Attention Trilogy Game

This game is the start of a solid responsiveness to your cues.

You’ll be using your verbal cues right away, it may help to work on each task individually first to teach them to commands. See end of page for links. This method will work by itself as you’re building a behavior pattern with those cues mixed in but then you’ll switch to saying the verbal cues first when you start chaining them all together.

The recall cue you use may want to be something that isn’t as formal and sacred as your true recall where they come, sit in front and stay until released. You could say “This way” or “Here” for example, instead of “Come.” It’s up to you.

Name Response 10x

Name Response + Recall Cue 10x

Name Response + Recall Cue + Eye Contact 10x

Setup:

  • 30 repetitions total broken into 3 sets of 10 for a session.

  • Reward responsiveness to their name 10 times.

  • Take a break with release word “Ok”

  • Reward responsiveness to their name + recall cue 10 times.

  • Take a break with release word “Ok”

  • Reward responsiveness to their name + recall cue + eye contact 10 times.

  • End session with “Ok” and ignore dog for a couple minutes.

Name Response:

  1. Say “Get it,” toss a treat away from you, let dog go after it.

  2. Wait until dog looks towards you.

  3. Say their name HAPPILY when they look towards you.

  4. Mark “Free” and reward them close to your body.

  5. Repeat 10x then release for a short break with “ok”

  6. You will do the Name Response for all 30 repetitions if they are still having trouble responding to it before adding in the next step.

Adding the Recall Cue:

  1. Toss a treat away from you, let dog go after it.

  2. Wait until dog looks towards you.

  3. Say their name when they look towards you followed by your recall cue.

  4. Mark “Free” as they make their way to you and reward them close to your body.

  5. Repeat 10x then release for a short break with “ok”

  6. You will do the Name Response + Recall for all 30 repetitions if they are still having trouble responding to it before adding in the next step.

Adding Eye Contact:

  1. Toss a treat away from you, let dog go after it.

  2. Wait until dog looks towards you.

  3. Say their name when they look towards you followed by your recall cue.

  4. Mark “Free” as they make their way to you and reward them close to your body.

  5. Continue to mark and reward for prolonged eye contact; reward seconds 1/1/1/2/1/1/2/3/2/1/1 (ebb and flow as you increase eye contact duration)

  6. End session with “Ok” and ignore dog for a couple minutes.

  7. You should have done 30 repetitions total and the training session is over.

NOTE:

You’ll know it went well if when you are done they are still interested in working with you and wanting to keep going. This is how every lesson should end.

Chaining Behaviors Together

This will build better verbal responsiveness, associating their name with good things, and helps to achieve automatic responses.

Setup:

  • You’ll begin chaining multiple behaviors together, similar to the Attention Trilogy Game.

  • Only now you’ll start saying the cues first to see their response and you’ll mark and reward at the end.

  • You’ll do this as a training session but also practice it randomly for a few repetitions.

Name + Sit + Eye Contact = Mark & Reward

Name + Come + Sit + Eye Contact = Mark & Reward

Sit + Stay/Wait = Mark & Reward

Ready? + Get It + Bring It + Drop It = Mark & Reward

You will likely want to work on each task separately before chaining them together. See links to handouts below that cover the tasks above.