Trick Challenge: Do As I Do

running_dog

Honored Member
I feel this Trick Challenge is is not so much training a trick as training a new method of training...

To begin all you need is three voice cues that your dog knows really well and you are sure it is not taking any body cues from you. And you need to be able to mime these cues. You will need a further 3 familiar cues that you can mime for the next stage of training.

The following video shows how to begin training "Do as I do"

You can also read a written description of the first stage of training HERE, I found this article useful to understand the process. If you find better descriptions and videos of training please do share them on this thread!

I'm not sure how long this challenge will take to train so lets check in in a week (30th June)

When we get to video/s submission it/they should include:
1. Your dog demonstrating the 3 cues you have chosen.
2. Part of your first training session and it would be great if you can show a developing understanding in your dog.
3. Your dog demonstrating the 3 next cues you have chosen.
4. Part of your first training session with these 3 cues and it would be great if you can show a developing understanding in your dog.
5. Generalising to miming actions that are unfamiliar to the dog and how the dog gets on with this.

If you know you won't be able to submit a video for whatever reason do please still train along with us... the more of us join in the more fun it is and the more we can learn from each other and our dogs.

Any questions/suggestions/ideas/hints about this challenge please post them in this thread, ideas for other challenges please post them in "Who Is Interested In A Trick Challenge".
 

running_dog

Honored Member
I'm really excited to try this!! It may be helpful if everyone posts the three cues they will be using, that could give others of us ideas. I personally have no clue what three cues I will be using yet... :)
I've not absolutely decided yet but I will probably be using 3 of "sit", "down", "spin", "turn", "tip it", "paws up" , or "on" :)
Just think about what cues your dog finds easy and then think about which of them you can mime easily.
 

running_dog

Honored Member
This is SO MUCH FUN!!!!!

I chose behaviours that Zac offers readily so sometimes he is guessing not mimicking. After we messed around a bit I found that spin and turn don't work for me because I can't work out which one I'm miming!

I really don't know how much he knows but he has always loved body cues and he's having fun. We ended up playing with more than 3 behaviours and sometimes he mixes up sit and sit pretty, also he often doesn't wait for "do it" but I think he is doing well all the same - not that I am biased of course! He certainly seems to do what I mime more often than you would expect if he was offering randomly.

It is worth looking out for Zac not understanding when I changed the outline of my "sit" mime, something for the rest of you to avoid perhaps.


This is so much FUN! Come on everyone, do join in and share some videos if you can! :LOL:
 

southerngirl

Honored Member
This is SO MUCH FUN!!!!!

I chose behaviours that Zac offers readily so sometimes he is guessing not mimicking. After we messed around a bit I found that spin and turn don't work for me because I can't work out which one I'm miming!

I really don't know how much he knows but he has always loved body cues and he's having fun. We ended up playing with more than 3 behaviours and sometimes he mixes up sit and sit pretty, also he often doesn't wait for "do it" but I think he is doing well all the same - not that I am biased of course! He certainly seems to do what I mime more often than you would expect if he was offering randomly.

It is worth looking out for Zac not understanding when I changed the outline of my "sit" mime, something for the rest of you to avoid perhaps.


This is so much FUN! Come on everyone, do join in and share some videos if you can! :LOL:
That is cool!! Way to go Zak and you. He is doing very well.(y)
 

kassidybc

Experienced Member
This is SO MUCH FUN!!!!!

I chose behaviours that Zac offers readily so sometimes he is guessing not mimicking. After we messed around a bit I found that spin and turn don't work for me because I can't work out which one I'm miming!

I really don't know how much he knows but he has always loved body cues and he's having fun. We ended up playing with more than 3 behaviours and sometimes he mixes up sit and sit pretty, also he often doesn't wait for "do it" but I think he is doing well all the same - not that I am biased of course! He certainly seems to do what I mime more often than you would expect if he was offering randomly.

