tricks are for kids!

RK · Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 12:51 pm Post subject: tricks are for kids!

okay, we all know weimies learn pretty fast...so i need new things to teach schroeder (the last one was HIGH FIVE which he got in like five minutes).

i'm interested in ROLL OVER and the thing with putting a treat on his nose and having him balance it there until i release. i don't know how to do this because he is too squirrely and won't stay still. tips on how to teach either trick???

other tricks anyone has taught their weimie??

piper22705 · Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 12:57 pm Post subject: Re: tricks are for kids!

We are working on salute. She holds her paw over her eye and hold it there for as long as i do. Its a fun party trick. we started trianing it with a piece of masking tap over her eye. (it doesnt stick and rip out hair).

good luck

BustaGirl · Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 7:36 am Post subject: Re: tricks are for kids!

busta is great at walking backwards on a hand command, it adds a bit more fun to a trick when u get her to walk b/wards first then go into a rollover Smile

TishaBishaKate · Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 8:59 am Post subject: Re: tricks are for kids!

In using the NILIF technique (WONDERFUL, btw) TB will do a "down" even before I give the command, when she wants a treat. She is so funny - she will do a sit and look at me with those compelling eyes and when I ask her what she wants - she immediately goes into a down. Sometimes she does it hurridly and it looks like she is bowing and that's even funnier. She learned the "down" in less than 5 minutes when I first started getting her to do it.

She also does a "give kiss" - where she will come up to me and brush her mouth on my cheek. (Sorry, I can't do the kiss in the mouth thing!)

Of course, when she wants/needs to go outside, she will go to the door and rattle the shutter blinds.

Yes, they are so smart and catch on quickly, don't they? I told my husband I believe she knows exactly what we are saying - especially whenever her name is mentioned!!!!

RK · Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 11:44 am Post subject: Re: tricks are for kids!

how are you all teaching these tricks?!

BustaGirl · Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 9:20 pm Post subject: Re: tricks are for kids!

The way I teach my tricks is to reward it with a word instantley, my word is "YES" when ever she does what I want. I also reward with treats straight away.

For teaching Busta to walk b/wards I would take a few steps forward with her in front of me very slowley & when she would take a step back I would use my reward word & give her a treat. I would buid up the distance more & more as time went on & add a command word like "BACK UP" when she did the trick & added a hand signal.

Hope this helps Very Happy

How is it all going by the way with other tricks?

emily · Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 5:19 am Post subject: Re: tricks are for kids!

I tried to teach Scout backwards but as soon as I step forward he sits(what a turkey). And another thing, he will not learn how to shake paws. He'd rather shake your hand with his mouth.

heathr · Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 10:53 am Post subject: Re: tricks are for kids!

Riddick has been doing really great with all of his commands (sit, sit-stay,come, wait, etc..), except DOWN, he flat out refuses to do it. The place where I take him for obedience is positive reinforcement, but without treats... he has learned all of his commands this way and does great with them!!! But for some reason even with treats he refused to do down... I need help with this, because if he can't master this command we won't move on to obedience II. The other thing that is weird, is when I finally get him down he will stay and do down-stay just fine, it's really just getting him to down that is the trick... help me!!!!

emily · Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 12:14 pm Post subject: Re: tricks are for kids!

What kind of treats are you using? When we did our puppy classes the trainer said to have different level of treats. Like cheerios covered with parm cheese are an easy okay treat. Then a super-duper treat, like hotdog pieces. With Scout his super treat was boiled chicken. I would cut it into tiny peices before boiling. He will do ANYTHING for this. So maybe the treat isn't enticing enough?

Also, how are you doing the down? What is your command(voice or hand signal)? Maybe he just isn't sure what you want him to do. This is what I did with Scout:

Have him sit first.
Crouch down next to him on his left side(you are both facing the same direction)
With your right arm(treat in hand), put your arm around his shoulders
Take your right hand(with the treat), and put it in front of his nose.
Tell him down and move the treat foward.
If he scooches forward without going down you can exert a little pressure on his shoulderblades with your right arm. You kind of go down with him.

So do this a bunch of times and hopefully this will help start you off. Best of luck!

piper22705 · Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 12:29 pm Post subject: Re: tricks are for kids!

Piper learned down very quick. Here is how we did it.

1.) Put her in a sit in front of you
2.) Show her the treat
3.) Put the treat in your hand between fingers
4.) With treat in hand, extend you arm straight towards her face so she can see it.
5.) lower your hand to the ground in front of her paws while saying down only once.
6.) Say "YES" and treat.

The only way for her to get the treat is to lay down.

I liked this b/c it teaches her a hand signal for down and the verbal command as well.

Good luck, Kyle

heathr · Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 12:54 pm Post subject: Re: tricks are for kids!

great, thank you guys... I am not sure if my real problem is more that he doesn't understand or if he is being stuborn??? I have tried all kinds of treats, apples (one of his favorites), chicken, lunch meat, these nasty liver treats he goes crazy for, etc. Where I run into the problem is for class we can't use treats, hand signals or body motions (she wants them to learn the words first and signals later) and I think that Riddick is a very visual learner, because our trainer has commented on what great eye contact he has with me while doing commands. Basically the test we have to pass is, heeling, coming to a halt on your left side, having the dog sit, then down, then you step in front of the dog, tell them to stay, back away from your dog, pause, walk back around the back of your dog stopping at their right side and release them (all without treats or hand commands, just words) Basically when he is at my left side sitting, I need to be able to look at him tell him to down without signals or touching him and he needs to down.... He can do all this wonderfully until he has to down on word command only, if I point to the ground he downs, or if I bend at the waist and lean slightly forward he will down, but on just command he won't do it. I am sure when I first started working with him I did one of those motions repeatedly and so now he associates the downing with a motion, but I am trying to break him of that and not sure how.

emily · Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 6:30 am Post subject: Re: tricks are for kids!

Okay, so Scout and I were goofing around last night. We were playing tug with his rope toy. And I noticed it was natural for him to want to walk backwards during this game. So I thought to myself, maybe if I associate the word BACK with him wanting to pull backwards he'd put two and two together! Well he couldn't have impressed me more. After about two minutes I could hold the toy and walk towards him saying BACK and he backed up. Eventually I will try and teach him to step back without having to walk towards him. But I was so amazed at how quickly he picked it up now as opposed to 4 months ago. Just thought I'd post this in case anyone else wanted to try training it this way.

BustaGirl · Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 7:16 am Post subject: Re: tricks are for kids!

Fantastic work emily Smile

RK · Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 10:42 am Post subject: Re: tricks are for kids!

i still can't get a ROLL OVER. any suggestions?

heathr · Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2005 11:20 am Post subject: Re: tricks are for kids!

we are working on roll over also and it is not going great... would love suggestions.