From Meredith Liben:

Re: Bird can “read” human gaze (April 2): In my experience, my dogs use eye contact in a savvy and deliberate way to communicate desires - toward the door to go out, toward the drinking pail when they are thirsty and it is out, toward the cabinet where biscuits are stored. I’ve read other research in your articles about dogs’ ability to influence human decision-making. I find I can do the same in reverse and get them to look at my object if I glance at them and quickly glance to an object and then back to make eye contact.

I got the idea from reading research gathered by Stanley Cohen (How to Speak Dog).