Attention is vital to puppy training! You must have your puppy’s attention first before you can ask him to do anything. Puppies cannot focus on two things at once. Whatever your puppy is looking at he is thinking about and we want it to be you during a training session.
I like to play the following game with my puppies. I put my puppy on a four-foot leash and get 5-10 small chewy training treats in my pocket. Without saying a word, I hold the leash and stand facing a different direction than my puppy. Then I wait. My puppy eventually tries to find my face to see what I’m doing. The moment he looks at my face I mark, “YES,” and give him a treat. Then I rotate 90 degrees and the game starts over. I repeat it several more times until my puppy is very quick to find my face.
Some puppies figure out that they must make eye-contact for the treat almost immediately. Others take longer. Your puppy might sit next to you content as can be. Hold out! Make sure he knows you have yummy treats on hand and his brain will start ticking as to how to get them! This is a game of patience, one in which your puppy learns to think. There is nothing more fun than watching puppies process information and figure things out for themselves. The beauty is you are getting him to do what you want without even saying a word!
Want to know more about getting your puppy to pay attention to you? We teach a lesson all about it and show you how to put it on cue. To view the lesson and how-to video subscribe to our site at www.baxterandbella.com today.