Vegas is such a fun dog to play with! He is learning new tricks so quickly. I think perhaps he is aspiring to have his own trick dog show in Las Vegas! He finished his Advanced Trick Dog Title in April, so these pics are a bit overdue.
Vegas LOVES to use his paws! Ever since he came to me as a little puppy, he was always using his paws. The usual ways of teaching him not to jump on us and not to grab our legs with his feet were just not working. Then I watched him playing with his litter sister whom we fostered for a short while and saw that he used his feet to keep track of where she was. If she moved and his feet were on her, he knew right where she was. Vegas has some vision, but it's hard for him to locate what he's seeing. He was keeping track of where we were by touching us with his feet. It comes as no surprise then that all of these new tricks involve his feet in different ways. Having learned from Treasure that a visually impaired dog seems to be able to hit a target better when the dog and the target are not moving, we tried this trick with Vegas lying down. He picked it up right away and with a little practice, learned to hit the button with pretty good accuracy.
Playing the piano and wiping his feet on a mat were both pretty similar. He just has to use his paw to stroke something. These he can do in any position - lying down, sitting, standing up. You can see me giving him his thumbs up sign while he wipes his paws on the blanket. He can see the signal best when it's close to his face.
Vegas likes things that move under his feet. He's very confident about it. He enjoys pushing his skateboard and can also roll a peanut and push a shopping cart.
Perhaps the hardest trick for Vegas this time around was chorus kicks. He is to put his paw onto my foot and together we alternate right, left, right, left. He never did get the concept to look down at my feet. He is very attentive and wants to watch my hands for his cues. With a bit of creativity, he learned touch cues on his legs that I gave with my feet and he aced this trick too! What a guy!
you are doing such a wonderful job with both of them
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