# Trick Comands



## DiegoCF_Boston (Apr 12, 2011)

So Diego, who turned 9 months on Saturday, knows sit, down, come and pretty much knows stay (we need to continue practicing stay...he knows it, but after 30 seconds, he gets way too curious) but I was wondering on how to practice a couple of other specific ones.

Do your pups know:

Paw
Rollover
Play dead

??

If they do, what way did you specifically teach them how to do them? Did they pick up on it right away? Diego picked up on Sit and Down really quickly, and come took a little longer. 

We have a couple of dog trick books but I want to get your input first before I consult the books


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## Tessa's Mommy (May 20, 2011)

Shake or paw is really easy. Just say shake and then touch their paw. They will lift up the paw, you shake it gently and then, of course, reward with a treat. My puppy learned it during our one hour puppy class. You can also teach them high five the same way.

Havs also are really good dancers, but that just came naturally to both of my dogs. 

We are taking an intermediate dog class and we have learned, 
touch
wait
place
leave it ( which is a really, really good one)
heel
and a couple of other things.

Cooper who is 5 years old is good at all of them. He is just there for a refresher and to socialize more. Tessa is 9 months also and not so good, but getting better. 

These dogs love to learn, so just persevere. Good luck


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## jessegirl (May 13, 2011)

Hi! Rollie has done really well with this. He knows sit, lay down, stay, "here boy" is our "come," "give paw," and roll over. It took him WEEKS to learn lay down and I really think he dislikes this - he seems to be very reluctant to lay down. So weird! He started to roll over the very first session. "Give paw" took about a week and a half, but I have to say, this is the cutest thing EVER. His paws are like muppet hands and when he holds it out it just kills me! 

I'm trying to figure out what to do next myself. Maybe I'll do dance - but I don't know how to teach that.

I figured out how to teach "roll over" by watching a video on youtube. Basically you get the dog to lay down and then you lure him in a roll over motion with a treat. You start on one side of his face and bring the treat over his head. The dog naturally follows. It's kind of hard to describe, but I'm sure you can find multiple examples on youtube.


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

Try clicker training. Look up Karen Pryor's site. You'll enjoy it. Molly and I are working on her Math skills. LOL The trick to tricks is to take it slow, if your dog shows any signs of disinterest, you've gone too long.


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## Diann (Apr 25, 2011)

Dave, disinterest? What about reckless exuberance? Lucy is much better at sit when I have a treat. She does not like drop (lay down) and I cannot get her to stand. She's too wigglely to get her to stand. Stay is the first command I literally saw a thought pass through her eyes and she checked herself. Pretty good for a 15 week old. We started working on shake aka paw this last Sunday. Again exuberance is her fault right how. She is so quick that it seems very sloppy. I hate to discouage her excitement though. We continuejto work on laying quietly on her side for grooming. Actually, Lucy is pretty much a spaz. I love her little motor sounds though when she's tearing around the house or yard. I love my little Lucy Loo.


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

Diann said:


> Dave, disinterest? What about reckless exuberance? Lucy is much better at sit when I have a treat. She does not like drop (lay down) and I cannot get her to stand. She's too wigglely to get her to stand. Stay is the first command I literally saw a thought pass through her eyes and she checked herself. Pretty good for a 15 week old. We started working on shake aka paw this last Sunday. Again exuberance is her fault right how. She is so quick that it seems very sloppy. I hate to discouage her excitement though. We continuejto work on laying quietly on her side for grooming. Actually, Lucy is pretty much a spaz. I love her little motor sounds though when she's tearing around the house or yard. I love my little Lucy Loo.


For sure , at that age, it's hard to slow down their enthusiasm sometimes. Their attention span is short for sure. Somewhat like a young child. Keep the training short and sweet. And the key is have fun. Just watching them to me is fun. They're smarter than we think. They'll surprise you when you least expect it. Enjoy her youth . I goes by too fast. Thought I would add something. I just read this on the IAABC forum and I thought it was cool. As most people know here, I'm an advocate of positive reinforcement based training. and here is a quote that poses a question , ....."Simply ask yourself if you could achieve a goal by engaging the animal as opposed to imposing your will on the animal to achieve that goal. Sit with that thought for a moment."


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## JMGracie (Mar 30, 2011)

I like this book. I think I've seen it at Petsmart/Petco as well.

I think it all depends on the trick and probably the dog. You also should try progressing. If he sits very well, try making him stay in a sit for longer. Or combine commands - he has to do a sit/down before getting a treat, etc. Make him sit and stay, etc.

Gracie picked up stay pretty well at first. Basically just make them sit and give them the command/hand signal for "stay", and slowly back away. If they come after you, give a correction "ah!" and go back to where they were sitting and have them sit again. The more you practice, the further away you can get.

That can also help reinforce "come" when you release them, because they're going to want to come running to you as fast as possible anyways. And we also use "stay" to hide a treat and have Gracie sniff it out.


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## DiegoCF_Boston (Apr 12, 2011)

JMGracie said:


> I like this book. I think I've seen it at Petsmart/Petco as well.
> 
> I think it all depends on the trick and probably the dog. You also should try progressing. If he sits very well, try making him stay in a sit for longer. Or combine commands - he has to do a sit/down before getting a treat, etc. Make him sit and stay, etc.
> 
> ...


Haha that's one of the books we have!! I was flipping through it right after we got Diego and I really thought about teaching him how to fetch me a beer from the fridge...but I think he wouldn't be able to carry the beer can in his mouth LOL And I think i'm going to try those combos until I figure out exactly what I want to teach him next...definitely good practice for the brain (his and mine!) 

Everyone, thanks for all the advice and hints!! I appreciate it!


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

Ollie is very food motivated. ok, he's a pig in dog's clothing.
tricks:
down
sit
stay
leave it
drop it
shake (either paw)
touch (touches whatever you want with his nose)
heel
come

Hi (one paw up like he's saying hi)
high 10
jump - 360 with a 1/2 twist
jump - butt wiggle
dance (walks on 2 feet)
ollie oop (puts paws up on what you point to)
ollie off (gets off what you ask him to)
all the way down (chin to floor)
bow (like a play bow)
spin (tail chasee left or right)
bark
growl
the wave
counts to 15-20 by tapping his paw on your fist.
fetch
kiss
on your side
roll over

let me know which one you want to do and I'll tell you how I taught it to him, steps my vary with your dog.


I still want to teach him play dead and to cover his eyes with a paw on command. sneeze would be cool too.


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## MoirasNiceLady (Jul 11, 2011)

I love the trick "spin"! It took Mo no time at all to learn it. Had her sit first, then with the treat in my hand I made a circle above her head in the direction I wanted her to turn and said "spin". She turned around in a circle, following my hand, then she sits again and gets her treat. This is darling. Another poster on this site has two Maltese (sorry I can't remember her name!!) and I got the idea from watching a video she has on her blog of her two dogs doing it in tandem, TOO cute.

FYI, I tried to teach this to my Cairn Terrier and he just looks up at my hand and follows it with his eyes. Maybe because he knows he is so cute I'll just give him the treat anyways.....? Who is training who? :suspicious:


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

I would say lead your Cairn slowly, with the treat to his nose and let him lick it as he follows the treat with his whole body...

Ollie didn't get it the first few times either...


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## DiegoCF_Boston (Apr 12, 2011)

sprorchid said:


> Ollie is very food motivated. ok, he's a pig in dog's clothing.
> tricks:
> down
> sit
> ...


Ooooh...how'd you teach your dog roll over, on your side and dance? i think one of those would be a good next step in his training!!!


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

ok. first, my disclaimer, I'm not a professional trainer. I'm just a speech therapist, who works with a lot of behaviorists, and I've had a handful of dogs, been to a lot of dog training classes. and I have summers off (aka a lot of free time).

when teaching a trick, always reinforce 1:1 (one treat for each correct or almost correct behavior), meaning everything good behavior, even if it's close b/c you want to encourage the participation... but also, some frustration attaining the target behavior is good, b/c there is a 'release' when the actually execute correctly.
after the behavior or trick is consistent, put a hand cue on it, then when the hand cue consistent elicits the trick you can pair it with a word command.

'dance': was a 'capture' behavior, meaning that Ollie did this as a pup, walk on his back legs to 'jump' or reach me... so I started to give him a treat when he did it. I would dangle the treat above his nose and wiggle my fingers. now, he moves his body to how I move my hand/fingers. he gets the treat in 5-10 seconds of 'dancing'.

