"WATCH ME" 

Teaching your dog the “Watch Me” command, is a foundation behaviour that should be taught right from the start.

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It’s simple, gain your dog’s attention by placing a small treat between two fingers and literally lure his gaze up to your eye. When he looks at you, reward him with the treat and praise. Repeat a few times a day, in the early days until you have quick and solid consistency. Over time you can fade out the treat while keeping the hand and verbal cue, and increasing duration of eye contact.

Dogs have been shaped by their relationship with humans over the past 33,000 years to be able to tune in and actually use human communication skills, the way that so many other animals cannot. Dogs are more adept at understanding our pointing gestures and gaze directional signals, than our closest primate relative the chimpanzee; and their own canis relative, the wolf. Dogs will usually attempt to make eye contact with humans to solve a problem if they can’t solve it on their own. Captive wolves will not.

Over the past 33,000 years domestication has also reshaped the facial muscles of dogs to better facilitate communication between our two species. Research indicates that the levator anguli oculi medialis muscles (responsible for intensely raising the inner eyebrow), is consistently present in dogs but not in wolves. Using them creates an expression we humans produce when sad. You know what I’m talking about “those puppy dog eyes,” so successful at triggering a nurturing response in humans. It extends a dog’s range of expression in a way that wolves physically cannot duplicate.

So teaching your dog to look at your face and watch you, is a skill they are predisposed to learn and use. This communication training can and should be started as early as 6 to 8 weeks, or at least very soon after you adopt your puppy. Its use should be instilled even before your dog learns to sit, stay or lie down. What’s the point of teaching anything else to your dog if she hasn’t yet developed the communication tools to watch and listen to you? It’s best taught to dogs as puppies but dogs of any age can learn this skill. Success with "watch me" will improve their recall, responsiveness to commands and decrease their susceptibility to distraction.

Encouraging and developing eye contact also helps your dog to know when communication is directed at him, separating it from the background noise of casual human chatter. A dog's motivation to establish eye contact is also a good indicator of just how well he's bonded with you.

Check The Dog Blog once a month for more great dog stories and training tips.