How do I teach my dog to stay focused?

Focus is built up little by little; it can't be demanded. In a calm place, pay for every glance your dog offers you with a marker word ("yes!") and a treat. Then make just one criterion harder at a time (a little more duration, or a little more distraction, never both). Short sessions that end on a success beat one long session that overwhelms him.

My dog won't look at me on walks, what do I do?

That's normal: outside, everything is more captivating than you, and staring at a face isn't natural for a dog. Start the exercise again from the beginning in a quiet spot, then on a calm street, lowering your expectations (a brief glance is enough) and bringing out rewards that are really worth it. And pay for every glance he throws you of his own accord.

How do I catch my dog's gaze?

Settle somewhere calm, stay quiet, arms by your sides, and wait. Your dog will eventually look up at your face: mark right at that moment with your marker word, then reward. Whatever you do, don't hold the treat near your eyes, or he'll follow the food and not your gaze.

How do I keep my dog's attention when another dog approaches?

Under threshold, if your dog takes his eyes off the other dog to look back at you, that's a gift: mark and reward. On the other hand, never order "look" from a dog who's already tense, and don't reward a dog who's ramping up to react. Marked reactivity is worked on at a distance, under threshold, with a positive-methods professional.

How do I teach my dog the "look" cue?

First wait for the behaviour to exist: once your dog looks up on his own, you can name it. Say "look" just once, right before he meets your gaze, then mark and reward. The word settles onto a behaviour that's already there, never the reverse, and you don't repeat it over and over.

“Watch me”: winning your dog's attention

Teaching your dog tricksPart of · Teaching your dog tricks

“Watch me”: winning your dog's attention

11 min read

To your dog, a fixed stare is a threat

For a dog, meeting a heavy stare feels like a threat, and looking away is a well-known calming signal among canine behaviour specialists. So a dog who avoids your face isn't snubbing you: he's using his dog manners. The good news: a soft gaze, freely exchanged, raises oxytocin, the bonding hormone also found between a parent and a child. That's what a 2015 Japanese study suggests, run on around thirty dogs and their owners: a modest sample, and other researchers have since questioned its statistical robustness, but the general thrust lines up with the rest of the research on the human-dog bond. Another study, carried out in 2014 in dog clubs, points the same way: dogs trained with rewards looked at their owner more often during lead walking and the “sit” exercise than those trained through coercion, and showed fewer signs of stress (Deldalle & Gaunet 2014). Eye contact is built through pleasure, never through pressure.

What you need to get started

Five minutes, a quiet corner, and you're ready.

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Ready to start

From treat to word

A treat guides his gaze first, then a word joins it, then you fade the treat out gently: never two new things on the same day.

Until he follows the treat with his eyes every single time, without hesitating

Slide the treat from his nose up to your eyes

Crouch or sit facing your dog, less than a metre away; he can be sitting or simply standing, it doesn't matter. Hold a small treat between thumb and forefinger, hold it against his nose for a second so he can smell it, then raise it slowly straight up, along your face, to your eyes or forehead. His gaze follows the treat and meets yours: at that exact moment, say “yes!” and immediately bring the treat back down to his mouth to give it to him. If he jumps to grab it on the way, slow the movement down and shorten the lift to a few centimetres; if he loses interest and looks away, bring your hand back down to his nose and start again, more gently. If he doesn't follow the treat at all, stays frozen or ignores it, then it isn't valuable enough or the moment isn't right: take a smellier treat (a piece of cheese, some chicken), bring it even closer to his nose, and pick a moment when he's a little hungry and has nothing else on his mind.

Once the movement already works on its own

Put a word to the movement

Once he follows the treat reliably, say “watch” once, just before you start raising your hand. The word comes before the movement, never the other way round: he needs to learn to respond to the word, not just to the moving treat.

A “watch” you get without showing the treat

Fade the treat out, bit by bit

Shorten the lift little by little: a few centimetres instead of the whole path, then just your hand starting at his nose without rising, then no hand at all, only the word “watch” and a treat taken from your pocket once you have the look. Only move up to the next stage after three or four successes in a row at the current one. If he gets lost without the treat in front of his eyes, go back a notch (lift a little higher or a little longer) before trying again.

A few seconds of calm, held eye contact

Stretch the look, bit by bit

Delay your marker a little: one second of contact, then two, then a few. Aim for a soft gaze, not a frozen stare-down. Only stretch it a notch after several successes in a row. If your dog tenses up, it's too long: come back down.

A look that comes back to you despite the full hand

A bonus game: ignore the full hand

Hold your arm out at nose height, a treat visible in your open hand. Your dog stares at the hand? Close your fist and wait, without saying anything. Most dogs give up after a few seconds: the moment he looks away from the hand and back to your eyes, mark and give him the treat from that same hand. He learns that food comes from looking at you, not from looking at the food. If he scratches, nibbles or barks at your fist instead of giving up, don't let him keep at it: simply bring the closed fist back against your body, wait for him to settle, then start again with your arm held out a little less far. If he really can't manage it, it's too hard for now, so go back to the earlier steps.