If I were to teach it, from scratch, or shaping, I'd get my dog to stand up on the back legs, then teach him to follow my hand for the movement.

on your side: it's when from a down, he flops over on his side. all I did was roll him over and when he stayed on his side for a second, I gave him a treat. I did it 3-5 time and he got it. this is not a recommened method of teaching a trick, it's my ghetto style. my hand signal is palm facing the ground, moving in a horizontal plane, about 2-3 inches back and forth a couple of times.

roll over: my little guy does a slow mo rollover, although he's getting better.
traditional roll over is taught from a down, then you lead the nose in a 1/2 circle from the nose to the tail base, over the backbone. if the dog follows it tightly with it's nose, his body will automatically rollover. I'm sure youtube must have it somewhere.
so you know how when dogs lay down, it's sorta a C shape. from the top of the C being the dog's nose, you lead the treat in a half circle to the tail (bottom part of the C), and over the butt. go slow when you start so the dog follows the treat with his nose.

by far the most crowd pleasing trick is when he says 'hi'. after your dog learns 'shake'... you shape the behavior to a 'hi', by not letting his paw rest on your hand like 'shake'. then you raise the paw higher by raising our 'target' hand, the hand he would normally target for a shake. eventually he'll mirror your hand waving hi with his paw coming up to say hi. it's super cute!

good luck!


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## Kathie (Jul 31, 2008)

Thanks, I'm going to try these!


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## Tom King (Aug 2, 2006)

Nike does a long list of regular tricks, but the one that probably would be considered unusual is riding a skateboard. Pam uses clicker training. It's easy when one is motivated by something, whether food, or a toy, or ball.

If you get someone who is good at clicker training to show you how, it's pretty easy. I doubt many can learn it easily from a book, although I'm sure it's possible.

See Carter's video of Watson on here somewhere. You can do so much more quickly with proper clicker training.

You don't need to stick to the clicker all the time, but it greatly simplifies learning for the dog. Pam can teach Nike almost anything in a couple of minutes. She often demonstrates teaching a new trick when someone comes for a visit. I think that had an influence on Watson's training.

edited to add: Sprorcid's description a couple of posts above is very good. It's really simple once you see someone doing it. Clicker training works the same way. You just use the clicker to mark the INSTANT you get the behavior you want. Pretty soon after they get the behavior, you can do away with the clicker. You don't add the word cue until they have the trick down good.


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

Ollie is clicker trained. it's quite simple.

buy a clicker, any pet store has it, $1.

then when you go home. using a trick, simple tricks, charge the clicker. 
charge the clicker by asking your dog to do simple tricks he/she already knows and click the clicker every time they do it. right when they do it. do it every day for 5-10 minute for a week. now the clicker is charged.
straight up pavlov.

now you can use it to 'tell' your dog when he's doing the behavior you want by clicking at the exact time he is doing it right.

the clicker is used for training, not for mastered tricks (only when charging the clicker and you only do that once if you use it regularly). 

so click when he does the roll over or part of the roll over, to tell him he's doing it right!

remember, give a treat each time he is doing the behavior you want (and click) and let him lick or nibble at the treat if he's close to doing it right.


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

Bow is probably the easiest of the tricks to teach:

from a stand, have the dog follow the treat (treat to nose, ok if he eats/licks it) and bring the head to the ground. if he is flopping down like a lay down. use your free hand, and give a gentle touch about where the rib cage ends, to keep the butt in the air, then remove the physical prompt.

I haven't thought of a hand signal to go with this trick yet.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Just to add to to what has already been said about clickers, it is important to treat EVERY time you click, even if you make a mistake and click when the dog didn't do the right thing.

You can also charge the clicker even if the dog knows no tricks or commands at all. Just click/treat, click/treat, click/treat about 10 times in a row. The dog will VERY quickly catch on that the click is followed by a treat. Then go from that to waiting for the dog to look at you. When they do, click/treat. Do that about 10 more times and you've got a pretty good charge on the clicker, and it's taken less than 10 minutes... probably less than 5!.

As Tom said, the only hard part is the timing. To work well, it needs to be really precise. One way to practice this (and you don't need a dog to do it) is to have someone else bounce a tennis ball on the floor. Practice timing your click to the exact split second that it hits the floor. When you can do that consistently, you are ready to work with a dog.


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

Just wondering how the new tricks went over. did they learn 'em??


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## Atticus (May 17, 2011)

Another idea about "stay" have them sit and stay then as you work on a longer sit or start to work on distance (back away one step) go in and REWARD the stay. So they are sitting and every few seconds get rewarded for the stay. If they get up just say 'oh well" and treat time is over. Once they get that the treats come in if they sit there, their little brains think gee this stay thing is pretty darned good!OF COURSE you do this in stages and don't continue feeding constantly. Your job as trainer is to READ your dog,quit when you are ahead,if you waited past her ability time or distance time change things till she is solid and try again. WARNING it is supposed to be fun not frustrating for BOTH of you! CHEERS!


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## ClaireVoyant (Jan 26, 2012)

Isabella knows all the standard tricks, except "roll over" and both my husband and I are at a loss how to teach her that one. When we try to lay her over, she ducks her head and refuses to budge . . .as though she's positioning herself for a reprimand. No idea where this is coming from . . .but clearly demonstrating roll over in this manner isn't working. Anyone have an idea?


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## Atticus (May 17, 2011)

sprorchid, sorry don't know your name, had a good basic roll over info on this thread. Beware for some dogs (including Atticus) roll over is difficult,it took me forever to get him to lie down too. I have heard this is because these are submissive postures and some dogs just don't go there easily. If you are getting frustrated you might want to try some others. Dogs learn after awhile that you are trying to teach a new trick once you start doing it often so at some point the dog might be more ready than she is today to work on,what is for her, a tough one.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Atticus said:


> sprorchid, sorry don't know your name, had a good basic roll over info on this thread. Beware for some dogs (including Atticus) roll over is difficult,it took me forever to get him to lie down too. I have heard this is because these are submissive postures and some dogs just don't go there easily. If you are getting frustrated you might want to try some others. Dogs learn after awhile that you are trying to teach a new trick once you start doing it often so at some point the dog might be more ready than she is today to work on,what is for her, a tough one.


Yeah, I had to capture the down to teach it to Kodi. There was no way I could lure him into that position. And as far as rolling over is concerned, I gave up on that one. We tried the typical luring his head back and around while he was in a down, but he clearly finds it stressful. He does so many other things so well, it seemed like it wasn't worth fixating on something he clearly had an aversion to.


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## jessegirl (May 13, 2011)

Our newest trick is "be a bear." Rollie stands up and holds his front paws up like a grizzly bear (we had fun with this). The hand signal I chose is a closed fist held about waist high. He's really good with this, but will still jump at times so now I'm only treating really good examples of the behavior - standing, not jumping. 

We still can't get him to speak. NOTHING makes him bark except people outside the window and the vacuum. So I'm using the vacuum. All I have to do is take it out and he'll bark. Unfortunately he hasn't learned to speak. He's very fixated on that vacuum. I'm not sure if he's even hearing my command.


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## Phoebs (May 28, 2009)

Hello out there, Phoebe and I have been off the forum for quite a while.
--If you are looking for tricks, definitely teach "peek a boo". Phoebe loves this one so much, and I don't know why. In an emergency, I almost think I would try Peekaboo if she didn't respond to "come". 
--If you are having trouble with roll over, I have some suggestions. Phoebe can only figure out how to pull her muscles together for this if she is on a carpet. Odd, but when we took doggie training the teacher mentioned sometimes dogs have trouble on slick floors for some reason. She can't roll over in the kitchen, but she will do it on the carpet. As far as helping teach the trick, start from a "down" position. Note where your dog's legs are in the down position. If they are out to each side of the spine, they will not be able to recruit the proper muscle action. You need to make sure they are on one hip in the down position. Then somehow they are able to figure out the movements. Our dog trainer actually suggested teaching a different down command called "easy" which indicates to the dog they need to lay down, but on one hip, and that this command suggests that they will be staying and relaxing in this position for some time. It's a good one to use before a "stay". 
--Other fun tricks for Phoebe are "right" and " left" turns. She loves them. She can remember her right from left when she practices, but otherwise she just does a few of each. it's really cute!
--we also taught her "aw shucks". Didn't really perfect it, but it's still cute. This one is good with clicker training. The idea would be to have the dog slowly swipe her face/ eyes with one paw. We taught this using postit notes and a clicker and lots of treats. She got the basics in ONE SESSION. Put the post it note on your dog's muzzle. You know exactly what they will do right away!! Try to wipe it off! Click and treat. Within a couple of minutes, she saw the postit and would start with the paw! We never shaped and perfected it, but it would be easy. Now when we say "shucks", she does something between a face pat and stomping one paw on the ground. It's still cute. Another really good time to teach this is as they wake up in the morning. Many dogs will find themselves lolling on their back after a good night's sleep and will be naturally prone to slowly swiping their face. Be ready in advance with clicker and treats for morning training. This is how our trainer taught it, and her dog is really good at it.

