Background: 12 week old female. Has basically all basic obedience down to include stay/leave it/drop it. Recalls are going great as well.
I am getting ready to start leash (no pulling, walking beside instead of in front, ignoring destractions) and heel training. Right now, I'm getting two schools of thought on how to get your dog to look at your face. Some trainers recommend simply using the puppies name as a look command, while others seem to have a separate "Look" command.
I would love input on this. My pup is responsive to her name but I have primarily been using a "look" command to get her to look at my face and rewarding her as appropriate. Where as, typically I use her name before another command. Like when I do a recall, I go "Duchess, come here" in my commanding voice and she's been going GREAT with it.
Obviously the "if it's not broke, no need to fix it" comes into mind, but as I move into more advanced training such as heel and advanced leash training that will eventually lead to off the leash training, what will I have better success with?
And then there's the thought, why not just teach her to look at me with both? Or would that cause confusion?
Also, at her age, I can get her to look at me for a few seconds before she usually breaks contact. Should I be working her for longer durations or will that just come with time? I know puppies have very limited attention spans so I don't want to push it if it's too advanced right now. So far I will normally give her a treat just as long as she looks up at me.
Thanks! I appreciate all advice and critiques.
I am getting ready to start leash (no pulling, walking beside instead of in front, ignoring destractions) and heel training. Right now, I'm getting two schools of thought on how to get your dog to look at your face. Some trainers recommend simply using the puppies name as a look command, while others seem to have a separate "Look" command.
I would love input on this. My pup is responsive to her name but I have primarily been using a "look" command to get her to look at my face and rewarding her as appropriate. Where as, typically I use her name before another command. Like when I do a recall, I go "Duchess, come here" in my commanding voice and she's been going GREAT with it.
Obviously the "if it's not broke, no need to fix it" comes into mind, but as I move into more advanced training such as heel and advanced leash training that will eventually lead to off the leash training, what will I have better success with?
And then there's the thought, why not just teach her to look at me with both? Or would that cause confusion?
Also, at her age, I can get her to look at me for a few seconds before she usually breaks contact. Should I be working her for longer durations or will that just come with time? I know puppies have very limited attention spans so I don't want to push it if it's too advanced right now. So far I will normally give her a treat just as long as she looks up at me.
Thanks! I appreciate all advice and critiques.