Clamshell/IYC on the Ground (Patreon)

In this session we are working on leaving food alone on the ground without a cue (auto or implied leave-it). This is an extension of the clamshell or It's Yer Choice (Susan Garrett) game and is the start of being able to have food on the ground cue the dog to look at me.

This is the first time I progress the game to asking for eye contact/look away from the food. I start with just the traditional game of "don't touch the food on the floor", then I do a little interlude where I just hold a piece of food up to my face and mark and reward when he looks at my face. It's not something I'd ever done with him, but thought it might be useful to help explain the next part where I was going to hold out for eye contact.

I don't want to build frustration into the game, so 5 reps of "look at my face" I think really helped him understand quickly the jump in criteria.

Little games like this help our dogs understand to automatically look at us when there is a distraction.

Happy Training!