We need to work on something else too, but have been to busy to think about it!


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## Phoebs (May 28, 2009)

The other clue for roll over is again to do click and treat when they first wake up (if they loll on their back). you could have treats stashed in advance and click and treat as they move from back position to a roll. You might get a few repetitions each day if you're lucky. A key advantage of clicker training is to use it at times when you expect to see part of your desired behavior. Predict when your dog is likely to display part of what you want to capture, and reward them for doing what is natural. This will really get their attention. Will also diffuse the submissive "I'm waiting for a reprimand" behavior you are seeing- which would certainly be blocking your dog's ability to be open to learning.


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## Atticus (May 17, 2011)

Hey Juliette, love your Phoebe!!! What is the peek a boo trick?????


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## Phoebs (May 28, 2009)

Peekaboo:
Your dog is somewhere across the room
You stand there with legs very slightly parted and say "Peek a boo!!!"
Dog runs as if in a "come" but goes around your back, and peeks head out between your legs. "Peekaboo".

It's very very cute. Make SURE not to treat if they come past your legs... it's just the peek part that earns the reward. Otherwise, you're teaching some sort of doggie dance move.

Shape the behavior by having dog in front of you, and cue them to follow a treat around to the back and treat as their head peeks through.

When they have it really solidly, you can play sorry tricks on your dog by standing too close to a wall, or having your legs closed when you ask them to peekaboo. Phoebe suffers trying to figure out how to get to the peekaboo for her treat when my kids pull that on her. Sad, but cute (better make sure your dog can be successful and earn that treat!). However in this case, nothing detracts from her peekaboo enthusiasm, it's all good fun.


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## ClaireVoyant (Jan 26, 2012)

LOL, I got such a kick out of watching that video, Phoebs . . .thanks for the demonstration 

We definitely need to work on roll over, but knowing Kodi hasn't quite gotten the knack of that one gives me encouragement in a strange sort of way because he strikes me as über-smart. Thanks for sharing all the pointers


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## CarolWCamelo (Feb 15, 2012)

Diann said:


> Dave, disinterest? What about reckless exuberance? Lucy is much better at sit when I have a treat. She does not like drop (lay down) and I cannot get her to stand. She's too wigglely to get her to stand. Stay is the first command I literally saw a thought pass through her eyes and she checked herself. Pretty good for a 15 week old. We started working on shake aka paw this last Sunday. Again exuberance is her fault right how. She is so quick that it seems very sloppy. I hate to discouage her excitement though. We continuejto work on laying quietly on her side for grooming. Actually, Lucy is pretty much a spaz. I love her little motor sounds though when she's tearing around the house or yard. I love my little Lucy Loo.


I love exuberance too!

No matter how you look at it, though, puppies are a lot of work. I haven't raised a young puppy since 1986! - got my later dogs, one at age 1.5 years (Kwali, Australian Terrier); one at age 8 months and two days (Kumbi, Australian Terrier). Judicious use of a clicker can be really helpful, if the dogs don't mind the sound of it. But it took me four months to get Kwali over her fear of the clicker sound, even with the clicker muffled down to a soft sound. Managed it, though! It helped that Kumbi was responsive to the clicker, without minding the sound.

Dave mentioned, back a few posts, that if the dog loses interest, you've gone too far. Bob and Marian Bailey were probably the world's greatest experts on animal-training, and they used the clicker. They did NOT call themselves "clicker trainers," I imagine because the emphasis is on the TRAINING, not on the clicker!

As Dave said, Karen Pryor's site can be very helpful.

http://www.clickertraining.com

The Baileys and Pryor had/have some differences of opnion. When in doubt, I always go with the Baileys, because they are so rigorous on principles, and to my mind, that tends to bring success.

The very essence of training is, as Dave effectively said, don't go on too long; in fact, VERY short sessions, a few times a day, or even once a day, are enough for dogs to learn - even very well. Dogs need down-time in-between to absorb the lessons.

Camellia, my first Havanese, came to me at 3.5 years old - no puppy there! She was so traumatized that I didn't use the clicker at all for a long time.

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:01:19 (PST)


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## CarolWCamelo (Feb 15, 2012)

*Engaging the dog's volition*



davetgabby said:


> <snip> here is a quote that poses a question , ....."Simply ask yourself if you could achieve a goal by engaging the animal as opposed to imposing your will on the animal to achieve that goal. Sit with that thought for a moment."


Oh, Dave; well-said! If you watch your dog, and see what it does of its own volition, and engage THAT, you are over the first hump in any training.

http://www.coherentdog.org/arc2006/popcans.htm

So, I'm just beginning to do a little training work with Camellia. One of the things I will NOT do with a dog is the game called 101 things to do with a box; it's too confusing for the dog.

Instead, I'll dance around a bit myself, see what Camellia does, and then begin to click ONE specific action. If Camellia repeats that soon, I'll continue to click that action. For Camellia, a few clicks per training period are enough. Then I stop. She has so much post-traumatic stress disorder I have to go really lightly. I have confidence that if I continue to be judicious with the clicker, she'll do well. After all, she is a Havanese!

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:18:08 (PST)


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## CarolWCamelo (Feb 15, 2012)

*Re-casting our language to fit dogs a bit better*



JMGracie said:


> I like this book. I think I've seen it at Petsmart/Petco as well.
> 
> I think it all depends on the trick and probably the dog. You also should try progressing. If he sits very well, try making him stay in a sit for longer. Or combine commands - he has to do a sit/down before getting a treat, etc. Make him sit and stay, etc.
> 
> ...


I'm paranoid about clicking on links, and you didn't post author and title, so I'm not clicking on it! Too many weird viruses going around, though my anti-virus SHOULD catch viruses, it may not always.

So maybe post author and title?

What I want to describe here is how my last really severely traumatized dog, Kwali, taught me to re-cast my thinking and actions.

ONE word "No" - a minor correction - would have pushed her right over the brink into breakdown.

I tell ya; I really had to wrack my brains to avoid ALL forms of punishment (that includes any sort of correction) with Kwali.

It took me about four months to do the BASIC learning, but about a year before I stopped slipping and occasionally making a mistake that put Kwali into a bit of a setback.

What I did was, work on learning alternatives to giving any sort of correction.

The basic alternative I found most useful was to ask Kwali to do something different from what she was currently doing. Of course, that meant some teaching, or, sometimes, just some action on my part to tempt her into doing something different. Then I'd reward her for doing the different thing, instead of what she HAD been doing.

Another useful maneuver on my part (others do this too - lots of people who use clickers do it), was to do a "Trade-Up" if Kwali had something I didn't want her to have. I'd keep TOTALLY high-value treats on hand, often in the fridge. A few, I'd take with me on walks.

Instead of allowing her to continue to munch on something potentially dangerous, I'd edge up till I was near her, and start dropping these VERY high-value treats. When she'd come to get them, I'd pick up the dangerous thing and stow it away.

All this kind of work involved changing my language.

I didn't use the word "command." Reason? No matter what word(s) I used, Kwali ALWAYS had a choice; she could "obey" (new language - instead of "obey," follow the CUE I was giving - I even dropped the word "comply" [!]) or she could fail to follow my cue. Yikes! If she failed, I put that down to my insufficiency as a trainer. I needed to learn more!

Gosh; wonder if I can get rid of "fail" (!)

Let's say, occasions would arise when Kwali didn't follow my cue. Why not? Well, I hadn't yet taught her enough so she COULD follow my cue! Insufficient training. Ha!

I try, to this day, not to "make a dog do something." Instead, I ask the dog to do something. And if the dog doesn't do it, then that exhibits an insufficiency in the training. Because, with very few exceptions, our dogs WILL do what we ask them to, especially if they have a LONG history of positive reinforcement - rewards - for doing that particular action.

So what I'm trying to illustrate here, is, how can we work with dogs on THEIR terms? (This is following the principles taught by Turid Rugaas.) When we can do that, we are in exquisite tune with our dogs!