It is worth looking out for Zac not understanding when I changed the outline of my "sit" mime, something for the rest of you to avoid perhaps.


This is so much FUN! Come on everyone, do join in and share some videos if you can! :LOL:
That's awesome!
 

teach333

Well-Known Member

This is from our first training session. The session lasted about 10 or 12 minutes, but I shortened it for this forum. Not sure why I chose spin because it made me dizzy.:) Actually I chose it because it's very familiar for Seamus. I also chose "one, two", which is my term for him to lift first one foot and then the other. Lastly we did "top", which is to put front feet on something.

The spin was certainly the most difficult. You can see in the beginning that he offers many, many things to get that cookie. He tends to get frustrated if he is unsure of what I want, and sometimes you can hear that frustration. Eventually, he tries another move that I have been teaching him, which I call "face out" in which he is facing me and then turns 18o degrees to face the other way. Not sure if he tries that because we have been working on it so much or if it is sort of a half spin. I was pleased that once or twice he actually did the spin at the same time as I did with only the body cue.

When doing "one, two", I was trying to be sure he was actually copying me and not just offering it because it's a favorite thing to offer.
 

running_dog

Honored Member
The spin was certainly the most difficult. You can see in the beginning that he offers many, many things to get that cookie. He tends to get frustrated if he is unsure of what I want, and sometimes you can hear that frustration. Eventually, he tries another move that I have been teaching him, which I call "face out" in which he is facing me and then turns 18o degrees to face the other way. Not sure if he tries that because we have been working on it so much or if it is sort of a half spin. I was pleased that once or twice he actually did the spin at the same time as I did with only the body cue.
Yeah! you found time to post! It is really good to watch Seamus working it out.

I've just practically imploded my brain with dizziness trying to work out the directions but I think when Seamus offers you "face out" it is a circle to the left which is what you are miming, whereas spin is a circle to the right... I think... maybe... :confused:

He's definitely more confident with the later cues. It seems to me that at the stage of the first three cues it is mostly about getting the dog looking at the whole of us for the cues and Shea is definitely doing that. It is likely to be the next 3 cues that get the dog thinking that what we are doing is related to what it should be doing rather than just a new way of cuing an old trick. LOL I just find this so exciting... I guess I'm really really sad!!!! :rolleyes::LOL::)

Hope that your commitments permitting we get to see Seamus as he progresses with this challenge or at least hear about how you both get on with it.
 

Ripleygirl

Experienced Member
This is SO MUCH FUN!!!!!

I chose behaviours that Zac offers readily so sometimes he is guessing not mimicking. After we messed around a bit I found that spin and turn don't work for me because I can't work out which one I'm miming!

I really don't know how much he knows but he has always loved body cues and he's having fun. We ended up playing with more than 3 behaviours and sometimes he mixes up sit and sit pretty, also he often doesn't wait for "do it" but I think he is doing well all the same - not that I am biased of course! He certainly seems to do what I mime more often than you would expect if he was offering randomly.

It is worth looking out for Zac not understanding when I changed the outline of my "sit" mime, something for the rest of you to avoid perhaps.


This is so much FUN! Come on everyone, do join in and share some videos if you can! :LOL:
WOW! Awesome work you two. Love it. I have not had time to try this yet but it does look soooo much fun!
 

running_dog

Honored Member
I am so impressed by how Zac is discerning the difference between sit and down! I may try the "sit pretty" because that is a move Shea loves. Very nice progress!
I think I must have used some mime with Zac before without realising - just little things like nudge, paws up, tip it and paw touch. I haven't done anything like "stand", "sit", "sit pretty", and "down" before though! I did wonder when Zac paw touched the stool from a bow position whether he was mimicking my body position more accurately than I'd intended.. but that was probably fanciful on my part. I wonder whether I can mime "take a bow"? LOL I hope the neighbours don't look in the windows, they'll think I've gone off my head!!!!
 

