starry777 Posted July 13, 2018 Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 So what have you guys taught to your dogs? Do they know their toys by name? Can they walk on two legs? What do they do? What have you taught them that you're most proud of? With my Corgi, what I'm most proud of, is teaching her to roll her self up in a blanket. It was the hardest thing I had ever taught a dog and I had to teach it in pieces. I had to separately teach her the concepts of lay down on command, hold something in her mouth on command, and roll over on command. And then it was a matter of putting them all together. And then after that I had to teach her how to initiate all the actions on her own without relying on a signal for each thing. Now she can mostly do it independent of me. A close runner up is her trick where she'll put her toy in a box. I give her the toy, point at the box, and she goes and puts it in there. This trick also took quite a bit of work. It took a lot to get her to under the concept of taking an object from a human and delivering it to a specified location--and making sure when she drops it, it actually goes in the box! I also taught her that if I throw the toy somewhere and I point to the box, to go get it and deliver it to the box rather than to me. So she can do the trick two ways Also I didn't even start on this trick until we'd done a lot of work with holding an object and retrieving it, so that also went into the foundation. She's found that she loves retrieving!! She had no natural inclination for it but after I taught it to her, she decided it was fun. So, if I do the retrieve on flat exercise like in the open level of AKC obedience, she rockets out to get the dumbbell when told to do so. She's the same with retrieving over a jump. So cute xD I love to train the eager beavers. Oh yeah!! I also love doing the drop on recall. I love leaving her in a stay and then walking far away and calling her. She comes running fast (well, fast for a corgi xD) and when I say "Down!" she hits the ground. And then I call her again and she comes the rest of the way My goal is to make it so she can run away from me and then respond to a command. It's a lot harder for her to respond to voice commands when she can't see me! (Plus voice commands are just tough for her in general.) She's used to boring holes in my head with her eyes. She needs to get used to not having to be able to see me in order to perform. It's hard to teach her though because even if I physically hold her, so she's facing away with me, she's doing everything she can to crank her head back to see me xDDD Bless her heart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shandula Posted July 13, 2018 Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 The best trick I've taught Heidi was how to paint. The paintings are a little modern for me, but it's pretty funny! Some close runner ups, are when I sneeze she'll bring me a tissue and then throw it out, and she will hold anything in her mouth which makes amazing pictures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starry777 Posted July 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 Yeah it really is useful to have a dog that understands the concept of "hold something when I tell you to." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baderpadordercollie Posted July 13, 2018 Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 I taught my dog to turn pages for me when I play piano. You can tell in this video I didn't have the piece down pat yet which is why I didn't get it all in one take, (I kept messing up,) but she was brilliant. https://youtu.be/ErDmVQBgm1w Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urge to herd Posted July 13, 2018 Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 Gibbs licks his lips when I ask him if he likes ice cream. We're about half-way to him turning his head away from me when I ask if he likes broccoli. And, when I sit down and cross my legs, (right ankle over left knee, so there's a little triangle of space) and say, "Peek-a-boo" he shoves his head right up into that triangle. Both are crowd pleasers. Ruth & Gibbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Elle Posted July 13, 2018 Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 Favorite trick I ever taught one of my dogs was Jester's trick (which I personally think would come in handy today, and I am thinking of teaching it to Digger). I would say, "Jester would you rather be dead or a Republican?", and he would drop to the floor and play dead. (Absolutely no offense intended to the Republicans among us! ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted July 13, 2018 Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 36 minutes ago, D'Elle said: I would say, "Juster would you rather be dead or a Republican?", and he would drop to the floor and play dead. Best. cue. evah! Bodhi's playing dead isn't the best (he doesn't usually put his head the whole way down), but I just might have to start working on it again and steal this cue. My favorite trick is "do your Yoga." It's a deep front stretch, which is also on cue as "take a bow," followed by a pronounced back leg stretch. The only way I know to teach it is to capture it when the dog does it on his own, usually first thing in the morning or after a good nap, beginning with a marker (I use a mouth click or "Yes!") and a treat and then adding the cue. It takes a while -- in my experience capturing a behavior like this is never too quick because you have to wait for the dog to do it in the first place and then for her to realize she's going to be rewarded for it -- but well worth the effort. I may just have to work on Ruth's tricks too, especially Peek-a-boo. Tricks are lots of fun when we're making therapy visits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baderpadordercollie Posted July 13, 2018 Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 D'Elle That's pretty freaking hilarious. XD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baderpadordercollie Posted July 13, 2018 Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 I'm also currently teaching Brèagha growl on cue. She's a very growly dog, and she growls when she is happy to see me, and when she plays. She's just vocal in general. Happy barks, happy growls, excited barks, "there's something outside" barks, and my favorites, "rrrrawrawrawarw" and "rrrrooroooo!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rush Fan Posted July 13, 2018 Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 I ask my Mancer either "Do you love your daddy?" or "How much do you love your daddy?" and she hops up on my lap and gives me kisses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ooky Posted July 13, 2018 Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 Odin has lots of fun tricks but I think what impresses people the most is his behavior at work. I can send him to different people’s offices: “go see Ginger”, “go see Jeff”, etc. From anywhere in our large office I can send him back to my office and his crate by saying “kennel up” - not that impressive really but it never fails to impress others. And I am proud of him for how completely solid the command is, no matter where we are and what we are doing, he immediately turns and runs back to his crate. I leave his crate open almost all day every day and he never leaves unless invited to, even when I stand up and walk out of my office to go to meetings, lunch, or even leave for a few hours to go out of the office. except for two things: he leaves his crate when I stand up to go home each day - not sure how he knows but he always does. And twice in 10 years, he had an attack of diarrhea while I was gone. Both times he went to find another work friend with his leash and asked to be taken out by them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starry777 Posted July 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2018 2 hours ago, Ooky said: Odin has lots of fun tricks but I think what impresses people the most is his behavior at work. I can send him to different people’s offices: “go see Ginger”, “go see Jeff”, etc. From anywhere in our large office I can send him back to my office and his crate by saying “kennel up” - not that impressive really but it never fails to impress others. And I am proud of him for how completely solid the command is, no matter where we are and what we are doing, he immediately turns and runs back to his crate. I leave his crate open almost all day every day and he never leaves unless invited to, even when I stand up and walk out of my office to go to meetings, lunch, or even leave for a few hours to go out of the office. except for two things: he leaves his crate when I stand up to go home each day - not sure how he knows but he always does. And twice in 10 years, he had an attack of diarrhea while I was gone. Both times he went to find another work friend with his leash and asked to be taken out by them. Whoa! That's amazing!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rariadne Posted July 14, 2018 Report Share Posted July 14, 2018 haha! I love reading all of these. So many impressive skills! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prozach2 Posted July 14, 2018 Report Share Posted July 14, 2018 14 hours ago, Shandula said: The best trick I've taught Heidi was how to paint. The paintings are a little modern for me, but it's pretty funny! Some close runner ups, are when I sneeze she'll bring me a tissue and then throw it out, and she will hold anything in her mouth which makes amazing pictures! Is that a special kind of paint? I’d be concerned about getting it all over the dog, my house, or her eating it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandboy Posted July 14, 2018 Report Share Posted July 14, 2018 Riding in his sidecar when I am out bicycling. When i am working in the shop he'll hop in and give me the let's go cycling look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shandula Posted July 14, 2018 Report Share Posted July 14, 2018 13 hours ago, prozach2 said: Is that a special kind of paint? I’d be concerned about getting it all over the dog, my house, or her eating it. No, just your standard paint. The behaviours are trained to fluency long before paint enters the picture! Her mouth actually never goes near the paint. I do use a drop cloth around/under the canvas just because when she hears her click she drops the brush, so paint would land on the floor. It is surprisingly not as messy as you'd think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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