BKLN Manners. Kate Naito

eye contact is relaxed, so as not to make your dog uncomfortable. Then, you can shape a more prolonged eye contact. For the first few sessions, mark and reward any quick glance at your face. Get four-for-four. Once your dog is consistently glancing at you, tighten the criteria by only marking and rewarding glances that are a split second longer than before. Continue increasing the criteria until you are only marking and rewarding when your dog holds his eye contact for one second (or longer, if you want to keep going). Get four-for-four at each level to be sure you’re not pushing the dog beyond his capabilities.

      Problem: My dog constantly looks at me now. I’m always being watched!

      Solution: So you’ve turned your dog into a bit of a stalker. This happened with Batman, who took to Check Me Out a little too readily and is capable of staring at me for a full ninety minutes before his dinnertime. (I must say, his strategy works—I never forget to feed him on time.) But just because your dog is politely getting your attention with eye contact in order to have his dinner, a walk, or couch access, it doesn’t mean you always have to say “Yes” to his request. I have a response, “That’s all,” that tells my dogs that I will not comply with their request at this time. Let’s be honest: sometimes I don’t want to be covered in a pile of dogs while I sit on the couch, and I’m within my rights to tell the dogs “That’s all” and send them to their beds instead. The key with this response is that you have to mean it. After I say “That’s all,” I cut off all eye contact and ignore any further doggie requests for attention. There are numerous times when I’ve told them “That’s all” and then regretted it, wishing I had invited them on the couch with me instead, but if I cave in and give them permission to come up after initially saying “No,” then I’m only confusing them for the next time. Check out Chapter 3 for full details about implementing “That’s all.”