Training Tip: Attention Please

Attention Please

Your dogs will pay attention to you happily for any reason and every time you say their name if you’re consistent with this training. Puppies, old dogs, new dogs, rescues, and the dog who lives with you will learn this quickly. Be kind and have fun.

Meals are great for this training. I encourage using regular meals (no matter what food you feed at your house) to get your dog to pay attention to you. You can be sitting, standing, lying down, running, goofing off, laughing, crying, stumbling, crawling, any and every position you can think of or all of these in one meal. And after you do this for a full two weeks, your dog will turn and come to you when you call or say her name. It’s great for the dog who runs into the street, call the name and she’ll come running back, even if you’re yelling at the top of your lungs and ready to have a heart attack! Of course, this is not guaranteed, please practice caution around great big moving things like cars.

Okay, here we go. Every single meal, start by giving three bites of food: One, two, three. Then in a quiet voice, say your dog’s name. “Spot” and give a bite of food. Do it again and again until the meal is gone. Next meal, say your dog’s name quietly, and give a bite of food. Next bite, say your dog’s name with a growl in your voice and give the food. Again and again, every meal, every day, every bite use different tone of voice until one day you are yelling at the top of your lungs with every bite. Your dog will understand that no matter what you sound like, she will turn to you when you say her name. It’s really fun to yell, “Spot! Oh, my gosh, are you the very best dog in the whole world?” and give a bite. Your dog will be looking at you with happiness and expectation no matter your mood or your level of excitement.

Please do not say your dog’s name when you’re upset or mad. And don’t say their name just to get them to look at you, that can get old and they’ll stop doing it. If you need them, call their name. If you don’t need them, go to them and pet them with long soft petting. A name should always precede something good. You’ll get the best results that way. (It works the same way with people, especially children but adults, too. Need to scold? Okay, but don’t use their name when you’re upset, they’ll start to expect bad things when they hear their own name. It’s very sad. Say someone’s name to them and give them something good. Then every time you say their name, they will turn to you with a smile.)

Darcie Krueger, Owner 
SitStay.com