How to Train Your Dog to Look Left and Right

Stand in front of him with a treat in your hand. Make sure you have his undivided attention and hold it at head height. If it’s too low he may lie down and if it’s too high he might start jumping, so find the right height.

As you do this slowly move your treat filled hand to his left. Do this very slowly so his eyes are fixed directly on the treat. To start with you don’t need to go too far left otherwise he may lose interest.

As soon as his head rotates left, reward him with a treat and play. You need to really show him how happy you are, then he’ll make the link between the action and the reward much quicker. Practice doing this for 10 minutes each day for the first couple of days. As he gets better, you can have him turn his head even further before you give him the treat.

Once he has mastered the left head turn, repeat exactly the same process but use a ‘right’ command. Remember, to start with you will need to lead him with your hand slowly. Also, make sure the command is clear; you don’t want him mixing up his left and right. Practice this for a couple of days until he’s picked up the 'right' command too.

When he can do both separately, you can mix them up. Alternate between the left and right and he’ll quickly get the hang of it. Once he gets good and can look left and then right with ease, you can stop giving him treats.

Stand in front of your dog but have a friend/family member stand to his right hand side with a treat. You are going to work together to train him to look each way. Make sure the friend has a toy that emits a sound in his hand.

Issue a ‘look left’ command in a clear voice. At the same time, have the friend make a sound with the toy. The trick is for the friend to get his attention but not to make such a fuss that he rushes over to him.

As soon as he looks left to the toy give him a treat and show him how pleased you are. Make sure the friend stays still, but you show him he’s done a good job. The more you reinforce the right behavior the quicker he will learn. Practice this for 10 minutes a day until he gets the hang of it. Once he does, lose the friend and rely on just the verbal command alone. If he doesn’t look left without the friend there, it’s too early to get rid of him just yet.

Repeat exactly the same process on the other side. Make sure you follow all the same steps and issue the command clearly so he doesn’t get confused. Keep practicing until he can do both independently.

Once he’s got the hang of it you can combine the two commands. Try two left and two right to begin with, then when he can start to alternate well you can go left, right, left right to your hearts content. Then you can finally lose the treats and the trick is complete!

Stand in front of him with a treat in your hand. At this point, decide which direction you want to teach him first. He will need to learn one direction thoroughly before you move onto the next or he may get confused.

With the treat in your hand, rotate it around his head, for the purpose of this example we will go left first. Keep your hand movement slow and rotate it until he is looking at a 90 degree angle.

As soon as his head reaches that angle, give him the treat and verbally praise him. It is really important you reinforce the action with lots of praise. Keep practicing this until he starts looking left as soon as you bring out the treat.

Then introduce a ‘look left’ command. Only introduce the command once he’s got the hang of it. Then keep practicing for a couple of days and he will soon associate the command with looking left too. Do not start training him to look right until you are confident he has mastered the left.

Repeat exactly the same process but with the right. Once he can do both independently, you can start combining them. He may get confused the first few times so make sure your commands are clear and use a treat to guide him to start with. Once he gets the hang of it you can slowly reduce the frequency of treats until they are no longer needed