Tricks!

[chene]

Thought this fit a little better here than in the General Discussion, but I can post it there instead if necessary.

I've been getting a little more into trick training with Aed, but I find the majority of trick suggestions I find online to be kind of boring. Sure, teaching a dog to lift a hind leg or blow bubbles presents a fun training challenge, but it isn't much to look at. So I thought I'd see what ideas you lovely folks have, either things you've trained or seen somewhere. I'm really a fan of "practical" tricks, like getting a kleenex when you "sneeze" or fetching a beer from the fridge or stuff like that, but I like pretty much anything that's more interesting than a dog pretending to pee (or whatever that kind leg thing is supposed to be).

The other thing was I wondered if anyone was interested in making a sort of game between members, choosing a trick of the week or month or something and everyone goes away and works on it and comes back at the end of the week and posts an update or a picture or a video of learning it. It would be interesting to all be learning the same trick at the same time, so we'd have someone to bounce issues and ideas off of. Just an idea though, I'm not sure if anyone else would be into it.

[kingfisher7151]

Yes!!! This is my thread!! I'll have to post videos/pictures in the morning (unless I get too excited).

 

On the trick training page on facebook they sometimes do "Flash Tricks" where they post the challenge and you have one hour to go train it. I really like them! Even if I do them out of time or don't even love the trick, it's a fun way to test my training abilities. I'd be game for some training challenges!

 

I also like practical tricks. Keeper opens and closes doors, cabinets, and some drawers, he brings the remote, he hands me his leash if I drop it, he's starting to hand me dropped objects in general, starting to put his toys away, he'll eventually help with the laundry, and a few other things I can't think of. I do like the really fine tuned behaviors though. I love the leg lift trick.

 

I also enjoy trick training from a conditioning standpoint. Hes learned sit pretty and tall, and we're starting to make progress on the pretty - tall - pretty sequence. We also do a lot of perch work. Front feet on a stool, sit and stand really works his butt. Then 4 feet on the stool, front feet off forward, pull them back up with his core, left and right on the stool, and other detailed conditioning stuff. I do some wobble board stuff. 2o2o on the board, pretty, spins, 4 feet on, etc.

 

I'm going to try to make a list of his trained behaviors/tricks. Some are super basic, but I'm kind of going kind of in chronological order and many are building blocks. Not all are tricks, but everything was trained and it wouldn't be fair not to mention the little steps.

 

Sit

Stand

Down

Back Up

Back up onto objects and up stairs

Roll Over

Roll other way

Left

Right

Sit pretty

Tall

Bow

Be shy

Wave

Handstand on a wall

Lift and hold all 4 feet on a word rather than a physical cue (still working on hind)

Lift 2 legs at a time (we can't do this one unsupported yet.)

Limp on front right

Limp on front left

Skip (in progress)

Front feet on object

All feet on object

Pivot work (moving back feet around object, precursor to heel work positions.)

2o2o

Heel (in motion)

Side (in motion)

Block

Front

Cross

Look (eye contact)

Finish (around to the right to a heel)

Peek (come from behind between my legs. Kind of like cop cop but without the feet. I think cop cop is stupid.)

Figure 8s around my legs

Weaving while walking

Orbit (back around me in a circle)

Send to a perch or object

Send to a new perch or object from another perch or object

Skateboard (he still tries to eat it a little bit)

Jump in my arms

Jump in my arms off off of ledges, benches, etc. from longer distances (8-10 ft)

Hug (first my arm, then an object like a teddy bear)

Touch me (became paw alert for anxiety)

Turn the lights on and off

Show me your teeth

Speak

Whisper

Take an object

Hold an object (working on pretty with the object. I can just taste the photo shoots.)

Who's your pal (put paw around another dog)

Dig/Scratch

Dance (dumbest trick ever, he tap dances with his back feet. I love it.)

Chin (lay head on lap)

Head down

Go around an object

Bang (from a sit pretty, very dramatic...)

Pull (he hands me a rope or similar object and pulls steadily to help me out of a chair. Sounds like tug, but much more controlled.)

