Training Articles: Eye Contact in Five Seconds
by August Farley with Azima Jones

How does that idea grab you? Seconds, not minutes, days or weeks. We are not talking proofed or polished eye contact, but we do get from the dog a clear "I acknowledge you" response. This is quickly followed by a "Is this what you want" response. We never cease to smile when a dog hits this stage of understanding.

There is a very simple, yet elegant, exercise, described below, that the authors do with all their Puppy, Pet Obedience, and Competition training to start the wonderful two-way communications process that eye contact gives the dog-handler team. This exercise may benefit the handler the most because it teaches her to be effective with the timing of rewards and punishers while using a method of training that keeps the dog actively motivated to perform.

Eighty percent of the dogs and handlers achieve immediate success. In a class setting there are usually one or two dogs that have problems for reasons explained below. The most exciting part of this exercise for an instructor is watching the owner's response when she has been acknowledged by her dog.

SIT IN FRONT

To start the eye contact work for all puppies and dogs, we teach a food-cued sit in front. To properly use food to cue a front, the hand is held higher than the dog's head but close to the handler's body as if zipping one's pants. If one holds the food above the dog's head, it causes the dog to rock back away from the handler. We are looking for a close, committed sit.

Obviously the animal must be food motivated. If it is not motivated, it is difficult enough to get the sit much less eye contact. A dog that is motivated by food will actively work for it, not just be willing to eat it. Most dogs not motivated by food are overfed or improperly fed, but some do inherently lack a vigorous appetite. The handler may also run into problems if the dog is nervous, shy, or extremely submissive. For most of these dogs success will come as they become more comfortable with the front position.

If the dog has a high object prey drive, balls and toys can also be used to motivate any induced behavior. Since the drive level may be higher than with food, many handlers get frustrated with the energy created. Therefore, we recommend they start with food.

INDUCED EYE CONTACT

As soon as the dog has a stable sit in front we teach an induced, not visually cued, eye contact. The sit is food cued as explained above. Then the handler puts her arms behind her back. Nothing is said; absolutely nothing! When the dog makes eye contact, it is praised and rewarded with the food immediately.

DOG ERRORS

What can be expected to happen before eye contact occurs? Because the food goes away, the first thing a dog may do is look for it. Usually he just glances at both sides of the handler's body before looking up (having hands behind the back rather than at the side makes the context more black and white for both dog and handler). In a few seconds the dog will look demandingly into the handler's eyes saying, "Well, where is it?" As instructors we always feel the same thrill as the handlers when the two-way communication starts.

Sometimes the dog will get up to look or to find something else to do. The handler just brings the food back and re-cues the sit in front. The dog must be food motivated for it to continue to work. Other dogs, especially those that have started training but have been continually cued by food, tend to avoid the issue by looking around or dropping their heads. Handlers must wait this out; saying nothing. Even these dogs will eventually take a peek at the handler's eyes. Praise and reward must come immediately thereafter.

The dog quickly learns that front position with dropped arms means the "game" has started, i.e. the sooner he makes eye contact, the sooner he gets rewarded. For competition dogs part of the purpose for teaching an induced eye contact is to channel the intensity or drive for the food or ball into the front position. More on this concept will be detailed below. For pets a committed front is more than half the recall. A good recall depends on a dog enjoying and understanding being in front.

HANDLER ERRORS

What are the major handler errors? Most are impatient and want to do the work for the dog so they make noises, call his name, lean over to look in his eyes, touch him, etc. Patience is the key word. For inducive training to work at its best, the dog must stumble upon the learning rules himself. The handler cannot do the learning for the dog. The handler merely sets up the situation for the dog to learn.

The second error the handler may make is to see the eye contact but not react quickly enough to reward it; she ends up rewarding no eye contact. As an instructor it is not always possible to see the dog make eye contact with the handler, but there are usually facial cues. When we see these, we ask if the dog made eye contact. If the answer is affirmative, we can then point out that the dog received no feedback at the right moment. It only takes a few repetitions for the handler to begin to react appropriately. The dogs are usually patient because the food is holding them there.

COMPETITION CLASSES

If the dog is to be trained for competition we begin to systematically correct and proof. Before this the dog should be able to quickly make eye contact both in front and at heel, albeit only for a few seconds. Food or object rewards can be given randomly after the praise or release.

Most handlers automatically discover the key to correcting inattention and thus to increasing the duration of eye contact; if the dog looks away or even at the side where the food will reappear, they wait. When the dog looks back, its looking back behavior is reinforced. The dog has self-corrected and thereby discovered an important rule: no work, no reward.

When the dog is ready, we can move quickly to the proofing phase where distractions are deliberately set up to make it harder for the dog to perform correctly. Once the dog learns to ignore extraneous cues, a behavior is more firmly set.

For example, the handler assumes basic working position in front. By now the hands can hang naturally at the side, food or ball in hand. Twitch a shoulder. The dog will glance to it or the hand. If one holds still, the dog should immediately resume eye contact. Twitch again...and again until the dog stops falling for the distraction. Praise and reward are given as usual.

Gradually one can move from twitching to arms outstretched to dropping the object. When dropping food, a leash can be used to prevent the dog from getting the food prematurely. Or one can switch to a ball which can be removed from the dog's mouth as a correction in order to start again. For the reward, release the dog to the ball or food with a "get it" command.

From this point, one can move to the start of heeling or moving attention/eye contact. For those trainers using a leash to guide or motivate behavior, one can repeat the correction and proofing phases using a leash pop to correct inattention.

CONCLUSION

While instructing or training the inductive eye contact, there has been no command or touching of the dog, only reward -- no reward. Because the basic working positions, heel or front, automatically assume attention or eye contact unless otherwise indicated, we prefer not to use an attention command during this phase. Later, if desired, one can be added to label the attention behavior. Besides, beginning handlers tend to misuse attention commands by relying on the spoken word rather than action in teaching the dog the behavior.

This method of teaching eye contact develops in the handler timing, patience, and an ability to "see." It gives her the skills to anticipate behavior and thus react effectively. Inducive training removes the emphasis of handler control of the animal and puts more emphasis on the dog's responsibility toward the task at hand. For some handlers this two-way communication creates the most enjoyable partnership.

The dog has learned to problem solve. He relies less on his handler to help him through and thus learns faster when he finds his own solutions. Many dogs will feel less pressure when their partners allow them to actively search for the right answer. The dog makes greater effort in its work because it has learned the working rule: the sooner a behavior is offered, the sooner the reward.

Behaviors can be corrected and proofed with less stress to the dog because the drive or motivation for the reward remains high. The dog can be corrected and still keep actively working toward the solution in expectation of the reward. For soft or unwilling dogs this is a critical learning process.

"Utmost Willingness" in the targeted behaviors can be developed during this early learning process, to the best of the dog's genetic makeup, because of this anticipation of the reward. Long ago, nudging the food hand and sitting off center should have ceased because the dog has learned to channel its desire for the reward into a straight sit in front or at heel with eye contact. The dog pours all the energy created by the desire for the reward into the behavior wanted by the handler.

The learning skills taught to handler and dog as well as the very practical attention behavior will serve the team well as they progress in obedience training. Whether the handler continues with strictly hands off, inducive training or blends it with leash correction, force training is personal preference. Communication has commenced.

(The authors are indebted to Charley Bartholomew of Larkspur, CO for sharing with the authors her insights and work with inducive training).