Ok I am posting this again and if you already have it please forgive me for posting again.But I have found this game a lot of fun and have even invented new ways to add to the games.
But once you start and if you are very consistent and that means observant you can invent even more.
Tricia and the fur kids
PS puppies learn faster at this in my experience than the older dogs I have done it with but it's all in the timming.
Find My Eyes
Good trainers of any methodology agree that attention and
focus are the most important foundation behaviours to teach a dog. Attention games are great fun for dog and handler,and jump start the process of teaching a dog how to ignore enticing enviornmental distractions.
One of the games my dogs love the most is *Find My Eyes*
I use a clicker for this game but it's not necessary. You can use a verbal *marker* effectively as well. For those who are wondering what a *marker* is,think of a camera''s click.You know how you can click the camera button and catch all sorts of funny positions and facial gettures??The button capturing a moment in time. The click or crisp verbal marker word tells the dog exactly when he's done something right. It's a *freeze frame* to capture that moment in time you want to see repeated.
We use markers all the time in our lives without thinking about it. Love having your back scratched? What happens when the scratcher reaches a really itchy spot and you want the scratcher to concentrate on that spot? Likely you will make a sound that will tell the scratcher that this is an area to concentrate on. You may murmur *Ahhhh* and this is a marker to tell the scratcher to work in that particular itchy spot.
Obviously,using a marker is not mandatory in dog training,but it sure can speed up the learning curve!
It tells the dog exactly when he's doing something right.The motivation for the dog is that once he offers this behabiour,and hears that special criisp sound,it's his contract or promise that something really wonderful will happen next,play with a squeaky toy,etc....
With the *Find My Eyes* game,the handler doesn't entice the dog's attention with any words or gestures,but instead,allows the dog to figure out what will be rewarded. This part of the process teaches the dog to problem solve,something that will be so handy in teaching new movements or in chaining movements together. The dog learns that he doesn't have to wait to be directed or guided by a lure,a leash,a word or any other directed learning appllication,and instead,has to try a few creative things to earn the click and treat.
Directed learning works---yes of course!! And there are times it is the most expedient way to get a behaviour. But for teaching a dog to tap into creativity,to keep working on a problem until a solution is found--there is nothing like non-directed problem solving. It teaches the dog to OFFER behaviours instead of waiting to be guided through every step. It teaches the dog to be joyful in finding creative solutions,and this process often leads to the dog creating movemennts we may never think of teaching,but movements that can look smashing in our routines.
In *Find My Eyes* games the object is for the dog to find the handler's eyes as the handler's body changes position and as the environment changes from neutral to very stimulating.
To start the game,a bit of *doggy zen* can be helpful. Doggy Zen is where the dog has to give up something good to get something even more rewarding.So let's say you have a handful of treats,and you want your dog to look into your eyes. A directed learning approach would be something like puting the treats near your eyes to get the dog to look into your eyes,then to deliver the treat. A non-directed approach is to offer the treats as a *red herring*--as something the dog can focus on if it chooses, but nothing happens until the dog gives up focusing on that item he so badly wants--and looks up at you instead.
Sometimes it takes a few minutes for the dog to do this.Yes,luring is faster--but,what this no coerced,non-directed exercise teaches the dog is to Find Your Eyes of his own volition,without being coerced. Coercion can break down in stimulating enviornments. Call you dog's name when he's eyeballing a rabbit or feral cat running by; chances are likely many dogs will not even hear you,they will be totally tuned out and focused on the distraction. Your voice becomes little more than white noise.
By teaching the dog from the get-go to IGNORE what it most wants and look into your eyes for the chance to get something better,you are teaching the dog what is really the most rewarding focus at the same time you are teaching attention and to *find your eyes*. Nothing happens until the dog offers the behaviour on its own. Yes, takes a bit longer you are building a dog who will drill holes in your face with his eyes,even amidst very strong enviornmental and even genetic distractions.
Steps in Playing *Find My Eyes* game
1. Put treats in your hand and stretch your hand out to you side. Let the dog focus on your hand and don't try to stop him.
2. Remain motionless and just ignore all attempts to get the treats. The dog will give up,be just a bit baffled and frustrated, and he will automatically look to your face for some sign of what the heck to do next. That's the moment you were waiting for Non-coerced,OFFERED eyeball contact.
3. Click or use your crisp Verbal marker such as, Yes! or Yip! or anything short and fast--at the moment the dog looks into your eyes. Then give the dog one of the treats.
4. Move a step in any direction and do the same setup again.This time the dog will likely give up focusing on the treats in your hand quicker,and look into your eyes faster. Be ready to click/mark and treat.
5. Each time should get incrementally faster, with the dog quickly looking up into your eyes and receiving the marker and treat the moment he does offer it.
6. Keep moving around--circle, sit, stand, lie down. Keep increasing the difficulty as the dog becomes more and more adept at *finding your eyes* no matter what body position you are in or which direction you are turned,or which room you are in.
7. Add more distractions. Turn on the TV to the animal channel. Drop a noisy pan. Open an umbrella Get friends or family to make noises in another room or walk by and try to get the dog's attention. By this time the dog will already have the idea that the game is ignoring everything because when he does. BETTER things happen!
8. Take it on the road: start with your own backyard, and lower you expections at first when you move into this new, very enticing environment. Make *finding your eyes* very easy.Then start making it a bit harder each time.Turn,squat,lie down,run away from the dog. You'll soon have a dog who will run to find your eyes wherever they may be,and even when really distracting things are happening.
9. Move to incrementally more and more distracting enviornments. On the sidewalk down the block,on the sidewalk in traffic, on the sidewalk when skateboarders and joggers and stylists are coming by. Even when other dogs are passing by on leash with their handlers. In training facility etc...
10. When the dog can offer you eyeball focus in amidst distraction, you can even change the game a bit and use eyeball movement to capture tiny bits of body movement for teaching at a distance.
Laurisa Osheski a clicker service dog trainer in Canada,does this all the time for freesstyle movements she teaches all the service dogs. She *captures* those
nanoseconds of behaviour--the muscle twitches of beginning movement-by teaching the dogs to watch her eyes so closely, that when she shifts her eyeballs to the right or left,the dog will also start shifting its position. She then captures those little twitches or steps with the click and tosses a treat so the dog remains away from her,never having to come back in to get the treat.
This teaches the dog to offer behaviours at a distance. and the eyeball shifting can be a *lure* that induces movement at a distance without having to use hands or voice. It can even be incorporated into a cue, so that very subtle signals an audience isn't likely to pick up on can be worked into the routine.
This *eyeball targeting* is awesome! It can be used in so many ways-and all can be taught from a distance. rather than close up first, then adding distance. It'a a major time saver, and it all starts with *find my eyes* games.
The object is not to teach the dog to do a competition obedience wrap-around-the handler type of constant eye contact. but to learn to *check in* and find your eyes every few seconds,whether the dog is close or far away.
Several of us are now working on the *eyeball targeting* games, and what a challenge to get the dog so tuned into your eyeball movement that he dog moves whatever direction your eyes start to move in!