A “watch” you get on a quiet walk

Take it outside, and ask for less

Garden, quiet street, then a real walk. With each extra notch of distraction, lighten what you ask for (a brief look is enough) and bring out rewards that are worth it outdoors: where a piece of kibble was plenty in the living room, switch to a proper piece of cheese, chicken or sausage, better than anything around him.

This trick can be taught at any age, from puppyhood right through to an adult or elderly dog: there's no right moment to wait for. Count on a single new stage per session, never several in a row on the same day: better to succeed small and stop than to rush through it all and lose it. The numbers doing the rounds (“five seconds”, “five times out of five”) are field guidelines, not rules set in stone. What matters: consolidate one thing before changing another, never both at once.

The spontaneous glance, out on the walk

“Watch” on cue is only one step. What you really want is the reflex: a dog who, all on his own, glances back at you mid-walk to check you're still there. To build it, you ask for nothing: you reward every glance he offers, with a marker word and a treat, or with a walk-based reward: as soon as he looks at you, give him a release word, always the same one (“go sniff!”) and let him head off exploring again, which he loves. The more that little glance is rewarded, the more often it comes back, and it's what paves the way for loose-lead walking and the recall. The nose “touch” into your hand is its extension for the body: “watch” brings the eyes back, “touch” brings the body back.

Where are you and your dog at?

Your dog already offers you looks

He looks up at you as soon as you settle down, or glances back at you on walks.
Keep rewarding each of those looks: that's exactly what you want to make automatic.
You can start stretching the duration, then generalising it outdoors.

Your dog avoids your face or freezes

Make it easier: mark the briefest look, in a very quiet place, and never demand it.
Check that you're not staring at him too intensely, because a hard face is a threat to him.
If the avoidance is total and constant, it's a matter of relationship or emotion: a positive-methods trainer or a behaviourist will help you, and it's no failure on your part.

With a reactive dog: wait, never demand

“Watch me” is often sold as the miracle answer to other dogs or passers-by. Two safeguards. First, stay under threshold, meaning far enough from the trigger that your dog stays calm and can still think: if he then chooses to take his eyes off that trigger and come back to you, reward that gift. But you never order a look from a dog who is already tense. A dog winding up to react is visible: the body stiffens and freezes, the gaze stays locked on the other and no longer flicks to you, the hackles go up, sometimes he growls low or lunges suddenly on the lead. Faced with those signs, don't try to “buy back” his attention: increase the distance from the trigger straight away. Marked reactivity is worked on at a distance, under threshold, with a professional: if these flare-ups come back often, that's the moment to get help rather than trying to sort it out alone.

Deldalle & Gaunet — Effects of 2 training methods on stress-related behaviors of the dog (Journal of Veterinary Behavior) (2014)
Nagasawa et al. — Oxytocin-gaze positive loop and the coevolution of human-dog bonds (Science) (2015)

Going further

guide“Touch”: teach the nose targetThe natural extension of the look: after the eyes, he learns to bring his whole body to your hand.Read the guide guideThe foundations: teaching a trick with rewardsThe method that underpins “watch me” and every trick that follows.Read the guide guideGetting your dog's attentionThe same attention work seen from the puppy's side: the basics for teaching a young dog to focus on you.Read the guide guideTeaching your dog to sitOnce the look is there, “sit” is often the first trick to build straight onto it.Read the guide guidePositions and sending your dog at a distanceA dog who looks at you well up close is a good starting point for working at a distance next.Read the guide guideTeaching your dog to come back when calledThe look is the invisible foundation of the recall: no attention, no reliable comeback.Read the guide

Frequently asked questions

How do you teach a dog to stay focused?

Focus is built bit by bit, it can't be demanded. In a quiet place, bring a treat from your dog's nose up to your eyes to guide his first look, use a marker word (“yes!”) the instant your eyes meet, then reward. Fade the treat out gradually once it's working, and increase only one thing at a time (a little more duration, or a little more distraction, never both). Short sessions that end on a success beat one long one that saturates him.

My dog doesn't look at me on walks, what should I do?

That's normal: outdoors, everything is more captivating than you, and staring at a face isn't natural for a dog. Go back to the start of the exercise in a quiet corner, then in a quiet street, lowering your expectations (a brief look is enough) and bringing out rewards that are genuinely worth it. And reward every glance he throws you of his own accord.

How do I catch my dog's eye?

Hold a treat against his nose, then raise it slowly along your face up to your eyes: his gaze follows and meets yours. Mark right at that instant with your marker word, then reward. Repeat, then fade the treat out bit by bit so that eventually the word alone is enough.

How do I keep my dog's attention when another dog comes along?

Under threshold, if your dog takes his eyes off the other dog to come back and look at you, that's a gift: mark and reward. On the other hand, never order a “watch” from a dog who is already tense, and don't reward a dog who is winding up to react. Marked reactivity is worked on at a distance, under threshold, with a positive-methods professional.

How do I teach my dog the “watch” cue?

Bring a treat from his nose up to your eyes or forehead: his gaze follows and meets yours. Say “watch” once, just before you start the movement, mark the instant your eyes meet, then reward. Once it works reliably, fade the treat out little by little until the word alone is enough, without ever repeating it over and over.

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