Adventures in Trick Training

[nola]

I've been working hard with Nola, and I've trained her a several complex behavioral chains in addition to single cues this month. I've taught her:
Up onto a stool, verbal and hand signal
Up onto a stool, with me at a distance giving the cue (we've gotten to about 15ft)
Off a stool, verbal and hand signal
Off a stool at a distance
Sit on a stool
Down on a stool
Spin on a stool
Stay on a stool
Stay on a stool and come when I call
Come when I call and jump onto the stool
Sit on a stool, then jump off and jump over a hurtle (and vise versa)

Just wanted to brag, LOL

 

[Inkeri]

Wow! You should definitely brag. Manu loves to learn obedience stuff, but if he senses that this is going to be some sort of circus trick he doesn't want to do it. Lol. Some tricks i've managed to teach him, but not that many!! It's so much easier with our german shepherd puppy...

 

[jax's_mommy]

psshh, want to come train Jax? lol he's not so eager about training

You have a right to brag! That's pretty darn neat!

 

[natural curl]

When my husband comes home mid-morning for a peanut butter sandwich break he sits on a stool! No, my husband is not at all trained, but on the low stool he is closer to the dog.
Milo immediately sits, shakes, lies down and rolls over without any verbal commands. He can read minds. Either that or he remembers what it takes to get at the peanut butter Kong.

 

[vizzla]

What is your hand signal for up on the stool?

 

[nola]

Right Palm forward in a sweeping motion towards the stool.

 

[Doxmom]

Wow, Nola's Mom, that is so impressive!!! I love a well-trained dog. It shows not only the dog's obedience, but the commitment of the owner, as well.

Lots of congrats!!!!

Would you say the secret is practice, practice, practice...and delicious treats?

 

[nola]

Wow, Nola's Mom, that is so impressive!!! I love a well-trained dog. It shows not only the dog's obedience, but the commitment of the owner, as well.

Lots of congrats!!!!

Would you say the secret is practice, practice, practice...and delicious treats?

I'd say the secret is a clicker, treats and a hungry dog! Nola picks things up SO fast, especially since we started clicker training.
Also, keep training fun! Do a few cues, throw a toy, a few more cues, a snuggle, ect.

 

[DeafDogs]

Clickertraining is TOTALLY the secret! LOL Mouse is also a little trickster. For a totally deaf dog with 15-20% vision, she does a ton of tricks! Her latest tricks are weight lifting (holds a stick in her mouth and moves her head up and down) and figure eights between Oliver's (my big dog) legs

She is trained exclusevly with shaping and free shaping clicker training techniques. Lureing does not work with her (food in front of nose, brain turns off! LOL) I use an LED light to "click"

 

[Doxmom]

Sara, you are amazing! I'm totally impressed with your training techniques, your willingness to train deaf dogs and your patience and creativity. You should open a training school to share your techniques!!

 

[CathyS]

I love a dog that can do tricks. Out oldest Oscar is 5 and is really smart. He is a Dachshund mix, we think he is part Jack Russell. He looks like a dachshund but his ears are a little smaller and his legs are a little longer.
His tricks are a lot of the usual, sit, stay, shake both paws, also will shake our feet this his paws, lay, roll on his side to be shot(bang) turn around on four legs. turn around while on two legs. He will bark when I ask him to say Mama. If I sing the Oscar Mayer song he sings along. He might do more that I don't remember. He listens to everything we say and understands way too much! It's really funny when we are trying to train Barnie the puppy. Oscar is always beside him doing everything we're trying to get Barnie to do and wanting extra treats for it. Great fun!