Following on from last month's article, I want to give you a way to get your dog to focus on you.

Most of my work at the moment is helping owners with young dogs with their recall and focus. It is a sad fact that months of lockdown have not enabled us or our dogs to interact normally and the knock-on effect is that life as we now know it is perhaps quite overwhelming for our dogs, with busy streets, lots of people, other dogs, cars, bikes etc.

How do we keep our dogs focused on us and not on all the exciting (or scary) things around them? I'm going to use a real-life experience I had with my young dog who at the age of approx. 15 months decided that she was going to chase bicycles!

One of the most important things I teach in the first class of my puppy course is for pups to focus on their owner's face. When your dog is looking at you then they aren't seeing what is around them.

It's essential because in the first week of a puppy course the pups are all rather excited and just want to play. Getting them to focus on their humans means the class runs a lot more smoothly.

You can get your dog to focus on you in the following way:

• First of all choose a word that you want to say to your dog to indicate they have done something correctly and will receive a treat (we call this a marker word) and good examples of marker words are nice, great, yay, awesome …… something that you don't say all the time (e.g. yes) and that is positive.

• Once you have chosen your word teach your dog that this word means they get a treat….. get your dog's attention, say your chosen word, give treat, say word, give treat, say word, give treat (you get the idea)! Practice this for about 30 seconds a few times a day for a few days and your dog will soon understand it. (You can use some of your dog's meal allowance to avoid overfeeding for this little exercise).

Now you can teach the focus-on-you exercise:

• Ask your dog to sit

• Have a treat between your thumb and forefinger so it's secure and your dog cannot snaffle it

• Put your thumb and forefinger in front of your dogs nose so they can smell the treat

• Start to raise your hand to the space between your eyes (you may have to go slowly with some dogs)

• As soon as they lift their head to your face or look at your hand with the treat say your marker word so that your dog knows they have done the correct thing

• Immediately reward your dog with the treat

You will need to practice this in short sessions a few times a day. Once they have picked up this basic start, add in your cue word:

• As you raise your hand to the space between your eyes say your cue word (for this exercise I recommend using one of the following 'watch me/look/watching/eyes')

• Practice this until you can say the cue word and your dog looks at your face – still mark the action with your marker word and reward

As your dog gets better at this start to get them to hold your gaze for slightly longer by delaying saying your marker word and then giving the reward so the exercise will look a little like this:

• Say your cue word e.g. watch me

• Dog looks at your face

• Hold their gaze for a few seconds (you can count in your head and increase the seconds they can hold your gaze for)

• Say marker word

• Give reward

Once you have got this mastered inside the house start to practice in the garden and then practice outdoors but in a quiet place.

As your dog progresses and gets used to doing this you can use it to distract them when out and about. Initially you may need to stop walking to get the focus but after a few months you should be to give the cue when walking and keep walking with your dog looking up at you. Still reward when you no longer need them to look at you.

I used this technique to stop my young dog from wanting to chase bicycles. We did have to stop walking so that she was still and focused on me initially but now a year later when she sees a bicycle she automatically looks at my face because she knows she will be rewarded for that behaviour.

It's also a great way to create a lovely bond with your dog. We've all seen those photos of dogs gazing adoringly at their owners' faces! Well, now you know the secret behind it.

If you are struggling with a young dog whose focus is all over the place and feel you need a bit of professional support then do ask for help. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than seeing owners finally make a break through by getting their dog to focus on them.

Next month I'll tell you about a few games you can play when out and about to keep your dog focused on you and which will help with recall.

Liz Cox is a Registered Veterinary Nurse and has a Masters in Animal Behaviour and Welfare. She is a qualified scentwork trainer, having studied with Talking Dog's Scentwork and became a qualified puppy trainer with the School of Canine Science. She is the founder and head trainer of Dawlish-based dog training business The Dog Nose.

You can find out more about The Dog Nose's dog training services here.