Ripleygirl

Experienced Member

This is from our first training session. The session lasted about 10 or 12 minutes, but I shortened it for this forum. Not sure why I chose spin because it made me dizzy.:) Actually I chose it because it's very familiar for Seamus. I also chose "one, two", which is my term for him to lift first one foot and then the other. Lastly we did "top", which is to put front feet on something.

The spin was certainly the most difficult. You can see in the beginning that he offers many, many things to get that cookie. He tends to get frustrated if he is unsure of what I want, and sometimes you can hear that frustration. Eventually, he tries another move that I have been teaching him, which I call "face out" in which he is facing me and then turns 18o degrees to face the other way. Not sure if he tries that because we have been working on it so much or if it is sort of a half spin. I was pleased that once or twice he actually did the spin at the same time as I did with only the body cue.

When doing "one, two", I was trying to be sure he was actually copying me and not just offering it because it's a favorite thing to offer.
Great to see you join in! Love to see the vid! This is so exciting seeing people's vids of this. Can't wait to join in too!
 

running_dog

Honored Member
I was experimenting with "Spin" and "Turn" (Zac's cue for spinning the other way).
If I start with Zac beside me instead of in front I think it is easier for both of us to know which I have mimed. Though in the first demo video I posted in this thread the dog twists in the opposite direction to the mime so maybe it doesn't matter?
Zac has found them much harder to understand (even without directional complications) than any of the other cues I have used with him so far.
I've been trying cross paws too but he keeps crossing his paw with me instead of himself because he is used to hand targeting :LOL:.
 

running_dog

Honored Member
Today Zac definitely deduced a mime of a known trick which he had not had mimed to him before and I did not help him with a verbal or hand cue!!!!!!

I'd mimed "stand" and then stood up again, but I'd given the "do as I do" cue late. Zac looked confused tried bow and then stood tall. It was the first time he'd offered stand tall during do as I do (usually he bounces) but I thought it might be a coincidence so I tried to mime it again. He couldn't get the idea when I just stood and raised my hands high, he thought that meant bounce. Then I went onto hands and knees (so like him standing) and stood up (like him standing tall), then I said "do it" but kept my hands to my sides so I was sure I wasn't giving him a hand signal... HE STOOD UP ON HIS HIND LEGS!

He's also resolved "turn" but still needs to figure out the difference from spin - sometimes he gets it and sometimes he doesn't. When miming "turn" Zac does find it much easier if I start with him beside me facing in the same direction (so it is easy for him to see which way I am turning), but he prefers if I finish the mime facing his side (because he is used to doing tricks in front of me).

So far I think I have mimed (with varying degrees of success) sit, sit pretty, down, stand, paws on, bounce, turn, stand tall, lick lips, cross paws, take a bow (that is hard to mime). We haven't managed to "do as I do" with "shame" yet but I think it is possible. He sometimes seems uncannily exact with the mimicry. LOL at the end of training I knew he wanted to get on the couch and curl up, so I told him "do as I do" and got on the couch and curled up, he couldn't wait for the "do it"!
 

Ripleygirl

Experienced Member
Today Zac definitely deduced a mime of a known trick which he had not had mimed to him before and I did not help him with a verbal or hand cue!!!!!!

I'd mimed "stand" and then stood up again, but I'd given the "do as I do" cue late. Zac looked confused tried bow and then stood tall. It was the first time he'd offered stand tall during do as I do (usually he bounces) but I thought it might be a coincidence so I tried to mime it again. He couldn't get the idea when I just stood and raised my hands high, he thought that meant bounce. Then I went onto hands and knees (so like him standing) and stood up (like him standing tall), then I said "do it" but kept my hands to my sides so I was sure I wasn't giving him a hand signal... HE STOOD UP ON HIS HIND LEGS!

He's also resolved "turn" but still needs to figure out the difference from spin - sometimes he gets it and sometimes he doesn't. When miming "turn" Zac does find it much easier if I start with him beside me facing in the same direction (so it is easy for him to see which way I am turning), but he prefers if I finish the mime facing his side (because he is used to doing tricks in front of me).