Nose to hand

Nose to object (working on distance)

Crawl

Very early steps to a rebound

Moving forward and backward in a tall position (only if in control, I wouldn't do this if it put excessive strain on their bodies. Core strength first!)

Whoa (ok, this one is the dumbest. A local trainer challenged me, he wanted to see a dog "drag its ass" at the word whoa since we ride reiners. I accepted the challenge. So he scoots his butt. Not like full on butt scratching, but clear enough.)

Put toys away

Bring (remote is on cue, otherwise he brings what I point to.)

 

I think there are a few more, but they must not be that important. I really like tricks....

 

ETA: Forgot about the back stall.

[gcv-border]

Wow ^^^^ I'm really impressed. I am not sure I would remember the commands for all those tricks.

 

I *might* be interested in a challenge-type of thread, if only to motivate myself to spend a bit more time with my dogs and challenge their (and my) minds.

 

About 5 years ago, I spent one boring and snowy Christmas/New Year's period teaching Torque the "Bang" command. That is always a crowd-pleaser.

 

We don't have a lot of tricks, but one that we worked pretty hard on (but over a period of 14-16 months since I didn't want to stress him out about it) was to train him to put the rings on the stick. I bought a plastic child's toy with 5 rings of ascending size that get stacked on a ring. [i only have 4 that I work with because the smallest one kept getting caught on his lower jaw. I threw it away.] I put the largest one on the floor, point to it and he picks it up and puts it on the stick. Then the next size ring, and so on.

 

The purpose for teaching him that trick was to get him to control his behaviors. I am not the greatest trick trainer so all of his behaviors were pretty much done at full speed - which can make for a sloppy performance. I wanted him to slow down and think. He was really good about picking up a ring, but then he wanted to throw it at me. I believe he thought it was a game of fetch. It took the longest time to get him to concentrate enough to hold it in his mouth and carefully place it on the stick.

 

I actually like the 'stupid' pet tricks.

[waffles]

I've taught most of the same things Kingfisher posted. Youtube is good for searching for fun tricks. Kikopup does some innovative tricks and there was a girl from Poland I used to follow who did some really different tricks with her BC. Most of the tricks I like to teach are not practical, they're just fun. Practical for me is recall, place, wait, stay, down (in motion and at a distance).

 

Some of the fun ones that are not practical that I like to ask for still:

 

Roll up in a blanket

Flip (tight backward circles around my feet)

Ask for each leg (right-holds right paw up high, left-holds left high, back leg, etc)

Put toys away in bin

Cross paws

Back (walk backwards)

Box (4 paws in the smallest box like object I can find)

Pray (paws draped on my arm or leg and his head goes underneath)

 

Once you have taught a lot of these tricks you can start making up your own since they're all based on a lot of the same behaviors chained together. If I owned a suitcase, I would like to teach getting into one and closing the lid. It always looks so cute in videos.

[Sekah]

One of my favourite quotes about dog training is by Silvia Trkman -- "The least important part of trick training is training a trick." (http://silvia.trkman.net/tricks.htm) The conditioning, bonding, learning, self control, etc. is all much more important than having a dog that can hike a rear leg on cue. The tricks make up foundation behaviours for practical aspects of day to day living too. I can't get enough of them.

 

I'd participate in any sort of trick training thread you held, I would think.

 

Tricks that I find dogs really enjoy (and therefore are pretty valuable) are things like spinning, jumping up into the air or onto things, pawing targets, etc. Tricks that people seem to really enjoy for the wow factor are things like offering paw, hugging, cop-cop or your-feet-on-mine, and any sort of jumps (and also funnily enough, I find people are really really impressed by a dog who will hold a stay for a lengthy period of time). My favourite ones are things like retrieving random objects, heeling and snazzy rebounds.

 

These days I'm working on a lot of targeting behaviours at a distance, hugging objects and my other dog and covering her face with her paws while begging.

 

 

Edit: Oh, also forgot we've been working on this one quite a bit too. I find that the accuracy of the behaviour will decrease if I'm not careful. I'd like to be able to use it frequently in public but want it really clean first.

