Delilah and I got to class a bit early on Tuesday so I’d have the opportunity to discuss her reactivity with our instructor, Jackie.
Jackie’s suggestion is to practice the look command. Some people call it watch, others use look; it really is just a matter of preference.
To train look you put a tiny treat between your thumb and middle finger, then with your pointer finger extended bring your finger up to your nose and say look. When the dog looks directly into your eyes, YES and reward.
Unless you are using the clicker, yes is always the marker. Not good girl, yes.
Once you have your dog looking at your when you say look, you will want to add distractions.
We started the distractions like this. Grab two large, yummy treats one in each hand and place your hands straight down against your legs. Now raise your arms out like you are making a ‘T’ and say look. It may take a few minutes for your dog to get it, that’s okay, once your dog looks you in the eyes, yes (or click if you are using the clicker) and treat.
You will begin to increase your distractions the longer you train. This will become so ingrained in your dog that if a squirrel darts in front of you, you should be able to say look and refocus your dog on you. Now that I’ve written that, I would say you could also use focus.
Jackie said that I really need to watch Delilah’s body language and it’s true, I can usually tell when she is going to react by the way she stiffens her body. The thing is I can never tell which dog she will react to!
While Jackie and I were standing talking, two dogs came in and nothing. The next dog, BAM. I quickly said Delilah look and she spun around to me!
Yay success!! Except I wasn’t supposed to use her name.
Since Jackie had Delilah and I working on look, she thought the rest of the class should work on it as well. Some of them have trained previously with her so they were allowed to go straight to trying the distraction portion. Delilah and I just worked on look.
This class has about eight dogs in it and all the owners are women.
I don’t know all the breeds of dogs but I am slowly learning their names. Jersey is a little black pit bull type dog, who in the previous two weeks came only with her mom. Tuesday night her mom AND dad came to class.
Jersey’s dad said, she won’t look at me, all she does is bark.
Jackie said, you may have to lure her with a treat.
To which he replied, I don’t want to use treats, I want her to look at me because I asked her to.
My inner bitch silently screamed, that is such a male attitude! You must do what I say because I am the man and I am the alpha and dominate being.
I almost said it out loud, but I somehow restrained myself.
Jackie then said well if that’s the case, then you should leave the room when she barks at you and only come back in when she is calm.
He spent the rest of the night going in and out the door.
My inner bitch was laughing herself silly.
With about 10 minutes to go we went outside to work on recalls, using a long check cord. Jackie wanted us outside so we could spread out.
I kept Delilah in the parking lot while everyone else found spots on the grass.
I surreptitiously took a few pictures. They aren’t great shots and you’ll have to excuse the dumpsters, but I wanted a picture of Jersey’s dad for this post.
Jersey’s dad, noticed the crossed arms. He’s not open to this type of training. 🙂
This is Milo and his mom working on his recall with the check cord.
And here is my pretty girl, tired after doing so much work.
Would you stop flashing that? You keep jerking the wheel and I’m trying to sleep!
I’m excited to be working with Delilah on look. I think this is going to be a great tool for us.
Oh we also got our clickers last night and started teaching touch. But that’s for another post.
What do you think? Have you ever used this command with a reactive dog and did you have success or not?
Ah, Delilah looks so happy after her training. I remember Rosy would love our training sessions. I don’t think we ever used the Look command but it was a long time ago and I may be remembering wrong. Why aren’t you suppose to used your dogs name in front on the command word?
I’m not really sure why you aren’t supposed to use their names. I think it is for the same reason why you shouldn’t repeat your command. If you only say Delilah look, then she will learn to only look when you say her name first. Does that make sense?
Hey jodi,
That look command sounds cool – though I don’t know what treat my Mum would have to use to get me to stop looking at a Squirrel!! 🙂
Wags to all,
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
I think the idea Snoopy, is to get you to look at your mom with smaller distractions. The squirrel is the big one, which should only be added after you have mastered the smaller ones. 🙂
Wow! Well done Jodi and Delilah. I had to laugh when you said that the guy spent the rest of the night going in and out the door 🙂 Male pride in action!
Yes Bassa, it made me laugh too, but to each his own. I understand why he doesn’t want to treat his dog all the time, but to get it started well I think he might have had less stress by treating.
