June 2008 Intermediate Challenge

[Jean]

Objective

In this month's Intermediate Training Challenge, you will have to train your dog to balance a treat or bone on his nose. This is not the easiest trick to train but is tons of fun!!!


Rules

• The dog must not have practiced or been taught the behavior before the beginning of the month.
  
  
• The dog must hold the treat or object for a minimum of two seconds to be eligible for the trophy.
  

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the prize?

Each participant will receive a Participant award, and the winner will receive the Advanced Training Challenge Trophy award. They are symbolic awards which will be featured on your profile.



Also, this month we will be giving away a FREE Graduation Plush Dog as a souvenir/decoration. It will be awarded to the member who submits the best looking/performing video of any of the three challenges!

How do I submit my video?

You can submit your video using a free video hosting service. Some popular websites are: Youtube & Google Video.

How do I embed my video into my post?

You can embed your video by pasting the video URL and inserting it into your post. There is more information on this subject in this thread.

How do you determine the winner?

The winner will be determined by the Dog Trick Academy staff. At the end of the month, we will judge submissions based on performance, quality and improvement.

This prevents friends voting for friends, people voting for the cutest dog or their preferred breed, or other similar qualities.

[groover]

can you enter 2 challenges or do you have to pick just 1????
i had entered the spin challenge but this sounds fun to.

xxx

[Jean]

Sure! The more the better.

[groover]

oh all right then. if you insist. LOL
you've created a monster.

xxx

[szecsuani]

I have to join this!!!

But can it be something else to put on her nose?
I know she would't hesitate to eat it...

[groover]

hi guys
thought I'd make a start with the treat on the nose challenge tonight. after a few minutes it became apparent that Herbie wasn't overly keen on having anything put on his nose.
don't want to force him to do something he's not comfortable with so I've decided to leave this challenge for now. i want the training to be fun for both of us and he really didn't like it. will do some gentle clicker work over the next month (just touching the top of his nose/click/treat)I'm sure through time doing this exercise periodically will make him more excepting.
in the meantime i hope everyone else enjoys the challenge. I look forward to seeing all the videos.

xxx

[Jean]

The trick is to start with something non attractive like a small bone, a piece of paper or cardboard, and to get the dog accustomed to holding it on his nose. Then you can gradually switch to a small bone, etc.

My dog Chase knows this trick, although I haven't practiced it in a long time.

[dat123]

I think I might enter this challenge.
Just wondering how to approach it... is it best to teach the dog to keep it's head still , then move on to placing the treat on his nose ?

I experimented with him, putting a dog biscuit on the end of his nose, I held my hand under his chin ( to keep his nose level so the treat didn't fall off ), waited a couple of seconds then clicked. As soon as I clicked he dropped his nose, caught the biscuit in mid air and ate it in a split second.
At this rate he's going to be a very fat dog..LOL
Any advice ?

[Jean]

LOL!!! Well for training purposes you could use smaller pieces. I had trained my dog not to eat the bone so that I was rewarding with treats in my hands instead. But it you want it to look cool, the way your dog is doing it is best.

I remember when I trained this that I did the first two days just touching her nose & clicking, touching her nose with the bone & clicking. Just so that she gets accustomed to things being on her nose.

But your dog seems to get it to not take the treat until you click. So you are on the right path!!!

[dat123]

Originally Posted by Jean

LOL!!! Well for training purposes you could use smaller pieces. I had trained my dog not to eat the bone so that I was rewarding with treats in my hands instead. But it you want it to look cool, the way your dog is doing it is best.

I remember when I trained this that I did the first two days just touching her nose & clicking, touching her nose with the bone & clicking. Just so that she gets accustomed to things being on her nose.

But your dog seems to get it to not take the treat until you click. So you are on the right path!!!

Great advice Jean, I'm going to try that tomorrow.

[jasperaliceuk]

That's coincidental. Just a couple of days ago I decided I was going to try and teach Milo this one. I tried yesterday using a plastic clip - he was getting more used to it but like Herbie he's not too keen on having something on his nose - I think it just needs time so hopefully a month of training will be enough. I also need a new trick for my dog training class so it can be this one too.

Sue

[cppugs]

Question, may I enter more than one dog? Not saying the will learn it, but I can try!

Thanks - Charleen

[shegen]

I'm giving this one a shot. I always wanted to teach one of my dogs this trick.

[jasperaliceuk]

Well, we actually managed to do it today but I still think it was a bit of a fluke! Started off with a little bit of cardboard and have managed to get him to hold it for about five seconds. Still have to get him to rest his nose in my hand first and then place whatever on his nose, asking him to leave it and then slowly removing hand. Today I tried a largish biscuit - he held it for about three seconds then flipped and caught it. Dead impressed but not sure if we can do it again.

He gets a bit bored with it after about five tries and he starts to turn his head to the side averting his gaze so its still slowly does it.

It would be good if he would just sit and let me put the biscuit on rather than hold his nose first.

Sue

[storm22]

ok well i thought i might train this a bit to storm see if he picks it up, but im having a problem with him, when ever i try to put anything on his nose he goes 'shy' (and keeps offering me this trick), i tried to hold his nose still but he keeps cocking his head to one side and being 'shy'

has anyone else got this problem after teaching are you shy??
also kinda off topic on this trick but has anyone got help to makes him e shy for longer, storm only does it for like a second and i want him to hold it abit
thanks