Hey Newbie With 2 Goldens

Louis

New Member
Hey my name is Louis and I have 2 Goldens, Moby and Dexter. Right now I am concentrating on teaching Dexter some advanced tricks (even though I should be working on stopping his jumping).

Dexter is exceptionally smart but easily distracted as he is young and very curious. He is 10 months old and the smartest of the goldens I've had. I taught him to get me a beer/soda from the fridge in under 30 mins.

I came online to the forum for advice on:

1. How to get Dexter to close the refrigerator after getting me a beer/pepsi/sprite (whatever is currently in the red coozi's in the fridge). The traditional way I've seen is to hold a treat up and have him jump into the door to close it but because it is stainless steel I can't have him scratching it. I've had a hard time trying to teach him to close it with his head or shoulder.

2. Read about what a clicker is and how to use it for training.
3. Teach Dexter some of these other tricks I've seen while browsing this forum so far.

So I'll go ahead and get a start a thread now!
 

running_dog

Honored Member
Welcome to DTA!

Dexter sounds like a lot of fun and you sound like you know exactly what you are looking to find out and I'm positive you'll find it on here :)
 

Hayley Thompson

Well-Known Member
If you get Dexter to target a post-it note on your hand, this will work well for getting him to nudge the door shut with only his nose! There was just a thread on this not long ago and I will find the link and post it for you, but basically you put a post-it note on your hand and have him target it with his nose, he touches, click and treat. Once he is getting the concept of "When I put my nose on that little square, it's good! and I get a treat!" then name the command, eg: touch/target. Once is is familiar with targeting your hand, move the post it onto the fridge and continue asking him to touch/target the post it on the fridge, work in small steps asking him to touch the post-it, once he is familar, hold off on the click, treats until he is almost getting frusterated to the point he will give a bigger nudge to move the door and eventually close it. When you start backing off on the treats once you know he understands to touch the post-it on the door, he will graduate to more exaggerated pushes, eventually closing the door! Then if you wish, you can give this command a specific name eg: close the door, and work your way into removing the post-it and asking for the command only, then distance, then work it into your chain of him getting you a soda, so he knows that comes next....annnyyywayy I will post the link, which probably describes it better, as I am just working on this trick as well!! Hope you have fun, your pups are beautiful!!
 

Louis

New Member
Hey thanks a lot! I'll pick up a clicker tomorrow and see if I can teach him to close the door this weekend. I'm going to read up on clicker training now!
 

srdogtrainer

Experienced Member
Hi Louis and Welcome to the Forum!
I am a Golden lover myself and I have a smart boy named River! I'm so glad that you have chosen to work on advanced tricks and learn about the clicker! Enjoy your training!

Sharon
 
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