Obedience training
How do you teach a dog to make eye contact on cue?
Last updated 23 September 2026 · How we write and check this
Short answer
Hold a treat near your eyes, and the moment the dog looks up toward your face, even briefly, mark and reward, gradually requiring slightly longer eye contact before treating over several sessions. Once the dog reliably looks up without the treat lure present, add the word "watch me" or "look" just before the behavior happens. This cue is especially useful as a reset button, pulling a dog's focus back onto you before asking for something harder in a distracting environment.
Luring the look with a treat near your face
Holding a treat just beside your eyes and rewarding the instant the dog's gaze follows it up to your face teaches the physical motion first, the same way luring works for sit or down. Most dogs pick up the basic motion within a handful of repetitions since looking toward a raised hand near a face is a fairly natural behavior.
Extending the duration before rewarding
Once the quick glance is reliable, wait for one full second of eye contact before marking, then two seconds, building gradually rather than jumping straight to a demanding hold. Rushing this step tends to produce a dog that glances and immediately looks away again rather than genuinely holding focus.
Using the cue as a practical reset
A trained "watch me" is genuinely useful in the middle of a walk when another dog approaches, or in any moment where a dog's attention has drifted toward something distracting, since it pulls their focus back onto you before you ask for anything more demanding. Many trainers consider this one of the most practically useful cues a dog can learn.
Key takeaways
- Lure the eye contact with a treat held near your face, rewarding even a brief glance.
- Build duration gradually from a quick glance up to a full second or two of eye contact.
- Add the word once the physical behavior is reliable without a visible lure.
- Use this cue as a practical reset before asking for something harder around distraction.