"The 'Watch Me' Command Your Cocker Spaniel's First Lesson In Puppy Obedience Training"
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Ideally, when training a puppy, 'Watch' should be the first obedience command you teach him. With this command, you'll be teaching your puppy to look at you, and pay attention to you, ignoring everything and everyone else around him.
The 'Watch' command can make other obedience training easier as you will have your puppy's full attention before starting another exercise.
Begin by sitting in front of your puppy with a few morsels of tasty chicken, or some of his favourite treats, in your closed hand.
Don't let him see the treats, otherwise he'll look at them and not at you.
As soon as your puppy looks directly at you, say the word, 'Watch' quickly, give him a treat and praise him with the words, 'Watch, good watch'.
Repeat this exercise several times each day until your puppy has completely mastered it.
When your puppy is familiar with the Watch command, try holding his gaze for 10 seconds before offering him a treat.
Progress to holding your puppy's attention for a few seconds longer each time, gradually working up to 60 seconds.
If your puppy doesn't look at you, or if he looks at you but won't hold your gaze, try holding a treat up to eye level.
This should keep his attention on the treat and, by default, on you.
Remove the use of the treat from the exercise as soon as practically possible, as you want to reward your puppy for paying attention to you and not to the treat.
Use the watch command before giving your dog any other command and you'll get his full attention; your dog is more likely to respond to your command when he's paying attention.
When you have mastered training a puppy to watch you on command, and he holds your gaze (without a treat) for up to 60 seconds, it's time to move on to the next obedience lesson for your puppy - The 'Sit' command.
