Teach Your Dog to Focus (Full Guide)

[@Wilddingo]

So funny. I also start with charging the marker with my dogs, just like this. I’m watching this to see if i can pick up on anything new i can add to my engagement sessions. With my dog at my feet, every time he hears “yes” on this video, he looks at me, “ok where’s my food?” 😂

[@paradigmk9]

Hilarious! That's how you know the marker is definitely charged lol

[@NancyWeger1]

Great work 🎉 You may want to add Foam flooring to your training room 😊 I’ve found it super helpful to give the dogs some grip and more confidence on their moves 9:32

[@paradigmk9]

I've gone back and forth on whether or not to install rubber flooring. We have other areas to work dogs that struggle with traction, and we do train a ton of extremely aggressive dogs. Sometimes having traction where they do not is helpful if they decide to try to eat me. But even so, I'm leaning towards rubber flooring. Just want to do my due diligence and get something quality.

[@NancyWeger1]

@@paradigmk9 I can see why you say that. Very interesting point and great video. Rubber floor sounds nicer than the foam. I used foam when my dogs were younger for our living room but eventually it had to go.

[@juiceguy4784]

Thanks, bud. Gonna start this with a 1 year old Shepard mix next week.

[@paradigmk9]

Awesome! Let me know how it goes!

[@johnbasedow]

Very helpful video. Having strong engagement is the key to success in learning any behavior, from the simplest to the most complex.

[@AUTBetty]

thank you for that check out part ...... i was always so frustated that my dog came running when I called him - he got the treat - and than he was gone again. I will for sure try this approach now! Thank you from Austria! :-)

[@paradigmk9]

Sometimes the smallest details can make a world of difference. Happy training!

[@AUTBetty]

thank you!!! 🙂

[@kathrynparry5158]

Following you. This is brilliant, looking forward to more lessons. Thanks so much for guiding us novice folks!

[@paradigmk9]

Thank you for the subscribe! I'm a little behind on my next video due to being sick all last week but I've got all the footage I need and hope to get it put together and published in the next 3-4 days.

[@kjab87]

Super Helpful! Thank you!

[@Inish]

I like your videos and subscribed :) I will definitely try this! Looking forward to more of your videos.

[@paradigmk9]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@zachalles7428]

We used dog food when training our German shepherd puppy in a similar manner, portioning his food for the day and using it for training only. Then at a puppy class he tasted other treats and lost interest in eating his dog food much less listening to us when we tried using it for training. In general he’s been very good with some bumps around the 9-18 month age but I want to try this with him for a week to see if it helps with a better snap focus when walking him off leash. Thanks for the tips!

[@paradigmk9]

I like to only use their food for several weeks at a minimum before offering anything higher value like treats or toys. I'll make a future video laying out how we build on this, and use higher value rewards to increase the speed and intensity of the dog's obedience.

[@Melody-st4df]

Amazing thanks for sharing your wisdom. I grew up with a dog.

[@peggybraden2332]

This is the best video I’ve seen on focus. I have two questions. 4:07 What is the cue that you mention? Is it the ‘yes’ or is she somehow cueing the dog to look at her? And does the dog need to look you in the eye? Mine wants to look at the food. Thank you for your teaching along with this video. It is outstanding!

[@paradigmk9]

We aren't typically cueing the dog to look at us while doing these exercises. Occasionally we will do so in the first couple of sessions if that particular dog is having trouble showing enough interest in us. The idea here is relatively simple. Allow the dog to self discover that whenever they look at us we say "yes" and deliver food. If we prompt or cue the dog to look at us every time this process will not work the same.

[@paradigmk9]

To answer your second question: Initially I don't care if the dog is looking at the food or at my face. Ideally they will make eye contact but not every dog will do that right off the bat. So for those dogs, just interacting with me and staring at the food is fine to start. Before you can teach the eye contact you sometimes have to allow the dog to learn that you are the main source of food in the first place. Once they are volunteering their engagement with you then you can raise your criteria and only mark and reward once eye contact has been made.

[@leoandrews1696]

Great video. I especially like the breakdown of the information into manageable chunks under specific headings, no waffle, always on point, well done. Now I'm sorry if I missed it in the video cos this is a very basic question but what is the difference between "luring" and using food to bribe the dog? Is there a difference and is it important?

[@paradigmk9]

The difference is how the dog views it. It's subtle but very important. By only feeding during these sessions the dog only eats while they are actively trying to get the food. I'm not simply giving the dog food just because they happen to be present. You have to look at me and/or chase the food in order to get it. If you don't "work" to get the food, we close up shop and the kitchen is closed so to speak until the next session. In other words, the food isn't an entitlement to the dog. In the dog' mind, it's not guaranteed. With treat training via bribery the dog is guaranteed two full meals a day plus desert (the treats) if they feel like it. For a more detailed breakdown of this concept I recommend watching my video titled "How to Supercharge Your Dogs Training Sessions"

[@amrsobih]

@paradigmk9 one of the most useful and effective methods! Waiting for more videos, i tried it with my 15 weeks old puppy and it actually helped a lot however its hard for me to finish 300 grams of kibble just by hand feeding, any hints for that like giving a chunk of kibble everytime i hand feed instead of one by one?

