 Barked: Fri Dec 7, '12 11:17am PST |
 | |  | | Sorry you're having so much trouble finding a trainer. First I freeshape eye contact with the clicker, then add a cue. I don't recommend luring him toward your face with a treat, because he doesn't learn what you want that way- he's just staring at the treat. It would be hard to teach without a clicker because it depends on split second timing at first. But it's easy to get started with the clicker if you're not familiar, just let us know and we can point you in the right direction. Watch me Video. I would then add the words "watch me" just as his head turns toward me, until I can get eye contact on demand in different situations. On walks, when he gets to the end of the leash, I would say "watch me" once and wait for eye contact before moving forward. If it doesn't happen in a reasonable time, I walk us backwards a few steps and ask again. I used the cue for a day or two, and then he understood that looking at me made us move forward. It helps the process go faster if at first you move instantly and very quickly when he flicks his eyes toward you, as if he's said the magic word. You can also just freeshape on walks if you're not in a hurry. When you feel tension on the leash, plant your feet, and as soon as he looks at you, smile, praise, and walk quickly forward. The tricky thing with reactive dogs is that you have to do a visual sweep for triggers while you do this. You want it to be a fun game, and don't want to add a conditioned negative association where he feels trapped with scary things. |  |  | |  |
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