Your eyes are like windows to your soul. They shine and bedazzle as the stars do in the sky! They are like diamonds that mesmerize the person looking at them. When I look into your eyes, I keep on looking at them. I can’t ever stop looking at them. Your eyes speak volumes to me in unsaid words…”
― Avijeet Das

Do you feel warm and fuzzy after reading this?  Does it bring you back to a young love, when you had no idea where the time passed because you were lost in someone’s gaze?  Ok, ok, come on back now….those eyes are mighty powerful.  When people are looking into each other’s eyes, they are both saying, “I am not distracted by anything else around me and I am just focused on you.”  The eyes really DO tell us volumes in unsaid words and that’s why when our dogs look at us, we feel that connection, they are “with us,” and they are neutral to their environment.

However, this connection is not something commanded or demanded, it is something earned.

So how does one earn the object of their dogs attention?  Dogs naturally continue to do things that benefit them in one way or another.  If we want our dogs to look at us, this behavior needs to be conditioned, or taught. The simplest way we can teach our dogs that if they look at us, if they give us “eyeballs,” good things will happen is by playing a “treat toss” game.

Step 1: Start in a quiet, familiar room in the house, with minimal distractions around.  Make a kissing, clucking or high pitched sound to get your dog’s attention.  Most often, they will orient in the direction of the sound.

Step 2: The second they look toward you, say “yes” or “good” and toss a treat on the ground about 2 feet away from you.

Step 3: Wait to see if they look at you again for another treat. If they do, say “yes” or “good” and toss a treat on the ground in a different direction.  Take a few steps away from them, repeat. If they don’t look toward you, repeat with the sound.  You can also clap your hands, snap fingers, or even whistle.  Then toss the treat and repeat the game a few more times.

Play this game until your dog quickly re-orients toward you without you having to make a sound to get their attention, then take a break and play this game another time.

Once your dog understands that if they look at you (the behavior), a treat is tossed (the reward), you are ready to put the behavior on a cue.  The cue I use is that individual dog’s name.  I have multiple dogs, and the result I want is that if I say a particular dog’s name, that dog immediately turns their head and looks at me.

Another way to increase eye contact from our dogs is to catch our dogs looking at us, then reward them with something they enjoy.  The more we reward them, the more they will repeat the behavior.

Eye contact should always be met by something the dog wants.

It is our job to figure out what they want and to naturally grow that desire. This is the beginning of creating a good “work ethic” in our dogs.  They give us something we want, in turn they get something they want.

Herein is where things can get a little messy.  Most people know food is reinforcing for dogs, especially soft, smelly food. But if we only use food to reinforce dogs, then we will always need food for reinforcement.  There are so many other things dogs enjoy, we just have to use our observational skills to start that list.  Here are just a few:  tugging a toy, going in or out of the house, pets and affection, access to other areas of the house, access to furniture, continued movement on a walk, smelling or investigating a new area, chasing a ball, getting in and out of a car.  The list can go on and on where we condition our dog that by looking at us, or better yet, sitting and looking at us, one of these list items will happen.

Here’s a little challenge for you – start to watch your dog through a different set of lenses and pay attention to their actions.  For the next three days, see if you can catch and reward your dog for eye contact.  You may be pleasantly surprised how often you will get it.  Then you too, can start to melt when you are gazing into your dog’s eyes, feeling the love.