Getting our dogs’ attention is really a basic skill. It’s a signal for your dog to look towards you and be aware of what’s coming next. It can be a verbal cue, such as her name, or an audible cue, such as a “kissing” sound.
Attract attention
Personally, I have two ways of getting my dogs’ attention. Both of my dogs were conditioned exactly the same. Each has a different reinforcement program linked to it.
- Say their names
- The sound of the kiss
So what is the difference? By pronouncing their name, they might pay attention to me. With the “kissy” sound, they are extremely likely to pay attention to me because it has a stronger connection to the conditioned response and it has a higher associated value. (See information box on page 34.)
Saying my dogs’ names gets their attention, and my dogs feel good when I say their name. This is because of the story of reinforcement and affection associated with their names. I also talk about them when they are in the room with me, I talk about them on the phone telling my friends their name. In these cases, my dogs are not actively reinforced. I also never scold my dogs, nor use their names to scold them, so the response is always reliable and not associated with the avoidance that comes with scolding.
With a sound signal – the sound of the kiss – I always reinforce the result of attracting their attention and it attracts their attention more often because the result is a certainty. It’s a promise that’s never broken between teammates, just like when they seek my attention, they get it in return.
Don’t bark!
We don’t have to be loud or rude to get our dogs’ attention. Intonation, the rise and fall of voice and speech, never needs to be a form of intimidation. Dogs can hear sounds four times the distance of humans. A human can hear 20 feet away while a dog can hear 80 feet away. So there is no need to yell at the dogs.
Engage the search system
Being interactive – like that of an entertaining tour guide – engages your dog’s seeking system – the parts of the brain connected to the mesolimbic and mesocrotic systems (both a neural network in the brain) associated with goal-directed behaviors and strongly influenced by dopamine.
Think of it as the system responsible for our motivated actions in relation to survival and desires, as well as the urge to explore and the desire to understand. The search system further activates when the lower brain regions interact with the upper brain regions. Add some dopamine (the motivational brain chemical) with interaction like play, attention, and the things our learners enjoy, and they’re more likely to engage with us intently. (For more on the search system, see Dr. Jaak Panksepp’s Ted Talks.)
Keep attention
Being interactive and interested helps keep your dog’s attention, and to do that you need to be both present and attentive. When our dogs show interest in something, that’s when their seeking system can be fed.
Verbal engagement, such as “Does it smell interesting?” when they stop to smell a stain or “Does this way sound interesting?” when a dog chooses a safe direction. When we engage with our dogs in these experiences, we increase motor neuron flow in the brain while strengthening the bonds between us and our dogs and the new experiences shared.
I observe people instinctively doing this all the time with their dogs in parks, on walks, and in their yards. The dog sees a squirrel and the human says “Look, a squirrel!”
Being flexible with what our dogs are interested in is also key to encouraging sharing the joy of new, unseen experiences and nurturing the research system. The more the cerebral areas are solicited, the more the pathways are reinforced. The more we actively participate with each other, the more we share the experience of the search system. The dopamine rush, which drives motivation in these experiences, associates these experiences with learning and connection between those involved.
Reinforcement rate
Reinforcement rate is the amount of reinforcers emitted per time period. There’s nothing wrong with increasing your reinforcement rate to keep your dog’s attention. Think of it like this. We crank up the reinforcement rate so high that we try to drown out everything else except the stream of reinforcements being emitted, much like turning up the volume on your TV while the neighbor mows his lawn in front of your window.
For example, you see a likely trigger in the distance approaching you and your dog on a wide path. You can use a beep or verbal request to draw your dog’s attention to you while beginning to emit a high rate of pea-sized reinforcers to maintain and motivate your dog’s attention. It is done as a
continuous rate of reinforcement until the stimulus passes and moves outside your dog’s reactivity bubble again.
If there ever was a battle of wills, it was between intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. The reinforcement a dog gets from doing something he likes and enjoys versus the reinforcement given to him by an outside source that he likes and appreciates.
To be interested
Be interested in what interests your dog to interact with him and motivate him. Not in an annoying way, not in a harassing way, not pestering her relentlessly until she pays attention, but being a reliable and actively present motivator. This feeds its search system.
It also nurtures your relationship with his active mind, which positively affects the interaction and focus of everyone on your team. Provide dependable interaction, encouragement, and results, and you’ll see an increase in the reliability of your dog, your teammate in life.
How to reinforce the signal of attention
- Prepare 10 pea-sized pieces of food that you know your dog loves, such as small cubes of cheese. This conditioned stimulus (the beloved cheese) forms an association with the unconditioned stimulus (its name or a sound cue like the “kissy” sound).
- Say your dog’s name, then offer a high reward, aka a cube of cheese.
- Repeat this process immediately after your dog stops chewing the first piece of cheese.
- Then repeat your dog’s name and deliver a second piece of cheese.
Do this at the rate of a piece of cheese every 5-10 seconds.
Attention grabbing products
Reinforce your dog’s attentiveness with delicious treats. These new treats might just be what your dog has been asking for.
Ziwi Good Dog Rewards Air-Dried Dog Treats. Also available in beef or lamb.$16.88. chewy.com
Zuke’s Mini Naturals Dog Treat Recipe. Also available in Duck recipe. $15.99. chewy.com
K9 Connoisseur Slow Roasted Beef Lung Bites. $13.49/8 ounce packet. amazon.com