Make It Fun for Your Dog To Look Back at You Outside
The outdoors come with all sorts of sights, smells, and sounds, so it is helpful to teach your dog how to enjoy the world without totally forgetting that you exist. In this video above (and the written steps outlined below), we’ll show you some simple ways to build an automatic check in behavior (and even how to turn that into some recall practice). Your dog will learn that coming into you actually gets them access to fun things “out there,” and if you are able to move a bit, you can make yourself a really fun part of this game too (chasing YOU is fun!). Keep scrolling for those steps to work on this with your dog at home.
Step by Step: How to Make It Fun for Your Dog to Look Back at You Outside
Christie Catan looks at Hana, the American Staffordshire Terrier puppy, during a TOC training session for making it fun for your dog to look back at you outside.
Step One: To start to make it fun for your dog to look back at you outside. Begin by tossing some treats in the grass away from your dog and then back away from your dog. Simply wait while your dog sniffs to find the treats (try not to say "come" or use their name). You want them to make a choice to come to you
Step Two: When your dog comes to you (likely wondering if you have more treats), mark and reward (toss treats away from you).
Step Three: You can start to actually run away from your dog when they head toward you to build more speed and enthusiasm (chasing you is fun!).
Step Four: Once your dog has this down, you can add in a recall cue right before your dog turns if you want some recall practice.
How This Game Can Also Help Your Dog Make Good Choices
Turn distractions into cues for your dog to check in with you: This game relies on a simple out and back pattern where your dog is always returning to you. If your dog notices something before they turn to you (a person, another dog, etc.), it can become an environmental cue to check in with you as you repeatedly reinforce them for noticing that distraction and coming back to you. Want to know how this works?! Just look at what trainers call the ABC’s (antecedent, behavior, and consequence). The behavior is what the dog actually does (in this case, turn around and run to you). The consequence is what gets added or removed after the behavior (in this case, you are tossing a treat). The antecedent is everything that happens right before the behavior that leads to the behavior. If your dog finishes eating a treat and looks up and sees a person before they decide to turn around and run to you, seeing that person is part of the antecedent and can become a cue that actually will tell your dog to check in with you in the future without you having to ask for this behavior. So if your dog is off leash somewhere and spots someone and you have practiced this game a fair bit with people as distractions, your dog may very well see that person and choose to check in with you rather than darting over to the person. Cool, right? If this is a behavior you really want, know that there are ways you can be super intentional about teaching this within the context of this game and many other ways (maybe that’s an article for another time!).
Plus, it would be hard for us to oversell how valuable it is to reinforce your dog for turning back to you. If you make looking back at you and choosing to come to you behaviors that pay, you will see more and more of them without having to nag your dog. So if you are out on a walk and find yourself thinking, “Why does my dog look back at me on walks,” you can remind yourself it is from all the little times you reinforced them for flipping around to you!
How Focus Games for Dogs Can Help With Attention Outside
It is pretty hard to get your dog to do anything if you don’t actually have their attention. In the Tails of Connection Challenge we have a whole day devoted to attention games, where you teach your dog that it is awesome to focus on you and remind them that they should look at you when you call their name (plus it’s always good to show them that their name is a positive thing). We play these games inside to start and also include a bonus video on how to start to capture your dog’s attention on walks outside. To sign up for the Tails of Connection Challenge, click here.
PS: Pin this post for later!
