Getting your puppy to look on cue

This is an important exercise for you to teach your puppy as it will help you get her attention. It’s often easier to teach other exercises on cue once you have your puppy’s attention by having her ‘look’. For example, you can ask your puppy to "look"and then to "sit", "stay", "come"or "drop".

You may have already begun teaching your puppy to ‘look’ on cue without realising it!

1. Ask your puppy to sit and reward her
2. Hold a tiny treat next to your eye
3. Initially your puppy will look at the food. Wait until your puppy makes even fleeting eye contact with you and reward her for looking into your eyes
4. Repeat several times and as soon as your puppy looks at your eyes say "look" and reward her
5. Over time your puppy should look at you every time you ask her to
6. Remember to reward your puppy with quiet praise every time for the rest of her life
7. Remember your puppy does not have to stare at you continuously, just look when you ask.

Tips

• Use your puppy’s name to gain her attention
• Gradually increase the time between when your puppy first looks into your eyes and when you give them the treat. This way you can extend the time your puppy will look at you
• Gradually introduce this exercise in different environments with more distractions.