" the treat. He can just stare at it and stare at it. At first he would occasionally break his stare, but the more we do it, the more it seems like he thinks I am asking him to look at the treat and not me.

Any suggestions or tips for how to get Nalu to understand what I want him to do? With sit or down, etc. you can physically put the dog into the position and say the command, but I at a loss for what do for this one.

[Alberta Hanko]

Hi Chris - I had the same problem with Linus. So I held my arms straight out, with the treats in a hand. He kept staring at the hand, but eventually came back and looked in my eyes as if to say "What's up"? I then said "good" and gave him the treat. When he got really good at this, he would look at my face, and I would say "watch" and then good (this is before we got into clicker training, which really simplified it). Takes a bit to get a realy good "watch" but now Linus will really stare in my eyes and hold that stare. Of course under stress things are not as good, but he will do an auto watch even if he can't hold the stare.

Good luck.

Alberta & Linus

[babyblue]

Hi Chris - I had the same problem with Linus. So I held my arms straight out, with the treats in a hand. He kept staring at the hand, but eventually came back and looked in my eyes as if to say "What's up"? I then said "good" and gave him the treat. When he got really good at this, he would look at my face, and I would say "watch" and then good (this is before we got into clicker training, which really simplified it). Takes a bit to get a realy good "watch" but now Linus will really stare in my eyes and hold that stare. Of course under stress things are not as good, but he will do an auto watch even if he can't hold the stare.

Good luck.

Alberta & Linus

That is also how I did it for my dogs and it is good for making the dog to be more aware of you also. It just takes a bit of time and short training periods. Your dog will get bored of the same command after a little so try to keep them short. Mine go for 5-15 minutes with a play time after each session.
Good luck.! :)

[Mario Niepel]

Chris, the key in Alberta's description for how to train the 'watch' command is in the sequence of when you introdoce the verbal command.

As you may expect, for dogs, any word we say has inherently no meaning. The words 'watch me' for the dogs may mean: "Look I have a treat in my hand.", "Look at my hand.", "Sit still.", "Bark at me." or, of course, "Watch me.".

So, the key to get your dog to do the right behavior at the right command is to get the dog to perform the behavior first and then to connect a command with this behavior. This is not just true for 'watch me', but with any other command as well.

[Sheryl]

The behaviour specialist that is helping me uses the same method... the dog has to learn what to do first, before a command is added. She had me click when he looked at me, with my hands (clicker and treats) behind my back 50 times or so. Then say 'watch me' when he is moving to look at me. Then say 'watch me' just as he makes eye contact. And only when he is doing this consistently 50 times or so, say the command when I want him to look at me.

[Chris Smith]

It seems like Nalu "watches me or looks at me" when I say his name. He will make eye contact with me most frequently when his name is called. Can that be used as part of the "watch" command or would that cause confusion to him?

Could I use the command as "Nalu, watch me" or is that too wordy?

If I call his name and he looks me in the eye and then I treat him, how will he learn that he should look at me when I use the word "watch"?

We are "practicing" but of all the commands we have worked on, this seems to be the hardest and slowest for him to get.

[Mario Niepel]

Chris, there is nothing wrong with using the dogs name as 'watch me' command. The only drawback is that the 'command' (i.e. the name) is very often used outside the training context and therefor often used without reinforcement. But, that does not mean that it won't work for you.

[Dave Kersh]

I teach "watch me" with a clicker much the same way as described above. The clicker really makes everything easier. You're able to give an instant cue at the exact moment the dog performs the desired behavior.
With Poppy it didn't take very long and I think it's actually part of Maggie's DNA! She'll stare a hole right through you at 3 months old...