I love that command, it can be SO useful in so many situations.
Silly man. Why do they always want to make everything so hard – if he’d just buy in, he, his wife and his dog would have a much easier time- they need to give the dog some consistency. Hopefully, he’ll come around!
Delilah is such a cutie – love that smile! 🙂
We are working on so many commands right now, it gets confusing! Yes I have no idea why they must make everything so dang hard. I hope he comes around just to get started, afterwards he can wean her off the treats.
She’s a really sweet dog. 🙂
Jersey’s dad is probably pussy whipped by his wife or girl friend and needs a dog for some male thing. My inner bitch is chuckling too.
Jersey’s dad is probably pussy whipped by his wife or girl friend and needs a dog for home male thing. Our inner bitch laughed with you.
LOL Jan, I’m glad you said it and not me! Your first comments went to spam. I wonder if it’s because you said ‘pussy’?
Are my comments going through?
My first didn’t
Important things first–Delilah is rocking that pretty blue harness. It’s an Easy Walk, right?
I found the “look” cue so helpful with Shadow. It was great for helping us sit on the porch peacefully in the summer while other dogs were walking by. It does require you to be very aware of your surroundings and of Delilah’s state of mind. But it sounds like you’re in a good place there.
Good for you to stop in early at class to get that valuable tip from your trainer. BTW, I know you and your husband don’t always agree on dog training. What does he think about Delilah’s progress?
Yes it is an Easy Walk, I was offered red or blue and thought blue would look better. She behaves very well on it, but I don’t want to always have to use it.
I’m glad that “look” benefited Shadow, it is true you must be hyper vigiliant but to have a dog that may or may not relax and be able to deactivate that switch is amazing.
Husband doesn’t say much about her training at all. Truthfully she doesn’t seem to be any better with her place command, which is the one he really wants her to ‘get.’ 🙁
BTW I tried to answer this four times last night and kept hitting the wrong button and ending up on the idiot’s blog. Finally gave up and finished it this morning. 🙂
Yep, yep, we call it “watch”. I actually learned it from reading Patricia McConnell’s “Feisty Fido” which did wonders for Shiva’s reactivity. Since Shiva is highly distractable I don’t think we’ll ever be at 100% with it but that’s okay. At least 80% of the time “watch” works and that’s enough for me. The other 20% of the time I just beat her with a stick.
Kidding! Kidding!
I had to snicker at your description of that guy. It’s totally judgmental of me to say this but the photo actually matched my mental image of him perfectly. I don’t know how you didn’t laugh out loud when he kept leaving and then coming back in. I don’t know how your instructor didn’t laugh either. She was probably trying to be non-judgmental, which is more than I can say for myself right now. Oops.
Love that happy expression on Delilah’s face! It looks like she’s having a good time at your classes!
I don’t think Jersey’s dad is totally wrong. Treats are great, but there may come a time when you don’t have a treat. The guy came to class so that must mean he is interested in learning something. He could have skipped.
We taught both of our dogs “look”, but don’t really use it the way your instructor is suggesting. We use a different command to stop them. That command would be “no”. 🙂
When we have done obedience classes we used “look” to get them to pay attention rather than looking around. It is helpful for that for sure.
It sounds like this class is really helping with some of your training issues. Delilah looks very pleased with herself. 🙂
I use “watch” when I am teaching the dogs to stand for exam in the ring. It is a very useful command for many different circumstances. When I don’t want them to do something such as chase something, etc, a very firm “NO” and then “here” is typically what I use.
Sounds like Delilah is doing very well, I am very proud of her, seems she has come a long way 🙂
I know they say folded arms means not open to something but I don’t agree with that, I tend to do it because it is a comfortable way for me to stand, takes a little pressure off my back. I think it’s great he came to class 🙂
How awesome that Delilah turned right around and looked at you. Who cares if you said her name or not?? She did it! Woo Hoo!!!
Sadly, that “Do it cause I said so” attitude doesn’t solely pertain to men. I’ve met several woman trainers who feel that dogs should look because they “respect” you too. Ugh.
Jodi, I’m benefiting from the classes you are paying lol.
