Suggestions Please!

MaryK

Honored Member
What's funny is I couldn't find mine and had to improvise with a cat toy and a different fuzzy ball lol
So glad you clarified that Sara, thought I was hallucinating, cat toy???? Leaf's doing well with target, though LOL had to get it nice and 'treat smelly' to gain her attention at first!:LOL::rolleyes:
 

MaryK

Honored Member
One trick that I taught Matrix that we LOVE is to put her toys away and only have one toy out at a time. She is so good with this. Its also loads of fun for her to gather up all her toys after a play session.

I also work religiously on heelwork LOL and she loves it. We also chain behaviours, for example when I say 'Show off' she jumps, spins and then bows.

Leaf is ADORABLE!! :D
Now that's a trick I really should treat my young lady!!!!!!!!!!! Put her toys AWAY!!!!!!!!! She leave's them everywhere, even got into bed the other night and found one of her toys under the duvet!!!!!!!!!!!:rolleyes:

Seriously, it is a good trick and I will teach her that one! Thank you.

She also loves heel work, and will work for quite a while on it, takes after her older Big Bro, heel work is/was his speciality!

I'm starting to chain behaviors, LOL she's going well on some and others still looks a bit confused. Must be me not giving clear enough cues.

Like the 'show off' one, she's not allowed to jump too much yet (young joints) but she can do spin and bow - so will chain those together, with maybe sit pretty to start with. So far I've only chained the spin moves, right/left and figure 8 together with roll over.

Thank you, she is adorable, wins hearts everywhere. Even the taxi driver fell in love with her:)
 

sara

Moderator
Staff member
Ya, I've had to rub treats on it for all of mine as well. That's why I like the fuzzy ball so much, it stays smelly for longer lol
 

Dogster

Honored Member
If you want something harder, how about get me a tissue, get me a drink tricks? You could teach U-turn too, and then you could use it for getting into heel position (for obedience).
Also, I would work on desensitizing her to moving objects (such as the skateboard, teeter (start with a wobble board), balancing tricks with a yoga ball, or these http://www.fitpawsusa.com and so on) I personally think that it's easier to work with puppies on these tricks than with adult dogs. (from my experience anyways. Shivon doesn't want to stand on anything that moves.) Rear end awareness tricks are very important.

If you plan on doing agility, you could do some agility foundations (nose targeting, 2on 2off targeting, for example) Toy drive is important. You can work on tugging and toy drive to get Leaf to LOVE tugging, so you could use play as a reward instead of treats. You can also start Frisbee training (get her to LOVE the Frisbee, work on rollers)

And obedience foundations. I really love the training that Gin and Vodka's owner is doing, I get a lot of ideas from her, you should check them out. http://www.youtube.com/user/GinTheBorderCollie?feature=watch

Sorry for the long post.:p I have been planning what I would do with a new puppy (if I ever get one :rolleyes:) , and these are some of the things I plan on doing.
 

648117

Honored Member
I agree that the balance stuff is really important to start young.
When I started agility with Holly they had a "wobble board", as soon as Holly spotted it she would race over to it and jump on then proceed to run around it to make it "bang" since she thought that was the game. Meanwhile the trainer was trying to explain how we should reward the dog for looking at it, then sniffing it, then putting one paw on it all without letting it hit the ground etc until they could stand on. Most of the other dogs needed that slow process but Holly had already experienced wobble boards, cushions (those plastic water filled balance ones), the back of the couch at home (she is a monkey and likes to sleep up there), she had played on a childrens playground etc etc, she was also the youngest in the class.
 

Linda A

Experienced Member
Learning to turn on and/or off a light should be an easy trick for a puppy to do. My dogs can't get to a regular light switch as they are too small. A friend in Florida just sent us an Insta Bulb light. It's great and it only took Royal about 30 seconds to figure it out. Spice needs to learn to pull harder. LOL!

You can find them for half this price so shop around.
https://www.instabulbsale.com/?mid=1505146
 

Vizzla

Experienced Member
Here's some tricks that I can think of right now that definitely should be alright for a growing puppy and should have a very low risk of causing problems.

Shake paw
Wave
Roll over (left and right)
Spin (left and right)
Bow
Retrieve
Play dead
Cop-cop
Put paws on indicated object
Nose/paw targeting
Cover/Swipe face with paw

I'll see if I can think of some more tomorrow :)

What command do you use for puting paws on indicated objects and how do you teach it? :)
 

648117

Honored Member
Holly isn't actually very good at that trick because I don't get her to do it very often so she will often try jumping up on to the object first.

I use "Paws up" as the command (and point to the object).
I think I taught it using a wall first (so she couldn't jump on it), I just lured her to put her front paws on it, then tried a chair etc keep trying different things so the dog generalizes (I didn't do that very well).
The main reason I taught it was as the first step to teaching her to shut the fridge door.

This trick might be more useful for people with large dogs.
 

kassidybc

Experienced Member
That reminds me, you could teach Leaf to get you a drink from the fridge! (Including opening the fridge, retrieving the drink to your hand, and closing the fridge)
 

sara

Moderator
Staff member
Large dogs aren't necessary for teaching paws up.... Mouse and Boo both do it. I did a video on targetting with Mouse to help another person with a deaf dachshund. I figured its a great place to start the dog learning tricks. I'll post it for you all, too. Its geared towards deaf dachshunds tho. And only a some of it is about paw targetting.

 

648117

Honored Member
That's great (y)

I never said it can't be taught to little dogs, Holly can do it and she's little. It's a trick that pretty much any dog can learn to some degree.

It's just that I don't find it to be a particularly useful trick (and it isn't "flashy" either so it's not one I tend to show people). But I could imagine that it could be more useful for larger dogs (although I've never owned a large dog), for example, if someone is on the other side of the fence and wants to pat the dog, a little dog can be picked up (if they don't mind - I would pick Holly up) whereas you could get a big dog to put its feet up so the person can pat it. Or it could be used at the vets or something (situations where a little dog can be picked up/put on a table - maybe while drying the dog).
Maybe this isn't what happens with large dogs, I've never had one so I don't know, I'm just imagining that this trick could be more useful with large dogs than with little.

That's just my opinion.
 
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