Help With Tricks

SD&B

Experienced Member
I need ideas on how to teach a dog to jump up and down in place. It's a bit unnatural for Sundog, so I need ideas for an unnatural action.

Also, ideas for beg for a silly girl without a spine who will follow a lure or target stick all the way backwards but won't sit up.

Thanks!

Here is a video of Sundog doing a trick that I sent into a TV show. She didn't make the cut, but I think she did a great job.
 

Zsu-Zsu

Well-Known Member
I need ideas on how to teach a dog to jump up and down in place. It's a bit unnatural for Sundog, so I need ideas for an unnatural action.

Also, ideas for beg for a silly girl without a spine who will follow a lure or target stick all the way backwards but won't sit up.

Thanks!

Here is a video of Sundog doing a trick that I sent into a TV show. She didn't make the cut, but I think she did a great job.
So cute, Sundog looks human and the little dog in the background has pretty good self control too, just sitting there watching his buddy get all the treats! Great video , like the trick alot. As far as jumping in place , what if you raise the treat higher and higher until Sundance jumps for it?
 

SD&B

Experienced Member
So cute, Sundog looks human and the little dog in the background has pretty good self control too, just sitting there watching his buddy get all the treats! Great video , like the trick alot.
The little dog in the back is Barney. He's been working on his self-control, too. (y)
 

SD&B

Experienced Member
So cute, Sundog looks human and the little dog in the background has pretty good self control too, just sitting there watching his buddy get all the treats! Great video , like the trick alot. As far as jumping in place , what if you raise the treat higher and higher until Sundance jumps for it?
I taught her to stand on her hind legs, so she just stands there waiting. She's done some agility, so she can do a regular jump, but I need it in place. Maybe I'll try a target stick. I haven't really tried it with anything except a treat(lure) yet, so I'm trying to think of the best method.

Thanks for the idea.
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
WOW, I AM BLOWN AWAY!! NO way could my dog do THAT!! No idea how you'd even begin to teach that one!!!

This trick, although eye-poppingly amazing,
could be made HILARIOUS if you swapped out different verbal cues.

or "this treat was made in China"
and for dog to EAT the treat, say, "Just kidding, that treat IS homemade."
:ROFLMAO:

or "Here is some broccoli."
and for dog to eat the treat, say, "Just kidding, it's meat."
:ROFLMAO:



Like, as you give treat, say "Here is a treat i cooked myself."
and then for dog to EAT treat, say "Come onnnn, i followed the recipe exactly this time."
:ROFLMAO:


endless list, really....tons of idea come to me, to make it appear dog hesitates to eat treat, til you reassure him of some info.:ROFLMAO:


TIP: when using entire sentences for a verbal cue,
train dog to do trick when he hears LAST WORD of the sentence. Only use LAST WORD of the question/remark
when training the dog,
otherwise, dog pre-emptively performs his trick when he hears first word of question or remark.



I always always try to use humor in my dog tricks. Makes even a plain trick seem cute.
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU TRAIN YOUR DOG TO DO THIS???

It's just amazing to me. I can't even imagine how one would start.
did you start with nonfood items?
and then advance to actual food, or what??


and simultaneously, whenever dog ate a treat, give cue "treat" so he associated eating with that word?
or how in the world did you do this most amazing trick??
 

SD&B

Experienced Member
WOW, I AM BLOWN AWAY!! NO way could my dog do THAT!! No idea how you'd even begin to teach that one!!!

This trick, although eye-poppingly amazing,
could be made HILARIOUS if you swapped out different verbal cues.

or "this treat was made in China"
and for dog to EAT the treat, say, "Just kidding, that treat IS homemade."
:ROFLMAO:

or "Here is some broccoli."
and for dog to eat the treat, say, "Just kidding, it's meat."
:ROFLMAO:



Like, as you give treat, say "Here is a treat i cooked myself."
and then for dog to EAT treat, say "Come onnnn, i followed the recipe exactly this time."
:ROFLMAO:


endless list, really....tons of idea come to me, to make it appear dog hesitates to eat treat, til you reassure him of some info.:ROFLMAO:


TIP: when using entire sentences for a verbal cue,
train dog to do trick when he hears LAST WORD of the sentence. Only use LAST WORD of the question/remark
when training the dog,
otherwise, dog pre-emptively performs his trick when he hears first word of question or remark.