Thanks for sharing with details.
I used it for Ricochet, my oldest Jack Russell. He was very reactive when I adopted him at 5 months. We spent the next year working on his reactivity using this command. I don’t use the watch or look cue though, I used his name to mean look at me. Probably a habit left over from training for competition obedience. I didn’t lure with a treat, but started clicking for an ear moving toward me when I said his name and gradually moving on to him looking at me and working with distractions. I have a hard time fading lures so shaping works better for me. Anyway, it worked real well and Ricochet has made me extremely proud in a couple of situations where other owners were not paying attention to their dogs.
Have you read Controlled Unleashed by Leslie McDevitt? http://www.controlunleashed.net/book.html It’s been on my reading wish list forever. It’s a program for dogs’ who needs to work on problems like being reactive. I’ve heard a lot of clicker trainers rave about it.
We use look all the time with Kolchak and it’s a huge part of helping beep him under control when he starts to go nutty. We’re working on it like Felix and unlike Mr. Matcho Moron there, I have no problem teaching him that I am the bringer of all good things (food, treats, outings and affection) and that listening to me is what keeps those good things rolling at Casa de Kolchak.
LOL, also, be careful with that “yessssss”. When I caught myself marking good behavior from the other half with a yessss, I decided it was time to get back to the clicker.
I am using the look command because my dog is scared at different things when we walk. I forgot treats the other night something scared her I said look real quick and she did I praised her she now walks past the object. So it works for us.
Always love pictures of Delilah.
I had to laugh when you said that Jersey’s dad kept going in and out the door all night. It sounds like the trainer had that planned! Too funny.
Delilah looks so happy in that last photo! 🙂
Hey Jodi. I think ‘look’ is an excellent command especially for reactive dogs. It is often recommended by veterinary behaviorists as a tool to get your dog focused on you. Delilah is a smart girl and I am sure she will learn this command quickly.
It often frustrates me when people insist on not using treats. I can understand the logic of not using treats in the long term but what’s the big hype about completely abstaining from using treats. I mean these people should apply it on themselves. Wouldn’t they work harder if they were promised a huge bonus???
I really enjoy reading all about your training adventures with Delilah. 🙂
First and foremost, what a gorgeous photo of Delilah looking like such a princess in the car!!!! Jersey’s dad sound like a real piece of work and I so LOVE how the trainer dealt with him. I love the “look” command, whcih I use frequently with Mazzie. As you say, the trick is getting your dog to respond in the face of a REAL distraction, which in Mazzie’s case would be a mentally ill homeless man charging at her out of nowhere. While we use “look” every day with more and more success, we’re not quite at the point yet where it would work in a crazy scenario like the one I described above. Sounds like Delilah was the star of the class having caught on so quickly!
Sorry for the additional comment – I forgot to ask you the following: how are you and Delilah doing with the harness that the trainer recommended?
I really love your trainer, and I don’t even know her!
We’re working on “focus” to train Des to look at me on command. Simultaneously, we are working on conditioning Desmond to associate the sight of a dog with yummy treats (I’m using hot dogs and bacon). Eventually, we will marry the two together to wind up with him seeing a dog and looking to me for treats.
We’re also trying something a little unconventional for reactivity, which is to actually reward Desmond with getting closer to/getting to see the dog when he’s calm-ish. His main issue is that he sees a dog and wants to go and greet it/play with it. It’s not fear or aggression or anything like that. He wants to get closer, not further away. He just doesn’t know how to express himself properly and so far cannot comprehend that calmness = say hi. He’s not even really picking up on the reactions from the other dogs when he goes all barky and lungy. You would think it would almost solve itself in that way.
So when we were in class and the other dogs would come in (we were behind a barrier), he would go nuts and then when he settled down, I would take him just outside the barrier so he could see them for a few seconds and then right back behind it when he got too vocal or physical. We would do it over and over and by the end of the class session, we’d be able to walk out from the barrier a few steps and stay for a minute or two. By the time we got to our last class, we were behind the barrier for maybe a total of five minutes and out with the group for the rest of the time.
I’ll be using a combination of all of the above (and calming chews) to continue to work with him. If only I had the time to do this work every single day…