 

[alligande]

What a fun idea, I don't train many tricks what we have been working on is perfecting the tricks we need for his conditioning program. My husband accuses me of turning him into a circus dog as he can now push his peanut ball forward and backwards, lift his back legs on command, stand on his peanut ball, knows front legs back legs depending on which ones I want on the fit bone (or any other object). His sideways walk is coming along nicely, looks more like a dressage horse than a dog now!

His rehab pro likes the dogs to learn how to do the exercise not just have them lured into position, so that is our on going job.

I would love to teach him to jump over my shoulders Sekah, how did you get started.

[TxMom]

I'm in! Although we're still in the spazzy puppy stage... or at least, I hope that's what it is. We'll do our best, but no promises of greatness just yet.

[CptJack]

I do a TON of trick training - I find it fun, the dogs find it fun, and I find it a really bonding experience and really good way to make sure training is always my dogs' favorite game.

 

The ones in our tricks library people find most impressive are:
Being able to carry something from one person to another - this one is also profoundly useful. We use it to send the car keys to each other a LOT, and would use it more if the dog best at it wasn't tiny. Truthfully even being able to send the DOG to each other by name impresses each other.

 

Wave - it's just cute.

 

Walking or spinning on hind legs - again, cute.

 

Jumping up into my arms and rebounds.

 

Bang is definitely a crowd pleaser.

 

Leg weaves is easy and strangely popular.

 

Oh, and 'spread 'em' which really is just standing up against a wall and being 'frisked' - the trick is easy but the delivery makes it funny.

 

As far as what the dogs find fun - spinning, twirling (same thing opposite directions), any kind of targeting and rolling over are all popular.

 

ETA: And Kingfisher reminded me of THE most useful ones me: "Get it" ie: point at a thing and have them bring it to me.

[Sekah]

I would love to teach him to jump over my shoulders Sekah, how did you get started.

Here's a video to get you started. The gif I posted is an arm jump layered with a spin, which is a little different. Get the jumps and the spin separately then add them together.

 

https://youtu.be/uOjvaLWDzuI

 

I love/hate how 'circus dog' seems to be said in a derogatory manner so often by non-trick training folks. How is that undesirable when everyone is having fun?

[gcv-border]

I love/hate how 'circus dog' seems to be said in a derogatory manner so often by non-trick training folks. How is that undesirable when everyone is having fun?

Although I train a few tricks, I could (at this point) be put into the 'non-trick training' group because it is not a primary goal of my training. Having said that, I do believe that trick training (circus dog) is very valuable for engaging the mind (the human and the dog), conditioning a dog and having fun.

 

I like to hear the verbals associated with tricks. I don't know why, but if I can't think of a command to go with a trick, I usually don't train it. For example, I like the 'spread 'em' command suggested by CptJack above. I would never have thought of that.

 

So any help on suggestions for 'commands' to go with the tricks would certainly be appreciated.

[CptJack]

I really like fun verbals, too. I don't come up with them very often, but when I do I'm insufferably smug. "Say HI!" is the cue for wave. It's little but it's adorable, darn it.

 

My husband hates trick training - or used to. For a long time he actually found any training not designed to make the dog easier to live with 'demeaning' to the dog. Over the years he's gradually come around to understanding that what it actually is doing is building communication with the dog. The dogs WANT to learn and it gives me a relationship with them that he doesn't have, so he's climbing on board. He doesn't do any training himself, but he at least understands that the dogs are having FUN.

 

And there's only so much out there that is purely utilitarian/manners related. The dogs still want to play the training game, i'm going to keep coming up with things to train. ...and I need new things to train, because Kylie and Molly in particular I'm hitting a creative brick wall with. I got so bored recently I'm teaching them to play leapfrog with each other.

[kingfisher7151]

I get a shocking amount of "that's so mean" comments. I didn't expect those at all. People seem to think I've held a gun to his head to make him do this stuff.

 

I have pretty boring commands. Most of them are the same as I wrote earlier. But I'm also pretty bad about not using words, or using the same word for multiple things. Get on a stool, jump in my arms, and jump on my back all use "up". "Limp" is for both front feet, it depends on which foot I'm indicating for him to use. It might be a problem if I had a dumber breed, but I have regularly used *completely* wrong commands and he still does whatever it is I meant.

