Young or old, no matter the breed or background, the “watch me” command is a hugely useful training tool for your dog to learn. Teaching your dog to refocus on you on command helps you better manage your dog when you need them to ignore other dogs or people in public or when you need their attention quickly so you can ask them for the next thing you need from them. It’s also an excellent basic command for your dog to adjust to for a basic training tool as it teaches them how to engage with you directly when asked.
The “watch me” command teaches your dog to look up and maintain eye contact with you when asked even if places with a lot of distractions.
How to teach “watch me”
The trick is to first lure your dog to look at you and then focus on you and hold focus on you with full contact with your eyes and on your vocal commands. Start by holding a treat in front of their nose, and slowly bring the treat up to your eye level. They should watch the treat and be staring at your face. Mark the behaviour with a marker like “yes” or “good” and treat, praise and assign the behavior with the cue “watch me”. Next, repeat the above steps by reward him with a treat from the other hand instead. Once you feel the dog is getting accustomed to the command and behaviour associated with it. Repeat the first steps without a treat in your hand, but immediately reward with a treat when they carry out the holding the focus on your face. You’ve now taught the meaning to the command “watch me”. Repeat the steps until you are confident in their ability to hold focus and “watch me” on command. If you feel, they mess up or fail, just go back few steps and start again until they are repeating the action on command. Always stay in a low Distraction environment like the garden and only up the ante to a park or other area when you feel they are capable of holding your attention in areas with other stimulation. Incorporate “watch me” training a few times a day in short, sporadic sessions over the next week. The key to “watch me” training is to be able to ask for focus to stay on you when you feel they have the potential to pull towards or get overly excited when other dogs are passing.
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