Anyway, there are a couple of examples of the kind of stuff I've found helpful with my traumatized dogs. Recall really is important, so I generally work on that, even with a traumatized dog, but being very gentle, and making SURE not to punish the dog.

A dog who hasn't been traumatized will be easier to work with. All the same, the whole discipline - SCIENCE - no punishment in the word "discipline" - of teaching dogs (I even try to drop the word "training" - change it to teaching (!)] - takes us HUMANS a lot of work, and careful tuning-up of our actions, and even our THOUGHTS!

Geez! It takes time; it takes practice, but the pay-offs are huge!

I'm still working to re-cast my own language, and offer the suggestion that others might like to try it too!

And I STILL MAKE MISTAKES! We humans are not gods. Not perfect. (Then how should we ask our dogs to be perfect? [hehe])

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:52:56 (PST)


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

Click , treat Carol. :whoo:


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## CarolWCamelo (Feb 15, 2012)

ClaireVoyant said:


> Isabella knows all the standard tricks, except "roll over" and both my husband and I are at a loss how to teach her that one. When we try to lay her over, she ducks her head and refuses to budge . . .as though she's positioning herself for a reprimand. No idea where this is coming from . . .but clearly demonstrating roll over in this manner isn't working. Anyone have an idea?


Wish I could help, but I can't! I've never taught this, and though I think it's cute as all-get-out, and dogs probably love to do it, I do have SOME idea of where the refusal to budge might come from.

That is, leaning over a dog - looming over the dog - is very anti-calming! It's not something dogs do to each other when they're trying to avoid any sort of conflict - and a really healthy, well-raised dog will always try to avoid conflict.

So MAYBE your dog is trying to avoid conflict, by freezing in the current position - freezing is one of the canine calming signals!

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:20:53 (PST)


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## CarolWCamelo (Feb 15, 2012)

davetgabby said:


> Click , treat Carol. :whoo:


Yum, Yum!, Dave! Thanks!

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:35:04 (PST) - and I'm falling way behind - lots of other great stuff here today!

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 17:35:37 (OH, sheesh; I did that already!) Another mistake, in my distraction - HAHAHAHA!)


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Phoebs said:


> Peekaboo:.
> 
> A few tricks - YouTube


Phoebe is adorable!!!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

jessegirl said:


> Our newest trick is "be a bear." Rollie stands up and holds his front paws up like a grizzly bear (we had fun with this). The hand signal I chose is a closed fist held about waist high. He's really good with this, but will still jump at times so now I'm only treating really good examples of the behavior - standing, not jumping.


We want to see Rollie "Be a Bear"!!! Video please!:whoo:


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

davetgabby said:


> Click , treat Carol. :whoo:


Ditto! WONDERFUL post, Carol!!!


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## CarolWCamelo (Feb 15, 2012)

*Teaching, writing, is a craft*



krandall said:


> Ditto! WONDERFUL post, Carol!!!


Thanks so much, Karen. But I owe it all to many, many people, on many, many lists; also, to Turid Rugaas for her excellent work and meticulous observation, and to Bob and Marian Bailey, for their meticulousness in teaching animals. Bob always says, he doesn't love animals, and I'm sure that's true. It's different for us. We, without question, LOVE animals, most especially, our dogs (and cats).

Anyway, very large numbers of people - not just Rugaas and the Baileys, contributed to my perceptions. The only thing I can take some credit for - SOME - is my attention to detail in using the CRAFT of writing. It's not an art; it's a CRAFT, and takes careful attention to detail. Just as teaching our dogs does! (And I learned much of my craft while in college, again, with the help of really good teachers.

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 20:56:00 (PST)

Mummy, it's bedtime; give me my Benadryl! And let's go to bed. (00)

You're so right, Camellia. COMING! Just ONE more message! HAHA ;-^


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## Atticus (May 17, 2011)

OH Phoebe too cute! Nice distance on those tricks too very impressive! Love the mat and her "ok tricks time whats next????" attitude!


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## Atticus (May 17, 2011)

Carol I like what you said about the words training/teaching,it is teaching and that's what I love, teaching the dogs and/or teaching their owners. As with children (I'm a retired teacher) a lot is teaching then how to learn. I love when my dogs "get it" as in "oh what is she trying to teach me now?". Atticus is not there yet but my former dogs would go through all their tricks when I would say "what else can you do?" I was astounded to see their brains click in to do that!


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## motherslittlehelper (Mar 18, 2010)

This looks like a very interesting thread, with a lot of leads to interesting research. This human needs a lot of help in learning how to teach my dogs! And I briefly saw the other thread about the dancing and people to check out. eace: I have a feeling that once one starts checking this stuff out, it will just lead to more...and more... :biggrin1:

However, it will have to wait - plumbing issues - burst pipe on the upper level - waiting until decent hour to hopefully get hold of a plumber! On a Sunday!  

About the rolling over, Augie is still working on it, but is getting better. Finn got it in 15 minutes.


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## CarolWCamelo (Feb 15, 2012)

*Dogs learning to learn - a ramble*



Atticus said:


> Carol I like what you said about the words training/teaching,it is teaching and that's what I love, teaching the dogs and/or teaching their owners. As with children (I'm a retired teacher) a lot is teaching then how to learn. I love when my dogs "get it" as in "oh what is she trying to teach me now?". Atticus is not there yet but my former dogs would go through all their tricks when I would say "what else can you do?" I was astounded to see their brains click in to do that!


You're making me THINK! Maybe I should say, you're stimulating me to think, instead of "making me" think. Maybe it's not "think," but - "consider." Which would mean, reviewing, going over, what I've learned in the past, or - maybe - what I THINK - no, BELIEVE - I learned in the past.

Confused yet? HAHA!

Maybe my biggest trade secret for myself is that I ask this question of myself:

What if I'm wrong? I'll have to look up the article on my own site (a very large site) in which I remark on this situation. If I find it, I'll post a link.

Then there's also the question, "What if my (professional) TRAINER is wrong?" Yikes!

Aren't professional trainers supposed to be right?

And speaking of being right, what about veterinarians? My last animal-companion-dog before Camellia was diabetic. Wow; on the k9diabetes online forum, we learn that many, many vets are ill-educated in canine diabetes, with a result that some forum members have to change vets, searching out one who (for whatever reason) has a strong background in canine diabetes. And in the meantime, the truly well-educated forum owner/administrator is one of the best-educated lay-persons I ever "met."

Well, I think it's true that it's good for dogs to learn to learn, and, good for us to learn to learn, and wonderful for the dogs when we combine cues (we take cues from them, too), to ALLOW them to learn to learn. Really healthy and well-raised dogs (well-bred, too) have the most WONDERFUL capabilities for learning to learn, and sometimes I think, I should pay more attention to, how can I work out ways to teach my dog that don't GET IN THE WAY of their learning capabilities, but rather, enhance them?

So, a reason I like working with the principles of clicker-training, whether we use the clicker itself (an event-marker) or use a word instead, or some other sound, is that marking events (what the dog is doing) depends on - you guessed it - what the DOG is doing. Which typically arises from the DOG's thoughts and perceptions. In short, on their volitions. Which we can influence with various kinds of cues!

On my web site, I emphasize that the Eye of Dog is upon you. (Us.) Because, I'm sure we all notice, our dogs know so very much about what to expect, based on their watching of us.

Which is why I have difficulty catching Camellia for her weekly bath. I'm still ruminating about easing those difficulties.

Is that rambly enough for you? (Apologies, but it's very typical of my early investigations into learning - and my LATER ones, too!)

Finally, a remark on learning; this applies to dogs, and to humans too. My belief is that we - dogs and humans learn in little flashes of insight and comprehension (which may later need testing within the dog-or-human brain, to check for veracity or alterations) - but we do, I think, have these flashes of understanding. Then what's further required is, time to absorb those flashes, without being disturbed or distracted. Plain old time is our ally in teaching our dogs, ourselves, our students, our children.

Probably this ramble is long enough already, to put it mildly.

Enough, already!
Sun, 26 Feb 2012 07:53:09 (PST)


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## CarolWCamelo (Feb 15, 2012)

motherslittlehelper said:


> This looks like a very interesting thread, with a lot of leads to interesting research. This human needs a lot of help in learning how to teach my dogs! And I briefly saw the other thread about the dancing and people to check out. eace: I have a feeling that once one starts checking this stuff out, it will just lead to more...and more... :biggrin1:
> 
> However, it will have to wait - plumbing issues - burst pipe on the upper level - waiting until decent hour to hopefully get hold of a plumber! On a Sunday!
> 
> About the rolling over, Augie is still working on it, but is getting better. Finn got it in 15 minutes.


