Doggie Zen is a simple game to get our dog focused, even in the face of treats! Many people have experience with some form of this game, so this may be familiar. Doggie Zen teaches our dogs to look away from treats (or toys, later) and make eye contact with us. One thing that you will find different is that we will NOT be putting this “on cue” (meaning, we will not attach a command to this behavior). Eye contact will become a default behavior that your dog offers spontaneously.
Doggie Zen is a two-for-the-price-of-one exercise. It teaches your dog eye contact while also teaching them self-control. This is a great warm-up activity before training, walking, or playing with your dog. For dogs that are excitable, you can also incorporate biofeedback to create a calmer dog. Rewarding for not only eye contact, but eye contact with sleepy, droopy eyes will create a more zen-like state. Remember – rewarded behavior continues. The more we reward our dogs being calm (or even just looking calm), the more they will BE calm!
How to Train
This one is pretty simple!
Stand, with your dog seated in front of you. Hold a treat about 6 inches directly to the SIDE of your face, and wait for your dog to look away from the treat toward your face. If your dog jumps up, moves toward the treat, or in any other way tries to “help themselves” to the treat, put it behind your back and begin again. If your dog turns to your face, or just moves their eyes to the side towards your face, Mark and Reward with the treat in your hand.
In the beginning, reward any movement your dog makes away from the treat, even if it’s just an eye flicker away. You will continue to make this more difficult over time until your dog can make prolonged eye contact the second he sees the treat or anything else he wants.
I like to work in sets of 5. Each time you present the treat to the side of your face is a “trial”. If your dog is successful at looking away from the treat 4 out of 5 times or more, you are ready to make it more difficult by either waiting for a longer look or moving the treat slightly further away. Do not ask for both a longer look AND move the treat further away from your face. You only want to add one step at a time so you don’t go too fast and overwhelm your dog. We want to train with as few mistakes as possible!
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