So far I think I have mimed (with varying degrees of success) sit, sit pretty, down, stand, paws on, bounce, turn, stand tall, lick lips, cross paws, take a bow (that is hard to mime). We haven't managed to "do as I do" with "shame" yet but I think it is possible. He sometimes seems uncannily exact with the mimicry. LOL at the end of training I knew he wanted to get on the couch and curl up, so I told him "do as I do" and got on the couch and curled up, he couldn't wait for the "do it"!
LOVE IT! Well done you two! Love the couch bit by the way! :ROFLMAO:
 

kassidybc

Experienced Member
Today Zac definitely deduced a mime of a known trick which he had not had mimed to him before and I did not help him with a verbal or hand cue!!!!!!

I'd mimed "stand" and then stood up again, but I'd given the "do as I do" cue late. Zac looked confused tried bow and then stood tall. It was the first time he'd offered stand tall during do as I do (usually he bounces) but I thought it might be a coincidence so I tried to mime it again. He couldn't get the idea when I just stood and raised my hands high, he thought that meant bounce. Then I went onto hands and knees (so like him standing) and stood up (like him standing tall), then I said "do it" but kept my hands to my sides so I was sure I wasn't giving him a hand signal... HE STOOD UP ON HIS HIND LEGS!

He's also resolved "turn" but still needs to figure out the difference from spin - sometimes he gets it and sometimes he doesn't. When miming "turn" Zac does find it much easier if I start with him beside me facing in the same direction (so it is easy for him to see which way I am turning), but he prefers if I finish the mime facing his side (because he is used to doing tricks in front of me).

So far I think I have mimed (with varying degrees of success) sit, sit pretty, down, stand, paws on, bounce, turn, stand tall, lick lips, cross paws, take a bow (that is hard to mime). We haven't managed to "do as I do" with "shame" yet but I think it is possible. He sometimes seems uncannily exact with the mimicry. LOL at the end of training I knew he wanted to get on the couch and curl up, so I told him "do as I do" and got on the couch and curled up, he couldn't wait for the "do it"!
That's great! I haven't been able to start this yet unfortunately, we have been busy with a lot of other stuff, and we just started Recallers. Hopefully we can start soon!
 

running_dog

Honored Member
Today without additional cues Zac recognised my mime of crawl the second time I showed him :)
He also with a little help recognised my mime to cover his nose but only when he's curled up on the couch :rolleyes:
My family think it is hilarious when I'm crawling round the floor alternating nudging a football with my nose and tapping it with my hand just to see if Zac can tell the difference - he can but he is sloppy about imitation.
 

kassidybc

Experienced Member
Today without additional cues Zac recognised my mime of crawl the second time I showed him :)
He also with a little help recognised my mime to cover his nose but only when he's curled up on the couch :rolleyes:
My family think it is hilarious when I'm crawling round the floor alternating nudging a football with my nose and tapping it with my hand just to see if Zac can tell the difference - he can but he is sloppy about imitation.
That is soooooo awesome!! That's so exciting that it sounds like it is actually working, that they are able to mime our actions! I'm hoping to start this tomorrow, I'll post a video of our first session if I can.
 

teach333

Well-Known Member

This is video of our second session. I did "lift", which is "sit pretty" or "beg" to many people. I was surprised at how quickly he picked up that cue. Next, I did sit just by sitting down myself, first on a low table and then on a chair. At first, he wanted to do "bend" (bow), but he soon picked up the sit. Lastly, I did circle. He is used to circling me and circling other objects on a verbal cue, but following my example was tricky for him. Sometimes he circled lots of things, including me. Plus, we were outside on the porch, and there were a few distractions. I really like the science behind this challenge because while research has shown that dogs can learn by watching other dogs or people, I had never tested it myself with Seamus. I hope to try some other behaviors when I have time.
 
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