Attention Please! Get Your Dog's Attention

Just got an email from a new puppy owner. In the email the puppy owner asked if he should start by teaching sit, down, or stay first. My answer was simple. I wouldn’t start by teaching any of those commands.

In fact, when I’m teaching an obedience class I always have the dog owners start by teaching their dogs ATTENTION.

85% of the time when your dog does not perform the command, there is a good chance that your dog is not paying attention. So always start by teaching attention. I like to just say the dog’s name to get his attention. Some people like to teach “Watch Me” or “Watch.”

Here’s a video of me teaching attention.



So remember, get your dog’s attention before you give a command.

All the best,

Eric