YIKES! Sorry about the plumbing! Wouldn't you know; it has to be a Sunday!

Leading to more and more? What triggers you to say THAT? Oh, Wow, take a Bow! Yeah - sometimes I have to shut myself down and trigger myself to walk away and leave things alone for a time! Otherwise, I'd become impossibly overwhelmed!

Of course, then also, we need to be aware, and sensitive to our dogs' needs; they too need time off!

So, you have the start of a rollover! Good for you! You can see that dogs are all different, even when they live in the same families! Even when they are all Havanese! (Or, since I've read on this forum lately about two intrepid Maltese, Snowy and Crystal, Maltese also!)

I love using the principles of clicker-training, because when WE are aware that behaviors we want can be broken down into their smallest elements, we can work on teaching a little bit at a time.

Doing that is very helpful to the learning-dogs.

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 08:14:30 (PST)


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## motherslittlehelper (Mar 18, 2010)

Haha, Carol - I will have to go back and re-read your posts when I can concentrate. At the moment, my mind is all over the place - if they have to carve too huge a hole into the bathroom to get at the plumbing, this might be a good time to make some changes that I have been contemplating and then, just like the research on this dog training, one thing invariably leads to another - right???? :biggrin1:

When Augie, my 3-year-old, was a puppy, we took him to classes that did not utilize clicker training. After those initial classes, we got him into classes with a trainer who did use clicker training. My, what a difference! My problem is that I have trouble seeing how to break the behaviors down into their small elements. After I am shown, it becomes clear and I can't believe I couldn't figure it out on my own. 

With my two, and the difference in the way they learned the rolling over, for example, I got the feeling that, like humans, animals must have different learning styles, and what works for teaching one, may not be the best way to teach another. I am a very visual learner. If you show me something, I can usually do it. I worked with a woman (medical office) who, when something would go wrong with one of the machines, could open the manual, wade through it and figure out the problem and get it going again. I have major difficulty doing that. My son is a teacher and has to have different tricks up his sleeve for dealing with different learning styles. School did not come easily for him - he had to work at it - and I think it has helped in his profession with dealing with different learning styles. I am wondering if our dogs are also that way. Of course, dogs can't read, but maybe just in our approach to them? Or maybe you said that already? I probably should just not type anything in my present frame of mind!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

motherslittlehelper said:


> Haha, Carol - I will have to go back and re-read your posts when I can concentrate. At the moment, my mind is all over the place - if they have to carve too huge a hole into the bathroom to get at the plumbing, this might be a good time to make some changes that I have been contemplating and then, just like the research on this dog training, one thing invariably leads to another - right???? :biggrin1:


Gee... sounds familiar! We've done so much work to the house, and most of it looks SO good that now I look at the kitchen and family room and think they look a bit shabby. Hmmm.:biggrin1:



motherslittlehelper said:


> My problem is that I have trouble seeing how to break the behaviors down into their small elements. After I am shown, it becomes clear and I can't believe I couldn't figure it out on my own.
> 
> With my two, and the difference in the way they learned the rolling over, for example, I got the feeling that, like humans, animals must have different learning styles, and what works for teaching one, may not be the best way to teach another.


Sometimes I can figure this out (and sometimes, like Carol said in another post, it will come in a "light bulb moment") but this is one of the reasons I really like taking occasional private lessons with the trainer I work with. I will explain something I'm having trouble with, and because of years of training MANY dogs, she can just pull something out of her "bag of tricks" that works.

And as you said, she regularly points out that no two dogs are alike. Different approaches may be necessary for different dogs. As CAROL said, you have to watch the dog and see what they are telling you.

A good example is that when Kodi was younger, we were having a really hard time with even very short sit-stays. I kept going in to reward him for staying, staying close, talking to him to remind him to stay... all the things we had been taught in our class. In a private lesson, I mentioned the problem, and the trainer had me show her what was going on. She immediately said, "His hind legs are slipping out from under him as he sits. I think he's getting uncomfortable, and that's causing him to get up. We started doing all his sit-stays on a piece of that rubberized stuff you use to line shelves, and voila! no more trouble!

After decades of training horses, I have a strong grounding in the CONCEPTS, but what we ask of dogs is very different from what we ask of horses, and while there are similarities, there are also BIG differences in how horse and dog brains work. I definitely couldn't have gotten Kodi where he is now without LOTS of help!

Incidentally, I had another one of those "light bulb" moments this morning. At our APDT level 3 Rally "training party" yesterday afternoon, one of the signs was one I haven't done with Kodi at all, the "drop on recall". I didn't have a CLUE how to teach it. The trainer (not the one I work with most often, but someone who is also very good) helped me just get the start of it, by placing a bar on the ground, calling him, having him down in front of the bar, then calling him to me. (keeping the whole thing over a VERY short distance)

When we got home, I went to feed him his supper. Our routine is that he must down while I put his dish on the floor, and then release him. That made me think, could I use this behavior that he knows so well, and morph it into the "drop on recall"? So this morning, I asked him to sit on the other side of the kitchen, and while holding his food dish, I called him toward me then asked for the down. He dropped like a rock! I put the bowl down, then called him to me again. I think it was a GREAT start toward a solid "drop on recall" because in THAT context, he knew the pieces. I'll just have to solidify the whole string, then put it on cue and generalize it. It was pretty cool, especially in the context of these conversations we've been having on the forum!

Thinking is fun!


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## CarolWCamelo (Feb 15, 2012)

krandall said:


> [snip]
> 
> When we got home, I went to feed him his supper. Our routine is that he must down while I put his dish on the floor, and then release him. That made me think, could I use this behavior that he knows so well, and morph it into the "drop on recall"? So this morning, I asked him to sit on the other side of the kitchen, and while holding his food dish, I called him toward me then asked for the down. He dropped like a rock! I put the bowl down, then called him to me again. I think it was a GREAT start toward a solid "drop on recall" because in THAT context, he knew the pieces. I'll just have to solidify the whole string, then put it on cue and generalize it. It was pretty cool, especially in the context of these conversations we've been having on the forum!
> 
> Thinking is fun!


Very creative thinking, Karen. By now, I'd expect that of you!

Keep us posted on how this goes!

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:43:12 (PST)


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## Atticus (May 17, 2011)

Nice example Karen! thinking is fun for you and Kodi. I always feel the fun is in the teaching,once you get it you have joy seeing him do it of course' but the fun, the connection of trying to get your dog to understand what you want is over till the next challenge of course. As dogs want to do what we want basically (lucky us) it is all about trying to make it clear what the heck it is we want.


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## CarolWCamelo (Feb 15, 2012)

Atticus said:


> Nice example Karen! thinking is fun for you and Kodi. I always feel the fun is in the teaching,once you get it you have joy seeing him do it of course' but the fun, the connection of trying to get your dog to understand what you want is over till the next challenge of course. As dogs want to do what we want basically (lucky us) it is all about trying to make it clear what the heck it is we want.


Jody - to me, there's something very special about the joy of making this kind of connection with our dogs. I think the dogs love it when they see and comprehend that they've made a connection with us. And of course, we feel the same way.

One thing I also like to do is to teach my dogs that THEY may make requests of me, and that I will go along with their requests if that seems to me a reasonable thing to do.

Which puts a HUGE spanner into the idea that we have to be "Alpha." That Alpha business has been thoroughly debunked anyway.

Leadership is a topic I want to post on someday; too complex for here and now. But I do think the notion of "Leadership" is a crock, too. I personally believe we are NOT our dogs' leaders. No. We are their Caretakers - solely responsible for our dogs' well-beings. Why gloss over that?

Eeek! I wasn't going to cover that topic right now! Too much else to do; haha!

Connection with our dogs seems to me the ultimate in joy!

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 18:43:21 (PST)


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## StarrLhasa (Jun 6, 2010)

CarolWCamelo said:


> I'm paranoid about clicking on links, and you didn't post author and title, so I'm not clicking on it! Too many weird viruses going around, though my anti-virus SHOULD catch viruses, it may not always.
> 
> So maybe post author and title?