 

I regret the "lift" command for his back left leg, he often confuses it with "left". He also had similar confusing with hearing "bow" as "down", so I've been switching that over to "bravo". That's my only command advice, pick something that won't be easily confused with another word. I also like short words, I can't spit out long (even if comical) phrases.

 

I wish I had two dogs to train! Keeper has a girlfriend, a trick trained vizsla. We're both planning on training a frontal hug and kiss.

[Sekah]

I like to hear the verbals associated with tricks. I don't know why, but if I can't think of a command to go with a trick, I usually don't train it. For example, I like the 'spread 'em' command suggested by CptJack above. I would never have thought of that.

 

So any help on suggestions for 'commands' to go with the tricks would certainly be appreciated.

 

The verbal cue is something I normally don't give much thought. As evidenced by boring-ass cues like "beg" "under" "through" "side legs"... I normally train the trick then worry about giving it a name later. It doesn't matter what you call things -- you can call a sit "hippopotamus" if you want, as long as the dog understands what you mean when you say it (and you can remember it).

 

I've seen people call handstands against the wall "spiderman". I call walking on two rear legs "be people". My friend calls beg "penguin". I call a 4-footed nervous tap dance thing "tappa tappa". Sometimes I use cues that make me laugh like "gimme yo face" or "gimme yo butt" for body handling exercises.

[waffles]

I also train the trick before putting a cue to it. I wait until the trick is pretty much fully done until I come up with a word. I call backwards circles around my feet "flip", don't know what others call it. I call sit pretty "stand" because it is shorter. I say "up" to go from a sit or down directly to a standing position. "Bring" is my go get it and bring it to me command. "Twirl" is my spin command too. I say "where's your face?" to have him cover his face with his paw. Whatever I think I can remember, I will use.

 

I have never had anyone give me grief for trick training. Most people find it hilarious and impressive when he does the simplest tricks or just seeing either dog be off leash. Most never see the more complicated tricks that require props or the ones that took forever to finish.

[TxMom]

No one I know has ever objected to silly tricks -- they all think that stuff is awesome.

 

With varying levels of reliability...

 

Sit

Down
Wait (a short/casual stay)
Stand (in progress)
Flat (down with chin flat on the floor)
Wave

Bang (roll over on side)

Leg weaves -- walking and figure 8 (in progress)
Touch nose to my hand
Spin
Peek (through my legs -- in progress)

Paws up (on my arm or a chair or other surface)

Pray (in progress)

Paw target (in progress)
Crate (go to)

Go to mat

Crawl

[gcv-border]

I've seen people call handstands against the wall "spiderman". I call walking on two rear legs "be people". My friend calls beg "penguin". I call a 4-footed nervous tap dance thing "tappa tappa". Sometimes I use cues that make me laugh like "gimme yo face" or "gimme yo butt" for body handling exercises.

These are neat ideas.

 

I also wait for the behavior to be 'trained' before giving it a verbal cue - but I like the silly/creative names that can be used for different tricks/behaviors. I think it is all part of the package.

[chene]

My favorite verbal is hearing what each different person calls the "go to your crate" command. There are definitely some cute ones out there, but also just the fact that everyone seems to use something different.

Sekah, how did you add in the spin to the jump? It looks like just luring them around as they jump, but jeez...Aed loves to do the jump over my arms trick but adding the spin sounds crazy hard.

Has anyone managed to get the "get me a kleenex when I sneeze" trick down? Because I tried that for ages with Aed and didn't get past "get the kleenex", he refuses to accept that it's actually an object that can be picked up instead of shredded.

[TxMom]

My favorite verbal is hearing what each different person calls the "go to your crate" command. There are definitely some cute ones out there, but also just the fact that everyone seems to use something different.

 

Sekah, how did you add in the spin to the jump? It looks like just luring them around as they jump, but jeez...Aed loves to do the jump over my arms trick but adding the spin sounds crazy hard.

 

Has anyone managed to get the "get me a kleenex when I sneeze" trick down? Because I tried that for ages with Aed and didn't get past "get the kleenex", he refuses to accept that it's actually an object that can be picked up instead of shredded.

