A Trick, That Isn't Really A Trick

[Anneke]

I got this idea off a dutch facebookpage Trick Dog NL
So TRICK has become my cue. Can you do a trick? Or can you do another trick?
That's all I ask and wait to see what they come up with.
So I ask: can you do a trick? And Jinx will sit down. Yes! That's a trick!(reward)
Can you do another trick? (You can see her think, moves around a little bit, still in the sit) I get a bark. YES, that's a trick(reward)
Can you do another trick? (Now it is getting hard, because her favorite trick is to bark) So she barks. No, you did that one.(no reward) Another trick! She lies down. YES, that's a trick!
Well, you get the idea
In the first session she offered sit, speak, down and bow.
Cooper(who is lazy) offered sit,(long pause while staring at me with a big smile) paw, (another lang pause with the big smile), other paw and down. Pretty good for my boy, who has not been thaught to think for himself
Tonight, while waiting our turn during agility, I did another session with Jinx. I stood next to a chair(not on purpose).
She offered: sit, down, sit again(no reward), speak, bow, then she had to think. She put her paw on the chair(that is not a trick yet! So she was really thinking for herself), then her other paw and then while sitting both paws on the chair. She was on a roll, because she stood up and did a paws up on the chair!
Cooper did a sit(his favorite),a down(I had to move to get him up, because I know he won't get up any time soon), a bow, a sit up and... back up! Yes he is thinking!
So much fun to see the wheels turning in their heads!
I guess it's sort off free shaping made easy Who knows what Jinx will come up with!

 

[southerngirl]

I love this, I'll have to do it with Missy!

 

[MissyBC]

That's how I do free shaping. I wait for Missy to offer me anything... and whatever she offers that I like, I click and treat!

Literally I sit on the couch with treats and clicker in hand and wait. It's sooo much fun watching them think!!

 

[Pawbla]

The idea of the "trick" trick is that the dog has to offer a trick he already knows, but not repeat them? Sounds like a good memory jogging exercise.

 

[Pawtential Unleashed]

Love it! Fantastic idea I will have to adapt for classes!!

 

[Anneke]

The idea of the "trick" trick is that the dog has to offer a trick he already knows, but not repeat them? Sounds like a good memory jogging exercise.

yes, a trick they already know, but only once. If they offer the same trick and you reward that, they will keep offering that trick and you end up with a training session for that trick.
The idea is to see what they come up with.
In my session, yesterday, jinx touched the chair with her paw, wich is something I never trained. We did do the paws up on objects. So I might take that behavior and build on it, if she offeres it again.

 

[sara]

That's awesome! Karen Pryor talks about that with her dolphins. She would never click the same trick twice, so they had to think for themselves. it's really awesome!

 

[Dogster]

This is so cool!!!!! I have to try it!!!!

 

[Mr-Remington]

Definitely trying this with Remi.

 

[Pawbla]

yes, a trick they already know, but only once. If they offer the same trick and you reward that, they will keep offering that trick and you end up with a training session for that trick.
The idea is to see what they come up with.
In my session, yesterday, jinx touched the chair with her paw, wich is something I never trained. We did do the paws up on objects. So I might take that behavior and build on it, if she offeres it again.

Do you tell them anything before you start? Or just stare at them, clicker in hand? xD

 

[MaryK]

Definitely going to use this with Ra Kismet. Great way to get them to think for themselves. If they offer a 'new trick', do you reward them and work later on giving the trick a name?

 

[Evie]

Oooo!! Love this concept! I'll have to try it with Evie once it's cooled down a bit

 

[Mutt]

Sounds like fun, definetely going to try this out.

 

[Evie]

Lol, we've had one attempt at this and we got sit, 'tongue', down & shy. After that she just sat there staring at me in the lay down position, then started sulking lol.

 

[Mr-Remington]

I finally tried this with Remi and we got sit, down, watch me, speak, and sad. After that he just stared at me whining. It was much like Evie laying in the down position and sulking at me. Although he did keep eye contact with me the whole time after that.

It made me realize how much Remi depends on a lure or a cue. I will be doing this more often as well as trying to shape more of his tricks, so he can continue to think more for himself instead of depending on me.

 

[DevonW]

Thor starts doing his tricks when he doesn't feel like doing a specific activity in class.

Yesterday he kept going between my legs and staring up at me, covering his eyes, and playing dead.

 

[Golden River of Dreams]

I love playing this with my dog! He gets stuck on his favorite tricks sometimes, but he has come up with quite a range of tricks.