Seiki and I stayed at home yesterday night instead of going out. It was great bonding time! We worked on so many tricks. Read below and learn what you can do with your dog on a rainy day or a cold day.
I would love to hear comments on what other tricks people have trained their dogs. Also if anyone doesn’t understand what shaping is or how to do it ask me!
Seiki learns so fast. He can crawl, wave, spin, rewind (spin backward) and roll over on command. One of the cutest things that he does is he makes a low happy growl sound on command. The command for that is “What did you say?’ It cracks me up!
It was really fun to play 101 things to do with a box. If you haven’t played this game with your dog, it is a blast. I had my clicker and I clicked everytime he interacted with a cardboard box that I had on the floor. He pawed it, touched it with his nose, stuck his head in it, pushed it, etc.
It was awesome watching how his mind works. He tried so many different behaviors. Sometimes he would wave and make his growl sound as he was unsure that the rewards were now only coming when he interacted with his box.
When a dog is taught many tricks through shaping, (rewarding approximate steps until you reach the terminal response that you want) they will problem solve and try so many different behaviors. I was laughing pretty hard as he was performing his other tricks instead of interacting with the box.
I began to only C/T him when he put his head in the box and that was so cute! Then I began to only C/T him when he pushed the box toward me.
He had so much fun! I laughed hard. We bonded. Sometimes trick training is so much more fun than a walk. The mental stimulation he gets from it burns many calories as well. Get out your treats and clicker and start trick training your dog now!
Johanna Teresi, Professional Trainer and Owner of Four Legged Scholars LLC, Dog Training, Salt Lake City
We need to get together and teach seiki a swimmers turn trick. LMK when you can!
Not sure yet when I can. Owning my own business keeps me pretty busy. Wondering when to create that. I will be there for flyball on Sunday. It is possible that I may have time on Friday or Saturday night of next week.
Keep bugging me. Sooner or later I will have time at night.
Love ya,
Johanna