Dog Trick of the Day

6/6/12

Go left, Go right:

1.Start with your dog in front of an object (like a chair or a person) and put a target lid to the left of it about 3 feet away.

2.Send your dog to go Touch, and click and treat him/her for responding.

3.Repeat this at gradually increasing distances, clicking right before your dog touches his/her nose to the target.

4.When your dog is offering the behavior readily, say the new cue Go Left just before he/she is about to move forward to touch the target.  Repeat this until he/she will go to the left when you say left.

5.Fade the target by making it smaller (use scissors to cut into smaller pieces) until your dog simply moves left on your command.

6.To teach your dog to go right, simply follow all the same steps except with everything on the right.

7.Awesome, you've taught your dog Go left, Go right!!!

Dog Trick of the Day

6/1/12


Mail a Letter:

1.Using the Touch command ask your dog to use his/her nose to push the letter into the slot.  Click and treat him/her for touching the letter.


2.Withhold the click and treat until he/she pushes the letter a little further toward the slot this time.


3.Have him/her put two front paws on the mailbox and click and treat him/her for staying up for gradually longer periods of time.  If you have a small dog, you may want to hold him/her close to the box and click him/her for putting his/her feet on the top.


4.Hand your dog a letter and tell him/her to Take It.  Click and Treat him/her for taking the letter, then for holding the letter for long periods of time.


5.Call him/her to put his/her paws on the box while holding the letter, and click and treat.


6.Work on this step until the dog is easily balancing on his/her hind legs while holding the letter.


7.Now try to get the dog to leave the letter on the tray by telling him/her Leave It and clicking and treating him/her for letting the letter go.  You may need to adapt this trick for small dogs by holding them close to the box.


8.Practice all the steps until the whole thing is fluid and the dog responds to your command Take It by following through with all the other steps.


9.Replace the cue Take It with the new cue Mail It by saying the new cue right before the old cue and gradually fading the old cue.


10.Congrats, you've taught your dog Mail It!!

Shelters

I got Diva from a shelter in Texas, but we weren't sure if it was the right choice, because when we went to meet her she wouldn't play and didn't seem like a very happy dog.  We still got her and now I love her just as much as all my dogs. Don't tell my other pets, but I MIGHT like her even a little more:) So about  3 days after we brought her home she started doing things differently like playing with toys.  She was starting to act like a happy dog with a home.  Diva started to act like a dog with smarts also.  She's a mix of a Dachshund and an Aussie I think.  I've been doing agility for about 2 years with Diva and were able to go into open soon.  I got my cat Cailee at a different shelter in Texas and we did the same thing we did with Diva she didn't act very playful.  Now about a year later she's a lovely cat.  I recommend shelters, because you never know you might find your best friend there.