Seeker!

This is Seeker!  Seeker is named after someone on a quidditch team who tries to find the snitch!  Seeker is the smallest of the three ducklings.  It is quite funny watching them when they eat and drink.  It looks like their going crazy!

Dog Trick of the Day

4/19/12


Go Get the Phone:

1.Hand your dog the receiver and tell him/her to Take It.  Click and treat your dog for taking it in his/her mouth and holding it for a few seconds.


2.Hand your dog the phone and back away from him/her, encouraging him/her to follow you.  Click and treat him/her for carrying the phone to you.  Make sure the click happens while he/she is moving toward you, not when he/she arrives.


3.Repeat this step again, but now click and treat your dog for delivering the phone to you.


4.Put the phone on the floor and ask him//her to Take It;click and treat him/her for picking up the phone.


5.Put the phone at greater distances and have him/her retrieve it from further away.  Time the click and treat for when your dog puts her mouth on the phone.


6.Increase the difficulty by delaying the click until he/she has the phone and is turning back to you.  You can use a voice prompt like his/her name or the Come command.


7.Label the behavior Get the Phone by saying it right before the commands Take It and Come, until you can gradually fade the old commands and replace them with the new command Go Get the Phone.


8.Practice in short sessions until your dog begins to move toward the phone on the command Go Get the Phone.


9.Good job, you've taught your dog Go Get the Phone!

New Delivery!

Today we got new little ducks!  They are really, really cute, but we don't know which are boys and which are girls or are they all of the same gender?  We don't know.  They have cute names to match their cute bodies too!  The names are Quaffle, Snitch, and Seeker!  I love Harry Potter so this year I am giving my animals Harry Potter related names!  It's like these names were meant to be, because when I was in the car waiting to pick them up I thought of the names and I said," Snitch should be a boy and kind of golden."  And when I got to the house to pick them up one of the little ducks was!  If only I knew if it was a boy!!

Dog Trick of the Day

4/18/12


Go Find the Remote:

1.Hand your dog the remote and click and treat him/her for holding it.


2.Back away a step or two and click and treat him/her for carrying it to you.


3.Put the remote on the couch or coffee table and tell your dog to Take It.  Click and treat him/her for picking it up in his/her mouth.


4.Send him into the living room at greater distances and click and treat him/her when he finds the remote.


5.Call him/her to you as he/she gets the hang of this and click and treat him/her for holding it until you reach out to take it.


6.Replace Take It with the command Remote by offering the new cue right before the old cue "Take It."


7.Good job, you've taught your dog Remote!

Dog Trick of the Day

4/17/12

Get the Mail/Newspaper:


1.Teach your dog to carry nonessential letters and junk mail without stopping to shred them before you use the real thing.  ("The dog ate the mortgage bill" probably won't go over well with your spouse.)  Do this by clicking and treating your dog for taking the letter or newspaper and holding it without mouthing it.


2.Take a step or two away and have her/him bring it to you.  Click and treat the motion of moving toward you.


3.Put the letter on the floor and tell your dog to Take It.  You may want to use junk mail on this part until your dog refines her/his techniques in picking up something so close to the floor.


4.When your dog is retrieving with finesse,  begin to work her with the real mail pile or newspaper.


5.Label this behavior Mail or Paper by saying this new cue right before the current cue Take It; pretty soon your dog will be fetching with enthusiasm and finesse.


6.Well done, you've taught your dog to get the mail/newspaper!

Dog Trick of the Day

4/16/12
Teaching your dog to potty on command:


1.Go outside with your dog to wait for her to go potty.


2.When your dog starts to go say the cue that tells her to do so.  Click and treat.


3.Repeat this until you can just say the cue and he/she will go.


4.Congrats, you've taught your dog to go potty on cue!

Dog Trick of the Day

4/15/12


Play Dead:

1.Get your dog to lie down, then click and treat.


2.Use a treat to roll your dog onto his/her side, then click and treat.


3.Fade the lure by doing six repetitions in a row and then trying the seventh repetition without the lure, clicking and treating the dog for performing the behavior.


4.Reintroduce the lure to get him/her to roll onto his/her back, then click and treat.  Fade the lure after the sixth repetition.

5.Go back and put all three steps together so that he/she performs them all in one continuous motion for one click and treat.


6.Fade the lure by working with food for six repetitions then without food for two repetitions.  Go back and forth until your dog responds the same with or without food.  Note: The way you hold your hand will become the exaggerated cue that starts the behavior.


7.Change the old cue to a new cue by offering the new cue before the motion you used to get the behavior started.  Pointing your thumb and forefinger like a gun and saying "bang!" is very flashy!