Useful behaviors to train: Look

Look: 

This exercise can help you work your dog at a distance.  It can also be helpful in preventing or managing certain types of dog-dog aggression.  It also makes him more comfortable with extended human eye contact (not a naturally comfortable activity for most dogs).  Again, be sure to start in a low-distraction environment.  Hold a tasty morsel in front of the dog’s nose.  Bring it straight back toward your eyes.  As the dog looks at your eyes, say “Look!”  Click and treat.  After the first few times, switch to holding your fingers by your eyes as the signal.  Keep clicking and treating.  Next, move your hand (with the treat) so you are holding it at a right angle to your body.  The dog will probably watch the treat.  Ignore.  When the dog looks back at you, click and treat.  If the dog gets up and runs around sniffing at your hand, you may need to put a leash on him and stand on it to prevent too much movement at first.  Raise the criteria:  the dog must ignore your hand movement and steadily watch you (without glancing at the treat) to earn his reward.  When he gets good at it, practice “look” when you and the dog are moving or in increasingly distracting environments.