I always always try to use humor in my dog tricks. Makes even a plain trick seem cute.
Awesome ideas. I will have to start incorporating those. Maybe I'll also try using hand signals instead of the verbals.

It's not a flashy trick for a crowd, but those of us who train (or attempt to train) our dogs know how difficult a trick like this may be.
 

SD&B

Experienced Member
HOW IN THE WORLD DID YOU TRAIN YOUR DOG TO DO THIS???

It's just amazing to me. I can't even imagine how one would start.
did you start with nonfood items?
and then advance to actual food, or what??


and simultaneously, whenever dog ate a treat, give cue "treat" so he associated eating with that word?
or how in the world did you do this most amazing trick??
Sundog is 6.5 years old and has always waited for a treat from the hand or dinner. Her release word to eat is "Free". I also use "Break" (agility training). So she was used to waiting and knows her release word.

As so many things in dog training are, it's all about baby steps. First you teach the dog a hold. They have to have that solid first with non-food and various items. Then you start with less desirable food items that are hard and large. (We still can't do cheese.) The items need to stick out of the mouth. You start by asking for a hold and with a very short duration. Keep your hand on the treat and if the dog begins to eat it, pull it back. When you release, then you allow the dog to have the treat. The whole treat. With every successful iteration, the dog receives the whole treat. You continue for longer durations and then advance to more desirable items. The key is, in the beginning stages, that you must be able to pull back the treat and not let them self-reward for not waiting. A trick I tried is that I inserted cheese in a small thick plastic bag that I had that was open on the end and had her hold that. I know she knew what was in there, but she knew to hold that.

This was not a one take video. For the TV show, it had to be under 2 minutes. We had a great video after a couple of takes, but it came to 2 minutes 17 seconds. Most of the rejects were because she didn't eat the treat immediately after release. I was trying to give the command a bit more softly for the video, but I probably should have given it with more enthusiasm and joy. She wanted to make sure I really meant it. What a good girl.

The hardest part about the trick is that you can't practice it much. Otherwise, your dog will be a roly poly beach ball. Now that we have it, we usually practice it once a day with one treat.
 

Anneke

Honored Member
Will she jump up to catch a ball? If so you can capture her jumping, then fake the throw and slowly fade out the ball and turn it into a handsignal.
This is a trick Jinx made up herself so it was really easy for me to capture it. I didn't have to use anything, she just reacts to a flick of my hand;)

As for the beg... She may have trouble balancing. What if you stand behind her and have her sit up, with her back against your legs for support?
Or give her support of your arm by having her do a paws up on your arm. That way she is already in the beg position, but with a little support from your arm. Then slowly fade your arm support.
Like how I do say your prayers in this vid
At 3.49 I have her put her paws on my arm. Basically she is doing a sit up with support. If you make your dog sit up a bit more upright, it might work.
At 4.21 I have her do a sit up with her back towards me. If you bend your knees in a little she will be able to lean into those.
It is all about getting her muscles strong enough to hol the position. Jins was very wobbly at the beg at first too.

Luring a beg with a targetstick is all about finding just that position of the target, where she has to lift up her body to touch it. If she has no problem being "boxed" in, you could try setting her up in a corner or put two chairs against a wall. Put her between the chairs, with her back almost touching the wall, in a sit and then use the targetstick. That way she can't back away or move sideways.
But only do this if she is comfortable being in that small space.
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
THANK YOU for the wonderful, step by step directions! I can not even picture being able to get my dog to do this, i just laughed even picturing this, but wow, what a great trick, i must try it, but, i doubt i'll succeed, but your directions were awesome,
i will give this a go!

