The first lesson: teaching your puppy their name and the "watch me" cue

Every training session — and most moments of communication with your dog — begins with attention. A puppy who does not know their name or who has not yet learned to redirect focus to you when asked cannot receive a cue, cannot respond to a recall, and cannot benefit from training in a distracting environment. Name recognition and the attention cue ("watch me") are not warm-up exercises; they are the prerequisite for everything else.

The good news is that both skills are among the fastest and easiest to teach. Most puppies will have a reliable name response and a functional attention cue within one to two days of consistent practice. The investment is small; the return is substantial.

Teaching name recognition

Name recognition is a simple classical conditioning exercise: the puppy learns that their name predicts something pleasant. Start in a quiet room with no distractions. Say your puppy's name once, in a warm, clear voice. The moment they orient towards you — even just a flick of the ears or a glance — mark with "yes!" and deliver a treat. That is the entire exercise. Repeat 5–10 times per session, several sessions per day. Within two to three days, most puppies are reliably orienting toward their name.

• Say the name once only — do not repeat if there is no response; wait, then try again
• Mark and reward any orientation towards you, even partial — build from a glance to a full head-turn
• Keep sessions short: 2–3 minutes maximum
• Gradually increase distractions as reliability grows — say the name when the puppy is sniffing the floor, looking away, mildly distracted
• Never say the name in an angry tone — you want the name to always predict good things
• Do not use the puppy's name as a reprimand ("No, [name]!") — this creates a negative association

Teaching the "watch me" attention cue

The attention cue — often called "watch me," "look," or simply "eyes" — asks the puppy to make direct eye contact with you. This is the single most useful cue in a distracting environment: a puppy who is looking at you cannot simultaneously be fixating on a squirrel, another dog, or a distraction that might prompt an unwanted behaviour.

To teach it: hold a treat at your side or by your knee, not at eye level. Let the puppy sniff and investigate your closed fist. Wait. At some point — usually within 5–10 seconds — the puppy will look up from your hand towards your face. The instant they make eye contact: mark with "yes!" and deliver the treat. This is operant conditioning — the puppy learns that looking at your face produces a reward. Repeat until eye contact is happening reliably without much waiting, then add the cue word ("watch me") as the puppy begins to make eye contact.

Building duration and proofing attention

Once your puppy is making eye contact on cue in a quiet room, start building duration: delay the mark by one second, then two, then five. The puppy learns that sustained eye contact is what earns the reward. Then begin adding mild distractions — practise the cue while someone walks through the room, while there are sounds in the background, or while other interesting things are nearby. Attention in a distracting environment — your puppy choosing to look at you instead of at something more exciting — is one of the most powerful training foundations you can build during the puppy period.