The single most important skill in dog training is the handler’s ability to gain the dog’s focus and hold his attention.

Averting a dog’s focus from a distraction can overcome even the most serious situations.For example, you are walking in the park and Fido spots another dog at the other end of the field. Fido reckons that romping around with the other dog is much more fun than toddling along at your side.

If you can demand his focus you will be in a position to react before he takes off across the park. Your ability to lock his focus gives you the chance of offering him something more attractive than interacting with the other dog.

This may take the form of a game of tug, a fun retrieve or even a tasty treat.

People ask me how I achieve results and turn mischievous and aggressive dogs around. The simple answer is that I have the ability to lock into the dog’s mind and grasp his attention.

Capturing his focus allows me to manipulate, motivate and reinforce him.So how do we learn this skill? My way of gaining and maintaining focus is training the “see me” command.

I would normally use a clicker to “mark” the desired behaviour. (See the clicker-training page for details)

Training the “see me” command.

• Show the dog a treat then place the treat under your chin.Wait until the dog looks you in the eye then click and treat him. I often think a dog looks through you when he’s offering you his undivided attention.
• Repeat until he offers you the behaviour 6 or 8 times simultaneously.Don’t prolong the session, maintain a high pace for a short period then give the dog a rest. 
• After an hour or two repeat this exercise and try and expand the number of “see me” commands to 8 or 10.
• Repeat this periodically throughout the day constantly increasing the behaviour count until he can offer 15 to 20 “see me’s”. Don’t overdo it. Remember to keep the sessions short and exciting.

At this point (15 to 20 “see me” commands) the dog understands how to offer the behaviour. Now try and point to your chin without a treat and say, “see me”. Click and treat him when he looks into your eyes.

Repeat this exercise and hold his gaze for intermittent periods.i.e. hold his gaze for 2 seconds then click and treat. Next time hold out for 7 seconds then click and treat. Next time wait 1 second then click and treat and so on (see the intermittent reinforcement article for details).

We are shaping behaviour. We have created the behaviour from scratch and we are modifying it by slowly customizing it to our requirements.

• Next stage is to issue the “see me” command without pointing to your chin. Click and treat him when he offers you his gaze. Again we need to be intermittent in our treat delivery (reinforcement). This stops the dog predicting when he will receive his reward. 
• You may have to work for a few days before you get to this point. Be patient and don’t be afraid to go back a few steps if need be. The important thing is that we translate our requirements and the dog interprets them accurately.
• Next step is to add distractions. A simple low-level distraction like someone bouncing a ball is a good start. He will be distracted by the sound of the ball. Immediately issue the “see me” command.

Offer him really tasty high category treats for giving you focus. I use some tasty liver cake to reinforce this behaviour. We want to offer him something far more attractive than the distraction. Next step is to up the distraction level. 

This may take the shape of introducing another dog or issuing the command while he is sniffing around in the garden.

I would ensure that you have him on a training line where you can control his actions if the distraction is too much for him.  From this point you have the equivalent of an emergency focus and recall command. It is really important to practice this command with distractions.

Please do not be tempted to repeat the vocal cue if the dog does not respond first time. It’s imperative that the dog understands that he will only be clicked and treated if he responds to the first “see me” command. 

If you start using repeated voice cues you will weaken the behaviour and loose effect. You need to go back a few steps to reinforce if the dog does not comply to your first “see me” command.  I tend to view the dogs non-compliance as a misinterpretation of a request rather than a misdemeanor.

Take a few steps back, reinforce the behaviour at an earlier stage then proceed from there. This approach will make you a more competent trainer and will produce a consistent reliable dog.