MustBird Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 Hey all, It has been a while since I have posted anything but I still look around and see what is going on. I had a question I want to teach Tahoe (my pup) How to retrieve things for me like a drink from the fridge. I just thought it would be a cool and funny trick. There was a post a while ago about a dog getting a beer out of the fridge but it did not mention how it was trained and I can't find that post. Any Help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Chris and Tahoe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bc4pack Posted April 8, 2007 Report Share Posted April 8, 2007 Does your pup have any 'retrieve' started? Some BCs like to retrieve,some have no interest whatsoever. If your pup will retrieve, build a good solid retrieve first. If s/he's not terribly motivated, you could cut a slit in a tennis ball and put some GREAT tidbit that s/he loves. Retrieving is easy for those who LOVE to retrieve but for those who don't... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MustBird Posted April 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2007 Does your pup have any 'retrieve' started? Some BCs like to retrieve,some have no interest whatsoever.If your pup will retrieve, build a good solid retrieve first. If s/he's not terribly motivated, you could cut a slit in a tennis ball and put some GREAT tidbit that s/he loves. Retrieving is easy for those who LOVE to retrieve but for those who don't... Sorry on the slow reply, Got sick and went on vacation. She loves to retreve I can usually tell her to get something like Ball or Frisbee and she will get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northof49 Posted April 19, 2007 Report Share Posted April 19, 2007 Hey all, It has been a while since I have posted anything but I still look around and see what is going on. I had a question I want to teach Tahoe (my pup) How to retrieve things for me like a drink from the fridge. I just thought it would be a cool and funny trick. There was a post a while ago about a dog getting a beer out of the fridge but it did not mention how it was trained and I can't find that post. Any Help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Chris and Tahoe Careful what you wish for - that trick usually backfires. Like, the dog prefers to drink the drink himself or there are all sort of things in the fridge that can be used for entertainment purposes while the owner is away. My friend thought this was a cute trick, until she came home and her whole fridge had been emptied and her Border Collie met her at the door with a bag of potatoes in his mouth. THere was stuff on her bed, under the bed, in the bathtub, in the kitchen sink, in the bathroom sink, in the spare room, in the dog crate, on the couch and on the coffee table All in all she ended up throwing out about $80.00 worth of food as she didn't know how long it had been sitting somewhere in the house at room temperature. So I am not saying don't train it - just be careful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MustBird Posted April 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2007 I had thought about her takeing everything out. I am going to train her useing a bar towel around the handle of the fridge door and takeing it off so that she hopefully would not get in when either I do not want her to or I am not home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest WoobiesMom Posted April 25, 2007 Report Share Posted April 25, 2007 I had thought about her takeing everything out. I am going to train her useing a bar towel around the handle of the fridge door and takeing it off so that she hopefully would not get in when either I do not want her to or I am not home. Uh huh..... yeah..... because a BC wouldn't be smart enough to figure out that the thing that the bar towel attaches to is responsible for opening the box that holds all the yummies! LOL Have fun!!! I think the key to training that is target training and teaching her the names for things with target training, then training "take it" to hold something in her mouth, and then combine those two things somehow. Good luck!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo Peep Posted April 25, 2007 Report Share Posted April 25, 2007 Just a suggestion, but putting a red sticker on the beer (if that's all you want her to retrieve) The take it command- Usher just uses that for his dumbbell. Fetch is for a toy. So you could use "beer" or whatever. However, I'd remove the towel when you weren't home or someone maybe helping themselves to some tasty treats that might have been your dinner or maybe bad for them. This is a service dog trick. Yes......you can train them. But you have to supervise- also have the "leave it" control down pat. Put a treat on the floor- let the dog look at it and wave your hand & say leave it- when they do, give them another treat. Keep repeating and 5 minutes or less you got the leave it. The "take it " is a lot harder. All depends on the dog. It really is a cool trick- comes in handy when camping. LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kat's Dogs Posted April 25, 2007 Report Share Posted April 25, 2007 I was going to teach Dazzle this, but decided not to for the obvious reasons already sighted. Even if the towel was removed, I have no doubt that she could still get in... But - I did teach her a similar behavior, just not for the fridge/cabinets. This was how I did it (modified for the trick you want), the important thing was not to teach it all at once: First, make sure she is confident tugging on the towel I will use (play with it as a toy if Tahoe doesn't want to tug at first.). Tugging should have a command. Then attach the towel to the fridge, and hold the towel close to where it is attached and give the tug command. You can quickly fade out your hand so Tahoe is just tugging the cloth without you touching it. Then work on adding distance. First, just sit right there and give the command, rewarding when the fridge is opened. Little by little work so that you can give the command (you will want a different one besides the tug command now - like "beer" or whatever) from a distance and she will go find the fridge and towel on her own then open it. Now you can work on the next step, getting out the drink. This not easy, so I would recommend starting with a toy in the fridge. Don't start with the other command, start training this as a whole new trick. Practice doing the retrieve with the toy first just outside or whatever. Make sure that when you give the command, she goes and gets the toy and brings it all the way back. Also look to see that she doesn't chew and bit hard on her toys when she does this (some dogs do). No put the same toy in the fridge at doggie-level, and leave the door open - give the command and lots of praise for doing it right. Do that (with the toy) for awhile. Once both steps are good, try to put them together. You will probably have to use both commands at first but then could fade the retrieve command. Next, I would make sure that she is comfortable with bringing you a can (start with an empty one ) and then go from there, replacing the toy with this new object for retrieve. Then, if you want, do this with many different fridge objects giving them each different names. For each new object start with just doing the retrieve outside the fridge, then with the fridge open, then the whole thing together. *disclaimer: if this works - it isn't my fault if she eats all the contents in your fridge!! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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