Seven works on Eye Contact - Part 3 of Meal Time = Training Time!

In case you missed parts 1and 2 here they are:

 

Meal Time = Training Time - Part 1  

Seven works on Targeting - Part 2 of Meal Time = Training Time

 

 

I don't use a clicker as a marker that often.  This is mostly due to the fact that dogs that pass through my house have sensitivity to the noise of the clicker.  But, that's not Seven!  I figured I'd give it a try using the clicker with him and I found that he responds quicker to the clicker as a maker. So, we are both perfecting our clicker skills. 



I love that New Ratttitude sells box clickers!

 

We are working on another fun and easy skill.  Watch the video and see if you can figure it out...



 

Why work on eye contact?  This is to help around impulse control and it's building the foundation for teaching Seven "Look". 

 

Seven gets quickly excited if we see a dog when we are on a walk.  There's no way I can ask him to to figure out the word "look" on our walk when he's so overly aroused by the sight and sound of another dog.  So, we start the work inside where there are fewer distractions. 

 

He's getting the game down.  Seven also knows that the click pays well!

 

We have to keep practicing inside and then when we are outside carry high value food reinforcers.  This is going to be a work in progress and I'm sure there will be more posts around "Look" in the coming weeks.

Here we are the next morning and we are using his 53 pieces of kibble. 

Seven knows the game!

And here we have a distractor - Catty outside the gate.  You can see that it's more reinforcing to pay attention/come to me than it is to stay near the gate that Catty is behind.

And yeah Seven!  Your new skills of making eye contact and touch out weight Catty who is distracting you.  We will keep at this indoors and then work at taking it to the streets where there are lots of other environmental distractions.

If you have the book: Terrier-Centric Dog Training then you've no doubt read the chapter "Becoming More Interesting Than Dirt".  It's chalked full of terrier information related to distractors and how to work with them instead of against them.