I haven't read the rest of this thread, but here is the information you are requesting, Carol:

101 Dog Tricks: Step by Step Activities to Engage, Challenge, and Bond with Your Dog [Paperback]
Kyra Sundance (Author), Chalcy (author)

Available on Amazon.com for $11.18


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## CarolWCamelo (Feb 15, 2012)

StarrLhasa said:


> I haven't read the rest of this thread, but here is the information you are requesting, Carol:
> 
> 101 Dog Tricks: Step by Step Activities to Engage, Challenge, and Bond with Your Dog [Paperback]
> Kyra Sundance (Author), Chalcy (author)
> ...


Thanks, Starr! Saving the information!

There's also a book called Quick Clicks; can't remember the authors - there are two, but it should also be available on Amazon, and also on Dogwise. It teaches tricks using the clicker.

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 20:03:50 (PST)


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

He's got it! That one time with the food dish, and Kodi has been doing the drop on recall, on cue, numerous times today, in several rooms in the house. I think he really understands!

A few times he came further than I wanted after I cued him to drop, so I started clicking when he went down as soon as I said the word, treating, then going back to call him the rest of the way. I can't believe how fast he's learned this one. (particularly considering that it took us NINE MONTHS to get a reliable "stand" on cue!


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## CarolWCamelo (Feb 15, 2012)

*Back-chaining*



krandall said:


> He's got it! That one time with the food dish, and Kodi has been doing the drop on recall, on cue, numerous times today, in several rooms in the house. I think he really understands!
> 
> A few times he came further than I wanted after I cued him to drop, so I started clicking when he went down as soon as I said the word, treating, then going back to call him the rest of the way. I can't believe how fast he's learned this one. (particularly considering that it took us NINE MONTHS to get a reliable "stand" on cue!


WOW, Karen! That is fabulous!

You've begun the very useful technique of splitting a behavior down into its various parts.

There's also a useful technique called back-chaining. I can't seem to hang onto details right now; too many other things going on in my mind, but I'll at least explain what it is.

What you do is, teach the very last bit of the behavior FIRST. Then the next-to-last. Then you chain them together, so you get next-to-last, followed by last.

Then you teach the previous part of the behavior - such as doing the down just behind the bar. (Oh, maybe thet IS the next-to-last). So the part before that.

The reason for back-chaining is that it can be a lot easier for the dog to learn that way; learning a bit at a time, and once the first bit is learned, the dog has the whole thing, because it's been back-chained, and the rest of the behavior has become familiar and easy to do.

If you follow me. I'm sure others could explain this better than I just have! It's probably explained on Karen Pryor's web site

http://www.clickertraining.com

Have fun! Huge congratulations on your success with Kodi!

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 20:10:57 (PST)


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Hi Carol, we've used back-chaining for other things... particularly for learning the contact obstacles for agility. But thanks for reminding me of another useful tool. If he continues to come too far before he drops, that might be a useful way of reminding him to drop right when I tell him to!


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

Karen,
you are awe inspiring.

The only two additional tricks I want Ollie to learn is to sneeze on command, and to cover his eyes (like he's sleepy or scared).


I'll most likely hafta to capture both behaviors, but it's so specific, and infrequent, I'm at a bit of a loss.

thx for the inspiration
Jackie


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## Atticus (May 17, 2011)

goole it!!! Can you believe what you can google??? I never taught sneeze,i can't do that how can they? You can capture if you get it enough . For nose touch you can use a bit of scotch tape or even a post it and click as they swipe at it, a trained dog like yours would get that pretty quick. I don't know if you think that is mean, my dog Scout only had the post it on 3times,and he got stuff stuck in his coat all the time so I was ok with it. I don't usually use anything like that but it was the only way I knew.Have you ever seen Emily Larlham (i think that's how you spell it. She is a fablous trainer (clicker) and has tons of video go to kikopup or Dogmantics she is well worth it if you don't know her has tons of training video on youtube.


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## Atticus (May 17, 2011)

Great Karen Kodi has the "training game" brain now as he knows you are trying to teach him something! With advanced dogs they learn so much faster as their brains are engaged in a different way. At least this is my experience!


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

ollie is learning a new trick, I thought maybe someone else might find it entertaining or helpful.

He knows left and right. well, the trick is you put out your right hand and shakes with the matching paw, the paw in front of your hand. what's cool, when you ask him to shake 3-4 times, in a row, left left, right, left. 

I knew he was hand specific at school, he will only wave hi, if you use the hand signal with the left hand. i didn't notice till other adults would try to use the hand signal and he wouldn't do it unless you used your left hand.

anyway, I taught this by first taping the paw I wanted him to shake with.

If you used the wrong paw, I'd cover the wrong paw with one hand, and use the hand signal with the other hand. He had to shake with his free paw.

then I would just hold out the hand in front of the paw so my rigiht, his left.

eventually I'd like to work on the placement of my hand cue so if it was in the middle of his body, but my right hand he'd still shake with his left paw.


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## Charleysmom (Dec 6, 2011)

sprorchid said:


> Ollie is very food motivated. ok, he's a pig in dog's clothing.
> tricks:
> down
> sit
> ...


I'd like to know how you taught him to count? I've been trying to get Charley to do a double rollover but no success so far. What is the jump 360? Charley loves to learn and knows so many things on cue. I need more to teach him. The wave? That would be fun too.


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## Charleysmom (Dec 6, 2011)

My breeder suggested the book "The Focused Puppy" and it is excellent for teaching your pup the basics in incremental steps. From the start (five months ago) Charley and I do training sessions at least twice a day. He gets all his food through training and earning it. Could be something simple like place, stay, wait and then release. he's got a fabulous wait by the way. When he's hungry he's very motivated and meal time has become our special time for training/play/fun and rewards. Teh training and play transfers nicely throughout the day as well. The last month or so he's learned that "applause" means he's done something exceptionally well. Started with hi-five. Then applause with rollover. And now, I'm teaching him to catch fly balls. He catches his kibble and just loves it. We also use a small soft ball for fly balls. Eventually I want him to be able to run and catch a fly ball but one step at a time. He's just 8 months old but he does over 35 things on cue. Okay so I'm bragging a bit. Is that okay? He's just such a great little puppy and we've worked so much over the past 5 months. I think consistency is key.


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

totally ok to brag 

double roll over: teach him consecutive rollovers. then link them with it's own unique hand signal.

count and wave: needs to know how to shake first for either one of these.

count: instead of your open hand you have a closed fist, thumb up. when he goes to shake you tap under his paw with your closed fist. tap 2-3 times first then increase the number of times he taps your fist. then add the 'stop' cue with your other hand. whatever hand cue you want to use. I just use my finger in a parallel line to the floor.

wave: from a shake you delay the shake by not putting your hand so close to his paw. Then raise your hand in the air little by little, as he matches your hand in the air with the height of his paw. then for the finish, he should 'wave' back and hold his paw in the air as long your your hand up in the air, palm out facing him.

hope that helps. when teaching a new trick always reinforce 1:1 for every good attempt (even if it's just a lick on the treat).


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

my all time favorite trick he has, which I've been meaning to expand upon, I don't have a name for.

I work with moderate to severely delayed children with autism. and a proven method of teaching this population, is called discrete trials.

for a child it goes something like: you want to teach them the photo or illustration of 'dog'. usually with a field of 4, but you might start with just 2 pics. you can say 'give me the dog' and the child hands you the pic of the dog. if they get it wrong, you might give a positional cue so they can experience success. then you would move the 'dog' picture to a different spot on the table and ask the same question again.

or you can hold up two pics and ask the student, 'touch the dog'. and they touch it you move both pics in the air to different locations and ask the same question again. then to add difficulty you add more pics to the array.


ollie knows the touch command. so I ask the class, or whomever I'm showing the trick to to pick which picture we're gonna teach ollie.

Then I only hold up the target pic, say 'fish'. and I say 'touch fish'. and each time he gets it right, I move the pic to a new location in the air, and ask again 'touch the fish'. after about 4 times, I add another pic and ask again. somehow he can recognize and track the 'fish' photo and is 80-90% correct most of the time.

it's pretty cool. I've been mean to expand to an array of 4, but i need to get stand or something, as it would take too long for me to manipulate 4 pics in my hand.

maybe I'll do a vid to demo it.