 

My favorite I've heard is "hence" for go to crate, as in "get thee hence!" I was tempted, but I'm trying to keep things straightforward for husband and kids. We have enough trouble with "down" vs. "off," for pete's sake. (To his credit, non-dog-person husband grabbed my treat bag and clicker last night and worked on repeatedly coming in the door and clicking before Livi could jump up on him, then did the same thing with the kids playing in the backyard while I was making dinner. He's a fast learner!)

 

I haven't tried kleenex yet, but I read about someone who tried it and wound up with a dog that flings the entire box of kleenex at her head when she sneezes because that happened on one of his early attempts and she laughed at it. That mental image makes me laugh every time.

[CptJack]

Kylie will do the 'get the kleenex' thing, but Kylie doesn't naturally want to use her mouth for play, but DOES pick up things. She tugs some, now that we have Molly around (Spite drive is a thing that works for her) and she's not big on shredding paper. In fact one of her 'self-taught' tricks is to pick up a piece of cardboard and paper and bring it to people to try and 'trade' for a treat. Like it's one of her default behaviors that she uses to ask for something.

 

It is NOT at all on a sneeze cue yet, though.

 

...I often have a billion tricks in progress and just work on whatever's fun at a given time.

(Crate here is 'go to bed').

[alligande]

One of my favorite commands belongs to one of my german agility students, for a sit she says "parken" parking.

Then you have my embarassing mistake, I needed a command for lift on each back leg and thought it would be cute to call them port and starboard (left and right on a boat) only problem is that I trained my port not his, so on the command for port he lifts his starboard leg, now for someone who lived and worked on yachts for 8 years, still freelances and is married to a professional sailor it is rather mortifying! His left leg is hike as it was the second trained, he knows port really well and I just can't come up with a good word that sounds right to replace it.

My crate command is "in your house"

[Root Beer]

I'd be interested in some kind of "trick challenge", but I don't care for the "flash trick" concept (I want to actually train something, not to see what I can do in just one hour), and I would love it if maybe we chose a category and let people choose what will work for them.

 

For instance, I am never going to train my dog to limp. Just won't do it. But I would work on a variation like "skip" or just holding a paw up.

 

I'd be willing to go in if I could adapt whatever we are working on to suit myself and my dog.

[Root Beer]

My favorite verbal is hearing what each different person calls the "go to your crate" command. There are definitely some cute ones out there, but also just the fact that everyone seems to use something different.

 

 

 

We aren't too original on that around here. It's "Go Crate Crate". Or just "Crate Crate".

[Lawgirl]

My favourite trick that my partner taught our dogs is that after they learned the speak command and hand signal, we started using the hand signal with a particular question, so now when we ask "Are you a sheep dog?" our boys respond with a bark, even without the hand signal.

[gcv-border]

One of my favorite commands belongs to one of my german agility students, for a sit she says "parken" parking.

Then you have my embarassing mistake, I needed a command for lift on each back leg and thought it would be cute to call them port and starboard (left and right on a boat) only problem is that I trained my port not his, so on the command for port he lifts his starboard leg, now for someone who lived and worked on yachts for 8 years, still freelances and is married to a professional sailor it is rather mortifying! His left leg is hike as it was the second trained, he knows port really well and I just can't come up with a good word that sounds right to replace it.

My crate command is "in your house"

My crate command it "Kennel Up", and to jump into the car (where there is a crate) is "Load Up".

 

When I was a graduate student, a German researcher was in the next lab. She brought her German Shepherd over, and her heel command was "foos" or "by foos" [can't remember exactly]. So I have adapted 'foos' to mean heel by my right side vs a 'heel' (on my left side). IIRC 'foos' means foot in German. I am too lazy to look up either the meaning or the spelling right now.

[GentleLake]

In German foot is Fuß (plural Füße) or fuss in an Anglicized alphabet, pronounced as you wrote it -- foos (plural foos-eh IIRC).

 

If she was using the preposition "by" she was mixing English and German. I think "by my feet" would be "durch meine Füße."