Eye Contact

[Pawbla]

I'm training for eye contact while walking. My dog keeps slowing down when he makes eye contact, even stopping sometimes, I assume because he becomes focused on me instead of walking. I usually just encourage him to walk, and he starts walking again (although he usually breaks eye contact), but do you have any better ideas on how to avoid the "slowing down"? I imagine it's a common problem?

 

[Mutt]

Mmh I haven't experienced this prolem, but maybe keeping pace while jolding something interesting (reward) to get him used to focussing and keeping pace?

 

[648117]

Are you asking for eye contact on a normal walk or during heelwork?

During a normal walk I wouldn't ask for sustained eye contact, the dog can't enjoy its walk if it's looking at you and may slow down because it's concerned about walking into something.

If it's heelwork where the dog knows it wont walk into anything (ie, in a training situation) then it should be able to keep up while giving eye contact.
Maybe you are the one who is slowing down so the dog does too. If I slow down enough during heelwork with Holly then she will stop between steps.

 

[jackienmutts]

My question too - if it's just during a regular walk, are you just asking for a quick "check in", or are you wanting sustained eye contact, and then if so, why? Just regular walks should be for dogs to take in their surroundings, find out who peed where, what's happened in the neighborhood, etc. Mine glance at me here and there, but certainly no sustained eye contact - heck, they'd bump into bushes, etc, or fall off the curb.

If it's heelwork, are you walking in an area where the dog doesn't need to worry about 'stuff'?

 

[Pawbla]

I'm doing some pre-heelwork stuff, so for the last block or half a block, I ask him to watch me. I'm not sure
if it's an area where you could consider that he doesn't need to worry about stuff. It's a sidewalk, but usually there is no people around. I don't have many places to practice .
It's possible I'm slowing down, too, I'll start checking that.