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## lise (Sep 1, 2006)

I taught "around" which I assume is the same as spin by accident yesterday. Twice he was doing it and now no word, just the hand signal (with a treat in hand) I was trying to get him to place for walking, which is a never ending job, and made the movement with treat in hand to come around to my side! Oh well! Ted does "down" quite well although mostly by me saying down and dropping my hand to the floor. Sit he does by hand signal or the word. He also does "leave it" and "bring it" and "get it". We have been practising off leash the past week and he follows me anywhere...again because he knows I have a treat in hand! I find the stand was easy as I hold the treat at his standing level and say "stand" He can hold it for a few seconds.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Charleysmom said:


> He's just 8 months old but he does over 35 things on cue. Okay so I'm bragging a bit. Is that okay? He's just such a great little puppy and we've worked so much over the past 5 months. I think consistency is key.


Of COURSE he's a great puppy, and you CERTAINLY can "brag!!!" I love hearing about people working with their dogs!:whoo:


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

sprorchid said:


> my all time favorite trick he has, which I've been meaning to expand upon, I don't have a name for.
> 
> I work with moderate to severely delayed children with autism. and a proven method of teaching this population, is called discrete trials.
> 
> ...


VERY cool!!!


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## Charleysmom (Dec 6, 2011)

sprorchid said:


> totally ok to brag
> 
> double roll over: teach him consecutive rollovers. then link them with it's own unique hand signal.
> 
> ...


thanks. regarding the double rollover. I can get Charley to do two rollovers (he loves them I think because I applaud!!) but he stands up in between. I'd like to get him to just keep rolling. any suggestions? 
he does know shake so we'll work on the wave.
I'm happy to hear bragging is okay. thanks.


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

double roll:

roll then 'down' command (to keep him from popping up), then roll again. once he gets the sequence correct, you can string them together and then give it it's own hand signal.

any time you want to link more than one existing command together, you first teach him the sequence, then after he learns the sequence, you assign a hand signal. after the hand signal you can add a word.

I don't teach ollie words, even though i do say a command, b/c I don't want the students to be shouting out random commands to him. as luck as it, ollie won't work for free, so it never happens at school. if he doesn't smell food on the person, he won't do a trick. it's pretty funny.


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## Anne Streeter (Apr 14, 2009)

Maybe it is because we live in Montana but we think that "bang" is really cute!
With Luci in a "down" we just point a finger at her and say "bang" and she rolls over on her side and looks at us as if to say "You wouldn't really would you?"


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

anybody taught 'sneeze' or 'cover the eyes' when they put a paw or two over their eyes? I'm sure it'll be a 'capture' method, but just wondering if anyone had success.


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

So, some of you may know that Ollie is a certified therapy dog with TDI and works with me at school (I'm a speech therapist) once a week.

today was his day to work. two of his academic tricks is 'discrete trials' and counting (which can look like addition, subtraction, multiplication or division).

They are reconfiguring the reading specialists in my school district, so there were 2 on their way out (end of the school day) and they see me, and Ollie by the teacher mail boxes. I usually explain to ppl that he's a certified therapy dog, I don't want him to think he's just roving around.

and so one of the reading specialists says she used to have one. and I mention he has some academic skills. in doubt the other RS says, like what?
I respond with, welll, he can discriminate b/t sight words and he knows his math facts up to 20 :biggrin1:.

the 2nd RS leans over and says, 'your kidding right?' and I'm like nope.

I look around and rip a piece of paper in two. ask them for two sight words and write them down.

mind you it's 3pm and Ollie is sleeping on the floor by my feet he's so tired.

anyway, I demonstrate with 'see' and 'the' (they picked 'the' to teach him). Ollie was so annoyed he had to work, he not only touched 'the' with his nose, he would chew on the paper every time :suspicious:.

Then I asked for a math fact that is under 20. 5+2. so Ollie, when he knows I don't have treats on me, he growls every time his paw his my fist. as if to say 'screw you'. that and he intentionally stops counting 1/2 way thru. I do a chest bump to kick start him.

he did a couple of math facts, and the reading specialists were literally :jaw:.

speechless. pretty cool.

imagine if they saw him first thing in the morning, he'd kill!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Yay, Ollie!:whoo:


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

So right before my christmas vacation (2 wks), I realized that Ollie was doing a behavior, that looks just like play dead. some times when I try to tweeze his ear hair, or trim his nails, he rolls on his back, and puts is paws in the air and doesn't move. so over vacation I've finally taught him to play dead  started with just giving him a treat when he was already on is back, being a butthead. then, I would roll him on his back and give him a treat. then I touch him on his neck lightly and he'd roll on his back and freeze. sometimes it wasn't a good roll (half way), or he'd be on his side, so I'd reposition him then give him a treat. Then I added a hand signal. then I started to vary the tricks I'd ask him, you a shake, a roll over, then a play dead. I thought I'd never figure out how to show him what I wanted, now he's got a new trick. happy new yr everyone!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Yay!!! Now we want video!!! (actually, I'd LOVE to see video of his work discriminating between cards too!)


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

I tried this afternoon to get some vid for you from my phone (video camera is at work), but I need two hands, and I can't hold the phone far enough back for you to get a full shot. plus Ollie has a dark face, so he just look like a big black mop!

plus I'm illin' and have lost my voice for the most part... I'll try it first thing I get back to work. he's better at school, b/c he knows he's working 

Karen - any particular picture - noun or verb you want him to learn?


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## riverlogic (Mar 1, 2012)

lol. Fun thread. 
Bucky knows sit, stay, lay down, roll over, shake a paw and high five, and he dances. We're still working on loose leash, which he's just not liking one bit. lol. We had to take a few steps back recently when he'd roll over when asked to lay down. 
We took an obedience class last year, which was a lot of fun and great socialization. He already knew most of the tricks and would do the entire repertoire for any command. lol. We had a lot of resetting before he stopped doing that. 
Fia is working on lead training, stacking and free stacking, but since she's still baby puppy, we're taking it slow and letting her have some fun.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

sprorchid said:


> I tried this afternoon to get some vid for you from my phone (video camera is at work), but I need two hands, and I can't hold the phone far enough back for you to get a full shot. plus Ollie has a dark face, so he just look like a big black mop!
> 
> plus I'm illin' and have lost my voice for the most part... I'll try it first thing I get back to work. he's better at school, b/c he knows he's working
> 
> Karen - any particular picture - noun or verb you want him to learn?


Nope! You can pick... i just want to see it. I think he's amazing!!!


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## Moca (Jan 7, 2013)

*roll over*



ClaireVoyant said:


> Isabella knows all the standard tricks, except "roll over" and both my husband and I are at a loss how to teach her that one. When we try to lay her over, she ducks her head and refuses to budge . . .as though she's positioning herself for a reprimand. No idea where this is coming from . . .but clearly demonstrating roll over in this manner isn't working. Anyone have an idea?


I know this was posted some time ago. But, I found "roll over" to be one of the easier tricks to teach my pup. I find that my dog responds really well to demonstration. I rolled over on the floor a few times (sounds silly, I know) while repeating the words "roll over." She's good at mimicking what I do (I don't know if this is unique to her). So, I would reward it when she did, and she caught on very quickly. I've just kind of gone by the seat of my pants with her training, as this is my first time. I'm not sure if the havanese are just easy to train, or if she's just really smart. She's 8 months now. I've been able to teach her:

-roll over
-sit
-lay down
-give me ten
-"hello" (my version of shake)
-turn (turns around in circles)
-through (jumps through hoop or my arms making a hoop shape)
-paws (so cute -- she stands up on her back legs and waves her paws in front of her face)
-where's your ball? (she'll find her ball for me)
-where's mugsy? (she'll find her brother (my cat))

She also rings bells to let me know she has to go outside.

I feel she could learn much more, but I'm at a loss right now of what else to teach her. Is there a learning window of opportunity. Like an age they hit where it's much harder to learn new tricks?


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## lise (Sep 1, 2006)

I know when we took class they said to put your dog in a down and have him follow a treat by moving it to its shoulder thus forcing him/her to start the roll. Ted didn't go for it. I guess I'll spend the day rolling around my bedroom carpet!


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

does he ever give you belly? if he does you can start there, it's called the capture method, you wait till it happens naturally then you reward it. to finish the trick I'd roll him over, then praise and treat.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Moca said:


> I feel she could learn much more, but I'm at a loss right now of what else to teach her. Is there a learning window of opportunity. Like an age they hit where it's much harder to learn new tricks?


Oh, she has YEARS to go before she'll start slowing down on what she can learn... like 10 or more year, anyway!

There are lots of books on trick training, or you can also find a lot on YouTube. Many training centers also have trick training classes.

Don't forget to train the basics too. They are the MOST important in terms of just living with your dog as a family member, and in terms of safety. You want to make sure she has a good, reliable recall, a solid stay, and a "go to place" (people call this a lot of different things, but its a specific place she will go to, and stay, on command to keep her out from under foot when you are cooking, carrying heavy objects, etc.

