Dog Tricks!

Now that Treasure and I have earned her CGC, we need a new project to work on.  Treasure and I love our one on one time training together, and having a goal keeps me on track and motivated with things to work on.  With winter coming up and the sun going down earlier, I decided that our next goal will be to work on some new tricks.  I hope to be able to earn a Novice Trick Dog title with Treasure.  She will need to show that she can do 15 tricks from the list of novice level tricks.  There are many to choose from, so I read through the list to see how many I thought she could learn to do without vision and hearing.  There are eight that she can already do ...

 

• Come when called
• Lie down
• Find hidden treats (Yes!  A favorite of hers!)
• Sit
• Spin in circles (she can spin in both directions)
• Stay (Yay!  We just perfected this for her CGC.)
• Walk on a loose leash
• Find which hand contains the treat (Another favorite of hers!)

 

The other ones I have chosen to teach her are:

 

• Walk a balance beam (a low, safe one, of course)
• Crawl
• Put her paws up on an object (may be hard for her because she can't see the item, but I want to try it and see how far we get)
• Roll out a carpet
• Shake hands (We started this one a long time ago, but haven't worked on it so it's about time we finished it up, wouldn't you say?)
• Go through a tunnel (she likes to play in tunnels, but I now need to teach her to go through in one motion on cue without stopping to play in the middle!)
• Go through a hoop (this one may also be challenging, but I have an idea to help her feel her way through, so we'll see how it goes.)

We have started working on Treasure putting her front paws up on an object.  For our first object, I chose a large plastic bowl turned upside down.  It's not too high.  She can feel the bowl against the bottom of her chest when she's standing, so she can tell how high up it is.  At first I made sure she was lined up right in front of the bowl and I used a food lure to get her to stretch upwards until she stepped up onto the bowl.  I pet her and let her have the treat while her feet were still on the bowl. 

 

We've been working on this trick for about three weeks now, but I haven't been able to work with her every day.  She will now quickly put her front feet up on the bowl.  She is beginning to be able to find the bowl from a short distance away, but not consistently.  I am using a cue which she responds to when she is already next to the bowl.  I no longer need to use a lure to get her up onto the bowl.  She knows what to do. 

 

I hope to continue with this trick adding other variables and experimenting to see what else we can do with an upside down bowl!  Watch for updates and pictures as we progress!