Best foundations to loose lead walking - The eye contact game

I previously discovered the best way to lay down the foundations for effortless loose lead walking - when your dog walks calmly beside you, without pulling or lunging ahead. I know many dog owners struggle with this especially with larger dogs who are extremely difficult to control when out and about. For this reason it's super important to teach your dog how to walk calmly, with a good focus on you.

Dogs naturally get distracted by new sights, smells and sounds - especially on busy roads - so it's crucial to be able to get their attention and have them check in with you. By introducing a simple 'eye contact' exercise into their routine you could transform your walks into a more enjoyable experience for both of you. This helps prevent any hand/writs injuries and keeps your dog's body nice and comfortable.

Simply put if the dog is looking at you, they can't be pulling ahead at the same time.

Now let's get into it..

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The Eye Contact Game

To begin, have your dog in front of you and prepare a treat pouch. The aim of this exercise is to reinforce the eye contact by rewarding the dog every time they look at you. Sit still and wait for your dog to look at you with hands behind your back. Now some dogs will pick this up straight away, but for some you might need to reward incremental steps until they are looking at your face to shape the behaviour. If your dog isn’t making direct eye contact right away, start by rewarding any upward glance—even if they’re just looking at your chest or neck. Gradually. start only rewarding direct eye contact.

After a few repetitions your dog should be staring at you. To create a challenge, you can start adding distractions:

• Hold out one of your hands... and then both.

• Slowly move your hands around

• Show a toy

• Change handlers

• Walk around

This exercise will teach your dog that you are the most interesting thing on walks, helping them ignore distractions and focus on you instead of the environment, as you're more rewarding.

Takeaway

Try to practice this exercise for 5 minutes a day and I promise you it'll make a huge difference. This will not only create a super focused dog but improve you and your dog's bond.

Now once you have a really solid eye contact, you can begin trying it out on your walks (start in quiet environments and build up) and reward your dog for any eye contact. The more you do it indoors, the more your dog will offer it outdoors as they get familiar with the exercise.

To build on this, start rewarding your dog for longer durations of eye contact. This will hugely impact your dog's focus and encourage them to stare at you whilst walking. Who doesn't love that?

Now, you can add a verbal or visual cue to this if you wanted to but what we're aiming to make it a natural behaviour your dog offers in any situation. Having said that, I’ve found that introducing a visual guide can be helpful—especially for dogs who are more impatient. It allows them to understand how long to maintain focus and can also serve as a release cue, signalling when they are free from their "staring duties".

Let's get training!

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