"smile"

[Evie]

I'm quite sure there'd be another thread something about this but i can't find one...... sooooooooooooo

How did you teach your dog to smile?!

I know there are at least a couple of dogs on here who do it (**looks at tiger lilly & buddy**) and I was never really motivated to teach it until Evie and I came across a Dalmatian at the dog park who naturally 'smiled' when ever she was excited or happy. I just thought it was incredibly cute and now want to teach it, but as it's not a behaviour that Evie ever offers, is there a way to teach it to her?

 

[Anneke]

Cooper smiles too. Not on cue though. He smiles when he is really happy to see a person he loves. I haven't thought of capturing it, because I love that he keeps it only for those he really, really likes.
But Jinx her aunt does it on cue. It's just the sweetest thing.
I'll see if I can find the vid...

 

[Anneke]

Here it is! She belongs to Jinx her breeder, so I don't know how she thaught this.

 

[Evie]

that's so cute!!!!!!!!

 

[tigerlily46514]

Evie, i just captured it.

I just CLICK/TREAT whenever i could elicit a smile. For *my* dog, he found ME running around very amusing,
so i would run around, turn, see him smiling, and say "Smile!" and CLICK/TREAT.
It didnt' take too long.
Anytime i saw him smiling, i said, "Smile" and gave praise and love, if i had no treats right there.

To this day, it IS my alltime favorite trick of all of Buddy's trick,
and whatever we reward a dog for,
there is a chance that behavior will become more common.

MY dog is a more serious natured dog, oh he has his goofy times, too,
but, in general, Buddy was not a very smiley dog. but since being rewarded for smiling,
he DOES smile more and more often.

Once, i was reading a post of Sara's, on how one can use going for walks as a reward for a behavior,
so i tried that for smiling,
and now,
when Buddy wants his walk,
he comes up to me, sits there and gives me his biggest ever smile, nonstop smiling at me,
as if to say, "Look Mom, i am smiling! See? eh? Take me for a walk, i am smiling!" this always cracks me up.

 

[tigerlily46514]

but, i'd love to be able to get THIS kind of smile: (no idea how to train this, maybe dog has to do this anyway naturally?)

 

[Evie]

damn, Evie never does this behaviour naturally so I guess it's not something I can ever teach her

Oh well. Back to the drawing board.

 

[tigerlily46514]

Evie! My dog doesn't do THAT kind of smile, not ever, oh i wish i knew how to cause that, but, i don't have a clue how to make a dog do THAT kind of smile, like the dog in the video.

Yet, to ME, my dog's "smile" which is a pretty ordinary smile, really,
is still well worth 'capturing' and encouraging,
and
i really really think, encouraging my dog to SMILE more, has slightly helped him develop a more happy outlook. (Buddy tends to be a more serious-natured dog in general)

 

[tigerlily46514]

Evie, i say, "GO FOR IT!"

 

[Pawtential Unleashed]

Some dogs do offer the behavior while others never seem to lift their lips. I have had some success with taking a really strong smelling treat and placing it to the side of their muzzle and this can illicit a lifted lip while smelling. Ayla and Knoxx while learning to balance a treat on their nose starting doing little lip lifts when the treat passes by or touches their muzzle to the side...see if that helps.

 

[Dogster]

Another GREAT way to teach smile!!!

Starting at 2:24

This is ADORABLE!!!!
(And this dog is AMAZING!!!! And very cute!!!! )

 

[southerngirl]

You could try rubbing peanut butter on her gum and if she "smiles" click and treat with a higher value treat than PB

 

[Evie]

That Kyra dog is SOOOOOOOOOOO cute! I love the laying down in the suitcase part lol. That video made me wish Evie would hurry up and learn how to hold objects -.-


Might have to give the peanut butter a go, see if we can get somewhere with that. I'll let you all know how we go.

 

[luckylego]

Evie, any progress on this?? I'd love to teach Lego to smile, but she never offers that behaviour naturally, so I have no clue where to start. I'd love to hear if you had any success

 

[Evie]

Sadly, no. Still got no idea on how to teach smile if they don't offer it naturally.

 

[luckylego]

So I ran this issue by my boss (a trainer) and she'd said that apparently it IS possible.. just very difficult if your dog doesn't offer the behaviour. Her best advice was pretty much what was said above, just spread a liiittle bit of peanut butter under her upper lip, by her front teeth, and click for the slightest lip twitch.. So I'm attempting it once I get home tonight - wish me luck!

 

[luckylego]

PS.. I work with a street dog that does the closed lip smile whenever I talk to her.. so cute!!

 

[Evie]

Hmm, might try it tonight too if I have time. However my trick training in general has been pretty much put on hold due to a lack of time lol.

 

[luckylego]

Alright so.. after about a 5 minute attempt, I quickly realized that Lego wasn't even close to twitching her lips. She just licks her lips repeatedly until she gets it all out

So! I had a thought.. I've taught all of my dogs how to "shake a paw" simply by picking up their paws and then treating and using a cue word, and slowly she needed my touch less and less until I only had to use the word.. I wonder if maybe that can be applied here? Scratching/playing with their muzzle until she scrunches or helping her pull her lips up and then clicking and treating with a cue word ("Say cheese!")... Do you think that could work in the same way?

*Too impatient to wait for a reply, I googled "How to teach your dog to smile" and found the old thread for that trick on this forum!

http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forums/threads/teaching-your-dog-to-smile.267/

It has a couple different methods that people have tried (one includes what I mentioned above, helping them pull their lips up), and so I figure its worth a shot either way. I'm going to give a couple of these a shot tonight.. Let me know how it goes for you