He's got the look

One of the first things I taught both my puppies is the "look" command. Being new to the whole puppy training thing, it took my friend Donna to point out why this was important and how to do it, so I'm passing this information on to my readers to give them a jump start on training.

"Look" is a command that requires the puppy to stop whatever they're doing, and look you in the eyes. Seeing as how dogs do not dare do this with each other makes it amazing to me that they can be taught to go against their very nature to please us. Besides being just cool, it's also a necessary command in training. "Look" means that they have to stop what they're doing and, more importantly stop their current thought process, in order to pay attention to what you want. It also makes for better communication with the animal, since it has been proven that dogs do read facial expressions and act accordingly.

So how do you accomplish this fabulous command? It's really not that hard. Start out by putting your treat of choice in front of the puppy's nose, then bring it up to between your eyes. Say "look" or whatever command word you choose, then reward them for the proper behavior. In time, it will become an automatic response for them. I find that about 75% of the time, Shammy is looking without me giving any command to do so. Encouraging this kind of attentiveness is also necessary in establishing your role as a pack leader.