Dogs don’t really think about “have to” when it comes to their interactions with people. They are in a permanent state of “What’s in it for me?” You can teach them fear, but it’s much more rewarding for both of you to teach them how fun it is to pay attention to you! Every time he looks at you, say “Good boy!” in a happy voice, and give him a treat, or play ball with him, or do anything he finds rewarding. Just making eye contact and giving him praise is good. When he looks away, walk away from him. He may or may not follow you, depending on how interesting your back yard is (i.e., how many interesting sights and smells there are). The main idea is to make it really rewarding for him to pay attention to you, and really boring for him to ignore you.

It does take some work. Never yell, because he will not “get it” (remember that dogs don’t yell at each other, nor do they use verbal language, so yelling or even talking at your dog is not as effective as non-verbal communications). Always make it fun and nice for him to look at you, follow you, be interested in you.

Once you have him convinced that you are an interesting creature with fantastic surprises (sudden playfulness, unexpected treats, etc.), you can start with some basic training. If you have trouble even getting eye contact, try the following steps:

1. Show him that you have something delicious in your hand (a bit of bacon, cheese, chicken, even hot dog - these are known as “high value treats”).
2. Move your hand up next to your eye. His eyes will follow that high-value treat.
3. As soon as he looks up at your eye(s), say “Good boy!” in a very happy voice, and give him the treat.
4. Once you’ve done that a few times, add the word “Look” as you show him the treat by your eye level. He’s already learned to look at your face when you lead his eyes up there with the treat, so adding the command word is simply reinforcing this idea.
5. Do this again and again, for about five minutes.
6. Take a break to do something else. As you walk away, I’ll bet he follows you, and if he does, you can reinforce that with “Good boy!” and even another treat, if you like.

This is about as basic as it gets, just getting your dog to pay attention to you. Remember that whenever you get his attention, there should be some kind of reward. When you call him, he won’t come just because you said so. He has to know that sometimes being called means he gets a treat, sometimes it means he gets released back to play, and sometimes it means he has to go back inside with you. Once inside, you can always continue the play and/or give him a treat.

Training time should always be fun and rewarding, and shouldn’t last more than a few minutes per session. I highly recommend the training books and videos by Dr. Ian Dunbar as a good start. I also recommend an excellent book, The Other End of the Leash, by Dr. Patricia McConnell. That book has saved many dogs from going to the pound, just by teaching the reader what’s going on with their dog’s behavior. Good luck!