// (We still can't do cheese.) //:ROFLMAO:
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
//The hardest part about the trick is that you can't practice it much. Otherwise, your dog will be a roly poly beach ball.//

:ROFLMAO:




I will have to try Anneke's tips, too, on getting a better looking beg, my dog's "beg" is better from reading eveyrone here's tips,
but, still not much to brag on...nope, NOT his best trick!! nope.
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
//Maybe I'll also try using hand signals instead of the verbals.//

Dogs can even be trained to do certain things by YOUR facial expression. It's not hard to do, not at all.

As part of another trick, I once trained my dog, to bark when i lifted up my eyebrows,<----- a move i later regretted, as i had no idea how many times a day i lift up my eyebrows....:ROFLMAO:
 

SD&B

Experienced Member
//Maybe I'll also try using hand signals instead of the verbals.//

Dogs can even be trained to do certain things by YOUR facial expression. It's not hard to do, not at all.

As part of another trick, I once trained my dog, to bark when i lifted up my eyebrows,<----- a move i later regretted, as i had no idea how many times a day i lift up my eyebrows....:ROFLMAO:
:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 

SD&B

Experienced Member
Will she jump up to catch a ball? If so you can capture her jumping, then fake the throw and slowly fade out the ball and turn it into a handsignal.
This is a trick Jinx made up herself so it was really easy for me to capture it. I didn't have to use anything, she just reacts to a flick of my hand;)

As for the beg... She may have trouble balancing. What if you stand behind her and have her sit up, with her back against your legs for support?
Or give her support of your arm by having her do a paws up on your arm. That way she is already in the beg position, but with a little support from your arm. Then slowly fade your arm support.
Like how I do say your prayers in this vid
At 3.49 I have her put her paws on my arm. Basically she is doing a sit up with support. If you make your dog sit up a bit more upright, it might work.
At 4.21 I have her do a sit up with her back towards me. If you bend your knees in a little she will be able to lean into those.
It is all about getting her muscles strong enough to hol the position. Jins was very wobbly at the beg at first too.

Luring a beg with a targetstick is all about finding just that position of the target, where she has to lift up her body to touch it. If she has no problem being "boxed" in, you could try setting her up in a corner or put two chairs against a wall. Put her between the chairs, with her back almost touching the wall, in a sit and then use the targetstick. That way she can't back away or move sideways.
But only do this if she is comfortable being in that small space.
Thank you for the tips. I tried a toy last night and made better progress, but a ball might be even better. As far as the beg, she has excellent core strength, but not very well balanced sit bones, so she should adjust fairly quickly for a short term beg. She does some wild exorcist moves following the lure or target stick. Her sweet spot is difficult to find. But using my arm may communicate to her better what I want her to do. That's an idea I will definitely try. That will also provide enough balance to get her started. The corner idea is great and I've suggested that to others too for gaining strength. That may also communicate what I want, so I'll have to check that out, too.

Thanks for the great ideas. I just need to find that magic way to communicate what I want and then we'll be fine. Sometimes I need help finding that magic. :D
 

SD&B

Experienced Member
//The hardest part about the trick is that you can't practice it much. Otherwise, your dog will be a roly poly beach ball.//

:ROFLMAO:




I will have to try Anneke's tips, too, on getting a better looking beg, my dog's "beg" is better from reading eveyrone here's tips,
but, still not much to brag on...nope, NOT his best trick!! nope.
Sundog's idea of begging is to lift one front leg with a dangling front paw. That's her idea of saying pretty please. I captured that for kicks and grins and then was able to later use that to start the limp training.

We will be trying some of Anneke's suggestions too. Good ones!
 

Dogster

Honored Member
//Maybe I'll also try using hand signals instead of the verbals.//

Dogs can even be trained to do certain things by YOUR facial expression. It's not hard to do, not at all.

As part of another trick, I once trained my dog, to bark when i lifted up my eyebrows,<----- a move i later regretted, as i had no idea how many times a day i lift up my eyebrows....:ROFLMAO:

:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO: Gotta be careful when choosing facial expressions.:D


SD&B and Anneke, great advice!!!!!:D
 
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