Dominance or Bad focus??

[day214]

Sometimes while I am sitting on the couch or in bed Brutus will come up and sit in front of me. He will then give a little whimper and be staring directly above my head. The first few times I would look behind me on the wall to see if a bug or something might have caught his attention. ( No, I don't normally have bugs crawling on my walls) but it is now almost as if he just refuses to look at me.
I know eye contact is a challenge or threatening sign. But at other times he will actually look at me. Why would he do this?

 

[MarleysMom]

Maybe you have ghosts or spirits in your house :eek: It may sound ridiculous, but animals can sense those entities, when we can't. My dogs have acted really strange on a few occasions (well, aside from their normal strange Boxer selves!) and I swear they were sensing some "others" in the room.

 

[day214]

My sister was by one night when he did it and we said the same thing. It is kind of like the mouse that Murray (The dog from Mad about You ) would chase and then run into the walls.

 

[kadenus]

My Joey does this sometimes too. My cats also do it. Maybe they see things or people on that plane just above us that is not visible to us in this life.

 

[Muttluvr]

I'm not sure why he does this, but if you want to work on eye contact with him, you can play the "watch me" game.

You take a treat, let him smell it and then say "watch me" when you bring it up close to your eyes. When he looks in your eyes, give him a treat. After doing this a while, you increase the amount of time he has to look into your eyes before getting a treat.

After that you can start to fade out the treats and the hand signal (if you want).

 

[MarleysMom]

Eye contact

I can't find other posts in regards to eye contact, so here goes....
How in/significant is eye contact with your dog? My dogs and I make contact all the time! I mean, all the time. There had been only a few times when they are getting in trouble when they won't look me in the eyes and the ears go back flat against their head! I think eye contact is important as I am their master and they will do what I tell them, and if a dog isn't looking me in the eyes, I make them - not by physically turning their head, but I get close to their face and say their name in a low tone, and they will then look into my eyes. I always wonder if this will affect them in the longer run, like maybe they get tired of my dominance and try to buck my system later on. Any thoughts?

 

[Tulsa-Dan]

My views on eye contact: Eye contact with YOUR dog (I'm not talking about strange dogs here, but YOUR dog), is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN TEACH YOUR DOG and is the FIRST thing you should train your dog to do. If you can't get your dog's attention (won't look at you when its name is called), you have absolutely NOTHING. In order to get any dog to obey or respond to a command, you MUST have the dog's attention.

The "watch me" game is also what I use with my clients and it is the first skill (other than relationship realignment) that is taught. It is always my goal with clients to help them train their dogs AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE to know their name and when their name is called, their little heads SNAP around to look you in the eye, awaiting your next request. THAT is the value of eye contact.

Yes, eye contact can be threatening to a dog. But dogs instinctively trust their pack mates (you) to not harm them but to protect them, so it is slightly different for a dog who lives with you. The understand that you are not challenging the dog, you are looking at him.

Now, that being said, I don't believe forcing a dog to look at you has much value at all. I don't believe a dog can truly be well trained if he has been "forced" into behaviors. A well trained dog WANTS to behave as he is asked because he WANTS TO PLEASE YOU. This is what all dogs want and do. To force a dog, only creates resistence and doesn't teach the dog much other than how to avoid being forced to do something. When push comes to shove, the dog will make unwise choices or try other ways to avoid being forced and the more and more and more behavioral problems start cropping up. No need for it when you can easily shape and lure the behaviors you want and get the dog to "volunteer" behaviors rather than forcing the dog.

And I always (if possible) look my dogs in the eyes when I issue a command. But I call their names and they are looking at me, waiting for what is next anyway because of the "watch me" training so that isn 't something additional I had to train. Comes with the watch me training.

Good luck.

 

[jaimie]

My girls always look me straight in the eyes especially when they are bugging me for a treat or want to go outside. I don't think they have ever not looked at me when I talk to them or call their name. Thanks great information Tulsa Dan-a friend of mine could benefit from it with her dogs thats for sure.


Jaimie

 

[day214]

Occasionally only though.

Brutus and I have been working on the watch me command since day one. This is not normally an issue. Under normal circumstances he won't take his eyes off of me. But my question pertained to this behavior occuring in only 2 specific locations of the house.

1) With me sitting on the couch and Brutus in front of me on the floor . Occasionally he will put his 2 front paws on my lap or either side of me

2) If I am sitting up in bed watching TV or reading. He will Stand in front of me and stare over my head.

If we are playing or lying down, walking or anything else I never have a problem with Eye-contact. He is actually getting very good at "checking in" with me every few seconds.

 

[BingsDad]

Dogs also communicate through eye contact. My Sheba ( gone to bridge ) always communicated with me in this respect. After establishing eye contact with me, a quick glance to the door meant she needed to go outside and then when I asked her if she needed to go out, I got the shake indicating "yes." Same thing with water/food pan...shed glance in its direction so Id ask "Sheba you want eat and drink?" shed give me the shake. Shed even glance at the cupboard indicating shed like to have a treat. I could say to her "listen" and her ears would start to move around. Tell her to look and shed start looking around. Just a few of the many amazing things she did. Fortunately, my new boxer, Bing seems to be the exact same way. There are many many exciting and intriguing things to learn about your Boxer if you have the time, attention, and patience to discover.