Getting serious about LEFT SIDE/RIGHT SIDE: L3 and beyond

Yes, this is LEFT SIDE/RIGHT SIDE: L3.......but the behavior really begins with WATCH: L2, so that's where we begin.  Re-teaching a different dog.

WATCH: LEVEL TWO

Dog finds the trainer’s face and holds eye contact for 10 seconds with no more than two voice cues. No body language or touching other than looking at the dog.

This behavior must be performed with no food or clicker in the area.

EASY BEGINNINGS

First, of course, you need to get the dog looking at your eyes. It'll probably be just a glance. Click that! If you're working with a small dog or puppy, sit on the floor or otherwise get down to her level. Make strange noises with your mouth. Hand Zen frequently gets a good glare from the dog. Do just about anything you can think of to get her to look at your eyes BUT do NOT put a treat in your hand and then put the treat near your eyes! That just gets the dog looking at the treat near your eyes. In your training life, you'll click the dog a thousand times for looking at your treat (usually by accident). You certainly don't have to reward her intentionally for that behavior! Rapid-Fire click/treat will also usually result in a glare when you stop.

So, get the behavior. Just a glance at first, but be ready for it. If you're thinking "Oh, there it is! I have to click!" it's already too late. You'll make mistakes, because her eyeballs are a lot faster than your hand is, but stick with it. Click the glance X20, then ask for more. Some dogs will start locking on to your eyes fairly quickly. For these guys, you can simply wait for a 1-second watch, then 2 seconds, then 3, and so on.

For the ones who decide they're getting clicked for a glance, work it X20, then ask for TWO glances before you click. Pay for two glances X20, and you should be starting to get a longer stare.

Then we practiced pivoting. To the left. To the right. Jan brought the perfect pole, which was our "surrogate" dog. We practiced pivoting with our surrogate dog before combining the dog with eye contact and pivoting for real.

LEFT SIDE: LEVEL THREE

Dog follows eye contact while the trainer pivots to the left

EASY BEGINNINGS

Eye contact. In the Level 3 Watch, you're working on 30 seconds of eye contact. WARNING: do NOT start the Left Side work until you have a really, good, solid, 30 seconds of eye contact! Put the dog away for a minute, we need to talk.

Let's discuss a pivot. Drop a coin on the floor, put one of your toes on the coin, and turn left. Do NOT move the coin, and do NOT take your toe off the coin. That's a pivot. If you took even a tiny step in any direction, you weren't pivoting, and not pivoting can really mess the dog up on this behavior. When you pivot, the dog has to walk around you – that's what we're looking for.

Start with the dog in front of you, with solid eye contact. Click X10 for contact, then on the 11th contact, pivot slightly to your left instead of clicking. Click when she finds your eyes again. Another 5 clicks for contact, and when you get the 6th one, pivot again, clicking when she finds you again. Be sure that your body language remains the same – you're looking directly in front of you, waiting for HER to find YOU, you're not turning your head to find her.

Play with this and the dog will begin to hold your eyes instead of letting you "escape" and having to find you later. That's all we need at this level, but don't skip ahead.


If you don't work to real, solid eye contact here, you're going to miss out on a lot of neat stuff later!