Once she has a good recall and a quick, reliable "down", you can start working on what Kodi is working on right now (among many other things!!!) which is a "drop on recall" For this, once you call, and the dog starts toward you, at any point you shown be able to give a down signal, and have the dog drop in his tracks. This is another GREAT safety tool. Fo instance, say your dog crosses a street without you. You call her back, and like a good dog, she immediately turns to respond. But at that instant, you see a car turning the corner. If you can drop her in her tracks, you can keep her from getting hit by the car! (hopefully, not a situation you will ever be in, but better safe than sorry!!!)


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

lise said:


> I know when we took class they said to put your dog in a down and have him follow a treat by moving it to its shoulder thus forcing him/her to start the roll. Ted didn't go for it. I guess I'll spend the day rolling around my bedroom carpet!


I've been told that for some dogs, particularly small dogs, rolling on their back is very hard for them to do emotionally, because it puts them in such a defenseless posture. I was never successful teaching Kodi to roll using luring. He is good at "capture" learning with a clicker, and since he DOES roll spontaneously, I'm sure, if I cared enough, I could capture the behavior and put it on cue. But we've had so many other things to work on, this one hasn't come to the top of the pile.:biggrin1: But, for those dogs reluctant to roll using the luring method you described, (and most won't learn by watching a human roll) capture can be a very powerful tool!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

sprorchid said:


> does he ever give you belly? if he does you can start there, it's called the capture method, you wait till it happens naturally then you reward it. to finish the trick I'd roll him over, then praise and treat.


Oops! Should have read your message first!  Just said the same thing with less words. ...Just like a good SLP!:biggrin1:


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

yeah, Ollie had a hard time with roll over too. but he rolls over now, like a log roll, just the video posted in this thread. it's super cute. I packed my video recorder and tripod for home, hopefully I'll remember to take it with me.


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## lise (Sep 1, 2006)

Never thought of trying it belly up. He gives that constantly so ill try that!


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

Ok, not his best session, he was being a bit of a sass, but you get the idea. This clip has play dead, discrete trials (he learns 'flute'), hi, um, and some free tricks I didn't ask him to do:


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

sprorchid said:


> Ok, not his best session, he was being a bit of a sass, but you get the idea. This clip has play dead, discrete trials (he learns 'flute'), hi, um, and some free tricks I didn't ask him to do:


He is a riot! He talks back! ound:

Really fun seeing him work for you too!

What ever happened with his eye? I know you were concerned at one point that he might lose it, but then I don't ever remember hearing the outcome. Certainly he sees plenty well out of his good eye!


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

he has both his eyes, but can only see out of his good eye, and I didn't pull his bangs back, before starting, that's why I reposition the photo cards, b/c a couple of times the correct card was entirely in front of his bad eye. 

You can see, he still isn't sure about play dead, and when he does it, it's a little theatrical. 

did you like his hello wave? yeah, told you he was a bit of a punk in this session.

Ollie does not lack personality. sometimes if he wants to work for treats (only gets them for tricks), he will walk up to me (while I'm in bed, watching TV, surfing the net), and come really close and just stares at me (the treat bag is out of sight). if he wants something that is in view, he'll look at me, then look at the thing he wants, and back and forth. 

Counting is his least favorite trick, he tends to growl to let me know his disdain for the trick. I'll have to figure out a better angle so you can see his face better.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

sprorchid said:


> he has both his eyes, but can only see out of his good eye, and I didn't pull his bangs back, before starting, that's why I reposition the photo cards, b/c a couple of times the correct card was entirely in front of his bad eye.
> 
> You can see, he still isn't sure about play dead, and when he does it, it's a little theatrical.
> 
> did you like his hello wave? yeah, told you he was a bit of a punk in this session.


I think he's to die for cute!!!!


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

Thanks Karen, that's very sweet of you to say.


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## lise (Sep 1, 2006)

Ted has an attitude just like Ollie's ! Ted comes right over to me on the couch and growls his displeasure as soon as I start up with my IPad. I think he considers that all my time should be spent with him! Most of it is, of course right up to showers and bathroom time , but never enough for Mr Ted! Lol


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## Dory (Jan 4, 2012)

Rolling over was one of the first things I taught Q. It's so cute to watch. He's definitely a belly up boy too lol. I get him to roll over from the down command though instead of him on his back. First it's down, good boy, then "over". I do a hand signal by using my index finger and making a circle with it in front of him. If his butt is in the air like he's playing, forget it, he won't do it.


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## Chica'sMom (Sep 5, 2012)

Roll over is not hard to teach. We also start from down position. Crawl is easy to teach from down position also. There are TONS of videos on YouTube that demonstrate how to teach various tricks. Here is Chica at 16 weeks showing off her bag of tricks.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Cute!


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## sandypaws (Aug 8, 2012)

Good job, Chica.


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

I'm gonna have Ollie watch chica's vid, so he can see how it's supposed to be done, lol.


holy crap she's cute!!


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## lise (Sep 1, 2006)

sprorchid said:


> I'm gonna have Ollie watch chica's vid, so he can see how it's supposed to be done, lol.
> 
> holy crap she's cute!!


Lmao!


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

it's funny b/c if I am watching a dog vid on my laptop he will watch it.

progress on play dead: he's having difficulty modulating his body torque on different surfaces. translation: he tends to roll over one or two times on hardwood floors or low pile carpeting, before he figures out what he did wrong. that and he's still learning to hold still for the 'play dead' effect. he's a little twitchy... still cute though.


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## Atticus (May 17, 2011)

AWWWWW nice job with Chica, how old is she now? Very cute pup,love the bell!


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

play dead: Ollie has learned to play dead. he still messes up on different surfaces but is quick to correct himself. also the hand signal is changing. at first my hand was in the shape of a gun, and I had to touch him with my finger to get him to roll over and play dead.
Now I can point my finger at him (in the shape of a gun) say bang bang, and he does the trick about 1/2 the time.

we've also been working on sorting out just one bark. and one growl, two separate hand signals. I am favoring growl more, b/c he tends to bark, both on accident and b/c he thinks it'll pay.


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

Hey all,
some of you asked to see Ollie in action at work. So our 5th graders do weekly video announcements for the whole school, and Ollie was part of Autism awareness week, so there are some clips of him working. the first is a special day class, the second short clip is a K class, and yes, that's my voice talking in the clips of the classroom... skip to 4:07:


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

sprorchid said:


> Hey all,
> some of you asked to see Ollie in action at work. So our 5th graders do weekly video announcements for the whole school, and Ollie was part of Autism awareness week, so there are some clips of him working. the first is a special day class, the second short clip is a K class, and yes, that's my voice talking in the clips of the classroom... skip to 4:07:
> 
> Dragon TV April 29 - YouTube


I had to watch the whole thing. The kids did a great job, and Ollie is ADORABLE!!! Every school should have a therapy dog like him! (and a creative SLP like you!)


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## Atticus (May 17, 2011)

That was great! I had only thought of having a therapy dog that kids read to,using him for language activities like that is brilliant! Wow amazing tongue action at the start! Nice job!


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

In Ollie's defense, right before we got video taped for the news, I found him being pulled by on his leash by 2 third grade girls. he wouldn't budge, b/c I told him to stay and I was returning to the classroom that I had left him in (mtg for me). I guess the girls begged the teacher to take Ollie to recess, and Ollie was waiting for me so he was about 10 feet from the classroom door, out on the playground and the girls were pulling pretty hard on his leash.

I let the teacher know my thoughts, if had it been another dog, they could have broken the neck. anyway is was hot that day, and he had been fighting the two girls, so I scooped him up and plopped him on that desk, for the video, lol.

good boy! gosh he totally knows his way around the school campus.


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## Kathie (Jul 31, 2008)

That was so cute! Ollie is a great therapy dog and you really have trained him well!


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## sandypaws (Aug 8, 2012)

I really enjoyed your video. The kids did a fantastic job with their "news report" as did Ollie with his "desk sitting". Thanks for sharing.


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

Ok, I think Ollie pop is close to mastering 'play dead'.

I'm doing summer school with him, and he comes and works straight thru, going to 8 classrooms. anyway, some of the grown ups want to learn some of his hand signals and call tricks. unfortunately, Ollie knows more about training than these humans. you should see him work them, lol.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

I've seen Kodi "work" my guys, so I can just imagine!:laugh:


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