[@TheRustyMoustache]

Tremendous video. I’m picking up my ridgeback this month who is 8 weeks old. How early should these drills be done? Even if it’s just me getting her eye contact

[@paradigmk9]

Start right away! You can start these steps the day you bring the puppy home. The sooner the better.

[@jenniferg7713]

I really wish I saw this video before I saw all the treat reward crap I saw 2 months ago.

[@dschonhaut]

Thanks, this was really helpful! Do you have any tips on how to get your dog’s attention in distracting environments? Ex: my 14mo shepherd mix is stuck to me like glue at home but as soon as we go outside she gets easily overwhelmed and stops paying much attention to me. She has a problem with barking at other dogs we pass especially when she’s not allowed to meet them, and I find the only way I can get her to calm down is to drag her half a block away and say “sit” very firmly. But I wish I could preemptively call her attention when I see it start to slip (like when she sees another dog approaching), or demand her attention in the heat of the moment (when she starts barking and pulling toward the other dog). I see that this video trains attention during a feeding activity and I’m sure she’ll be super engaged, but how to translate that to the environment where it’s most needed and hardest to obtain?

[@paradigmk9]

One of the least talked about things in dog training is how to build the tools for yourself that you will need to handle those difficult situations. When I say "build the tools" I'm referring to things like engagement. Creating a near obsessive desire to interact with you in a low stimulation environment is one tool you'll need to teach your dog to be able to handle high stimulation environments. But it's just one piece of the puzzle. If you got something out of the video consider giving us a subscribe and keep an eye out for future videos. My channel is pretty new and I've got several videos in the works that will answer the rest of your question. Specifically how to use these focus drills in combination with some other foundational obedience skills to get the same level of focus regardless if there's no distractions or a circus going on around you and your dog.

[@dschonhaut]

Thanks so much! I’ll start working on this exercise and keep my eye out for new videos. She’s a really high energy dog but also quite smart, so I know it’s a matter of developing my training skills more than anything

[@doolz3561]

Great vid, I subbed but why the hardwood floor> Dogs are slipping and sliding all over lol

[@paradigmk9]

A couple reasons. We train a ton of extremely aggressive dogs, it's sometimes safer to have traction where the dogs do not if they are trying to eat me. Also it's easy to clean and dogs are super dirty lol. I can't count the number of times a dog has just decided to poop on the floor in the middle of training. All that being said, I am considering installing rubber mats for flooring in the training room I just need to research the right kind that'll fit in securely and still be easy to clean.

[@doolz3561]

@@paradigmk9 I see, nice

[@lilycostilla8919]

I like the idea of using food as motivation but what would you recommend I do if I am feeding a raw diet? I feed tuckers which comes in packets of already ground up meat, bones, and organs. It just seems harder, and messier to practice this with raw then kibble.

[@paradigmk9]

It presents a challenge but it's not terribly hard to overcome if you are strategic. What I typically do is feed them less of their normal raw food during periods where I'm doing lots of training. So their normal raw food would be fed towards the end of the day (which makes up the bulk of their daily calories). During the day while we're training I'll use things like dehydrated liver, lungs, chicken breast etc. for training. Those aren't messy but also supplement the raw diet well without having to compromise the whole point of feeding raw in the first place.

[@xpOlYnEsIaNSexXGoDx]

hey there, what age would you ideally start training a dogs focus ?

[@paradigmk9]

You can start this as early as 8 weeks.

[@shanadudley7416]

Are you looking to have the dog just look in your general direction or are you waiting for them to look up at your face?

[@paradigmk9]

Ideally they will make eye contact with you before you mark with the word yes and reward. But you may need to gradually work your way there if you have a dog that is fixated on the food

[@CumbrianMush]

Tried handfeeding and building engagement with one of my pups for a solid year... outside on walks, sees another dog... all focus on me is gone. Tried all sorts of tricks and tips from different trainers, but hes still obsessed with other dogs which leads to leash reactivity too (In a friendly way, he seems to think he has a God given right to go see every dog)... if they are 20, 30m away he will listen, if they get any closer then everything goes out of the window and he literally has tunnel vision. No dogs around and hes fully focused on me. Worked loads on engagement so he sees me as more fun and interesting than other dogs... aint worked.

[@paradigmk9]

I feel your pain. Once a dog has become classically conditioned to "get" to interact with every dog they see it can be a difficult process to reverse. Building engagement is just one small part of a multi step process that I use to teach dogs to ignore bigger competing motivators. You've got the right idea, but you haven't given yourself the rest of the bigger skill set you need to tackle that issue yet. You can check out my video titled "Your Dog's behavior in the home". It's long, but it covers a lot of the theory and behavior science behind this kind of thing. Keep an eye on the channel as well, these videos are just the foundation for everything else, I'll be posting videos showing how to use all this stuff to address things like reactivity.

