Your dog should learn to ‘Watch’ and offer eye contact regardless of the situation or distraction. And they must hold the position for ‘DURATION’, until you release them.

As my labrador develops their ability to ‘watch’, I will add more intrusive distractions like jumping, stepping sideways, walking a little, letting other people and dogs come into view. When my dog is able to ‘maintain FOCUS’, I will extend the ‘duration’. My dog should ‘Watch’ without looking away for 1 minute.

Once I am confident, I can move to different situations like my front yard, in a car park, in a park. But whatever the level of distraction I want my dog to ‘WATCH’. They must be able to maintain FOCUS EYE CONTACT.

FOCUS TRAINING will help you to advance any dog at any age. At one extreme, if your dog is nervous, asking them to ‘watch’, making eye contact and staring at you is immediately reassuring and settling for them.

At the other extreme, If you have a dog that tends to be enthusiastic, ‘focus’ eye contact will calm your dog and also reinforce that you are the leader.

With this in mind, it is important as a dog owner to understand the danger of dogs staring at each other. This is an aggressive behaviour. You must intervene immediately before the situation escalates. Redirect you dog’s attention and refocus your labrador,...‘LUCY...WATCH’.

This way you are teaching your dog a genuine coping skill. Their flight / fight response can be controlled by the option to ‘Watch’.

Your dog cannot bark, lung, look at other dogs and distractions if they are ‘WATCHING ‘ you.

This allows me to take them many places and work around other dogs because they have another behaviour available. Instead of staring at another dog (bad behavior) they are ‘focusing’ on me and ignoring every distraction.

If your dog is to be confident outside your home environment you will need to train them increasingly difficult locations with distraction.Reward your dog for ‘any’ success with high value treats and lots of verbal praise. And do this constantly.