Simple way to get more attention from dog – it’s all about eye contact

A dog trainer has shared the ‘best way’ to gain your canine’s focus and improve your bond, which is especially important in social settings such as walks in the park.

Often pet owners might struggle to have their dogs listen to their call, but Adam Spivey, an experienced dog trainer from Southend Dog Training, renowned for his direct training style and no-nonsense attitude, offers valuable tips. Spivey, who started training dogs back in 2012 and authored two books, How To Train Your Dog and How To Raise The Perfect Dog, shared a video on TikTok on how to grab your dog’s attention more effectively.

Spivey advised: “So before your dog gets anything fun or exciting, you wanna make sure you’re waiting for eye contact.” He emphasised the necessity of eye contact under various circumstances, such as pre-walk, while putting on their lead, releasing them, or letting them into the car or garden.

The dog whisperer elaborated: “The more the dog learns acknowledgment of you leads to good things [and] the more the dog pays attention to you. When you’re outside anytime the dog checks in with you, mark and reward.

“Mark random check-ins constantly and your dog will be a lot more attentive on you and if you really want to step it up, start hand feeding.” Spivey noted that enhancing your bond with your dog involves making it “work for every single bit of food.”

He hailed hand feeding as a “game changer” and clarified that you need to “interact with your dog and get them to do something to get their food.” Dogs Trust, the UK’s leading dog welfare charity, has emphasised that gaining focus and attention from your canine is crucial for training.

Without first securing their attention, your dog “will likely be distracted and more interested in other things.” The organisation has outlined two key steps to capture your dog’s attention.

The initial phase is to train your dog to look at you when you say their name. Dogs Trust advises: “Say their name and reward them with a tasty treat the moment they look at you. Repeat this several times, at least twice a day for about a week until they can reliably look at you when you say their name.”

“Avoid using their name unnecessarily over the next couple of weeks until you know that they fully understand that they should look at you when you say their name. The second step it outlined is to introduce a marker word once your dog is responding well to their name, such as ‘yes’, ‘good girl’ or ‘good boy.’

Dogs Trust explains: “We introduce this word so that when we are training our dog and they do a nice behaviour that we like, we want them to look at us so we can give them a reward. With enough practice, you should notice that if they do something good and you say their marker word, they should look at you, expecting a treat or other reward.”