[@alfredodominguez2799]

Expose them to dogs outside more and it will get boring, if you wait until these circumstances happen then training that out will be delayed

[@thepackbigd]

Because food keeps them in prey drive, play with other dogs is prey drive, therefore the dog is "in the wrong gear" to pay attention. Try redirection with "dynamic movements" BY YOU, not food OR toy (toy is also prey drive, but does tend to work better than food -builds arousal value in you). I'm pretty foodcentric, but when you get advise from people who are good idealogues you week always get the same unrealistic answers : less distraction, different time of Day, work more at home, higher value food. As you have seen, while it works for some people & THEIR dog, it doesn't work FOR YOU or YOUR DOG, & actually sounds like it made it worse!.

[@paradigmk9]

I'll have a whole video breakdown of this in the future. But yes, simply trying to distract or redirect with food will not work initially because its value is not greater than the distraction. Building engagement with food allows you lots of repetition when teaching the dog an alternate behavior. But you also need to lower the value of the distraction long enough to teach the dog to perform the alternate behavior when in the presence of the distraction. Like I said, I'll break this subject down in simple and easy to understand steps in the future. I've got a few other videos in the works I need to finish up first.

[@thepackbigd]

@@paradigmk9 yes food gives reps, but unless you get to a million loses value in the real world (yes, hyperbole 😁). The amount of reps needed is unrealistic to some people & will never with for some dogs. There's not then one answer & the original commenter needed a solution other than food.

[@paulburke9613]

4 to 5 times a day and when do we go to work

[@paradigmk9]

You did hear me say "super short" right? 3-5 sessions that are 5 minutes long? That's 15-25 min of your time each day. It's not that big of a commitment.

[@amroali1988]

​@@paradigmk9 I tried doing five sessions a day 5-10 minutes each but I have to say I would never manage to finish their meals that way and I have to still offer the meals 3 times a day, would that still be effective?

[@Heathlay65]

[@rachelm7525]

Really great method. Only, I plan to use chicken, which is high value. My dog is on raw food, and he thrives on it. Please, eveyone, ditch the kibble. It's garbage. Junk food for dogs. 👎

[@deborahwebb1589]

OK, it looks like you are just keying dog to the word "yes" with no eye contact. Then eye contact and yes, then turns? Actually, both of my Shelties know "yes" since it is what my trainer uses. Both of my dogs have rally and obedience titles but I want the focus and engagement to be much more intense. I want my older (9 year old Sheltie) who is halfway to her OTCh but it is hard to get the looking up competition heeling from her because she knows when I have food and when I don't. She knows I can't carry food into the obedience trial ring so I lose attitude more often than not. Since my dogs both respond to yes, I may need to alter my approach to just use their food for a few days and do the face look for a "yes." The older one gets bone and joint supplements since she is in Open and Utility which has jumping demands, and she is getting other supplements so I may do this with her for no more than five days.

[@meliquoi]

Hmm but I feed raw

[@leoandrews1696]

I use sliced carrot - raw carrot - they have learnt to love them

[@paradigmk9]

We do this same exact process with Raw fed dogs all the time. You can make it work easy enough it just takes a little more problem solving. Use dehydrated liver or lung treats for these sessions early in the day and feed the bulk of their main food in the afternoon. Or simply use their raw food broken down into bite sized pieces and wash your hands after each session. If you don't want to touch the food with your bare hands wear disposable gloves.

[@hollypearson1138]

You can get a decent sillicon squeezy bottle to put your raw food in... "YES" Squeeze, "YES" Squeeze squeeze, squeeze, "YES" squeeze squeeze squeeze squeeze. No gloves, no bowl, no minging sticky hands . Pukka

[@paradigmk9]

​@@hollypearson1138genius idea!

[@meliquoi]

@@hollypearson1138 interesting idea 🤔

[@carrielynnmarieacevedo]

I do this with their name. A word with Value… not “yes” it means nothing. Value load their name. Way better then “yes”

[@paradigmk9]

A puppy doesn't know their name until you give it meaning (by giving it value). It's literally the same thing. Classical conditioning: A conditioned response is created by pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus (something that creates a natural and automatic response). It doesn't matter what word you use, how you condition the dog to respond to that word is the same.

[@carrielynnmarieacevedo]

Absolutely, I just mean the name will have value for the rest of its life. That’s all. Just like when someone says your name, your response.

[@sannehansen4156]

You start by saying "don't bribe the dog" in the video with the different dogs, they hardly do anything else

[@brendad7559]

Interesting assessment. I see 👀the dog working for their food. Using your understanding of the video, your boss is 'bribing' you with your paycheck.

[@paradigmk9]

It can be difficult to wrap your head around the difference for some people. I'm not saying don't use food or treats in training. When I say don't bribe I mean don't purposely fill your dog's belly with free food and treats throughout the day and then attempt to bribe the dog into working for a "high value" treat during training. That diminishes the value of all food in general to the point where it becomes next to useless for training.