Dogs And Tricks

[persephone]

Spurred on by that video of the dancing dog . ( which I did not enjoy)

Just wondering.....

For many years I trained dogs to walk in harnesses, negotiate crowds, do all sorts of things so as to be Guides for folks with vision impairments.

I then trained dogs to walk with folks in wheelchairs, or with folks who were incapacitated due to strokes or other problems.I taught dogs to be stabilisers for folks with balance problems. I taught dogs to pick things up.. to press buttons/light switches etc.

My pet dog only had one 'trick' .. & that was only to pick up things like a wallet or a screwdriver or a can of food .....

Hamlet has only one trick... he taught himself

I have also taught my own sheepdogs, and taught dogs to retrieve shot rabbits .

Am I the only person who has dogs that do not shake hands/fetch/play dead or any other things to make people laugh?

Help me understand You don't have to answer ... I just am trying to understand ...

What tricks does your dog do ?

Why did you teach that trick/those tricks in particular?

Was it something your dog gravitated naturally toward?

Did you teach as a pup, or as an older dog?

[Rebanne]

I consider anything you teach a dog could be called a trick.

[persephone]

I consider anything you teach a dog could be called a trick.

Oh- Ok .

[Teebs]

When i get the time i like to play around with kaos, she is full on ALL the time, and teaching her things tires her out mentally, she can play dead, bark on command (this was taught to teach her to shut up as she used to talk all the time) and used to be able to pick things up and bring them to me (i have been very lazy with this and done no training for ages on it) besides that she can sit and thats about it!

Atlas is great at obedience, sit, stay, come, i dont do heel much anymore with him, but once he knows what i want he can do it, but he has never really gotten tricks... or i have given up teaching him cause he is such a slow learner

he wont even fetch, or catch food if it is thrown at him (it bonces off his face and then he eats it off the floor!)

I was actually just at work, Kaos was loving the attention she was getting by playing dead on command

I enjoy teaching Kaos things, i just have such a hard time thinking of things and getting the time to do it!

[oakway]

No your not the only one.

[RiverStar-Aura]

This is a pretty cool topic! Dogs are such clever creatures.

My beloved Poochie wasn't a fetcher; if I threw something for her to retrieve she'd look where it landed then look back at me with a "well you threw it, go get it" look. Too smart for her own britches!

She also wasn't much of a trick dog in general, she just enjoyed my family's company.

One thing she did was lean against a wall in a sideways sit, which in the 7 small months she was alive with my puppy Zeus around, managed to teach him to do too. So even though she's not around, every time Zeus leans against a wall, I see her.

Zeus on the other hand, because I'm old enough to play a part in his upbringing, I've been teaching him the standard set of tricks: sit, drop, stay, shake hands, roll over and play dead. I'm finding it hard to introduce new tricks now that he's older because if he can't understand what I want he'll go through all the tricks he's learned trying to work out which one will get him the treat. It's cute that he gets frustrated but it's frustrating for me when he doesn't pick up on the new trick! :lol:

[Dame Aussie]

Ours only know sit, lay down and shake hands, to be honest the shaking hands happened kind of naturally, as pups they both gave their paws so we just encouraged it.

I like my dogs to be themselves, they're funny enough to watch without many tricks .

[pie]

My older dog knows a few tricks, roll over, play dead, shake, jump into my arms etc, but I didn't teach him them so that he would entertain people, I taught them to him to give his mind something to do, something to keep his brain stimulated on rainy days when I don't want to go outside also when he is feeling a bit nervous / needs motivating for training / trials getting him to do some quick tricks that he has been well rewarded for in the past can work sometimes.

I taught them mostly through shaping with a clicker, such fun watching his brain go a million miles an hour trying to figure out what I'm after.

The younger dog isn't quite as 'quick' as the older one so she only really knows roll over Everything else I have taught her is agility / obedience related.

[poodlefan]

No your not the only one.

Nope, definitely not.

No tricks taught in this house.

Lily will bark on cue but that was kind of an accident.

I'm not really into "performing" animals in that kind of way. Dog sports yes but not behaviours I consider "amusing".

[WreckitWhippet]

What tricks does your dog do ?

speak, commando crawl, walk backwards, go around me, drop dead, high five, leave the room. I've taught some many things, others one or two.

Why did you teach that trick/those tricks in particular?

The vocal one's I teach to speak, I've found they don't talk unless talked too or bark as much.

For other's it's been whatever takes my fancy at the time

Was it something your dog gravitated naturally toward?

For the most part yes. Dogs that have liked to paw me, I've taught to "high five", the barkers to speak etc

Did you teach as a pup, or as an older dog?

Both adults and puppies. I don't believe in the saying " you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

[TerraNik]

I teach my dogs tricks (they have a very long list - too long to type here) to stimulate their brain. They absolutely love training and get very excited when I tell them we are starting a session. I also found that trick training (or any training for that matter) helped build the bond I have with my dogs.

[koalathebear]

Elbie knows quite a few tricks ...

My OH was initially opposed to teaching him tricks because he felt that it was unfair to make the dog perform for our entertainment. Our problem was that Elbie is a very active little kelpie x ... we're in the suburbs and we have no work for him to do, he's left in the backyard when we are at work and we can only take him for a walk every couple of days.

We discovered that teaching him tricks tired him out in a way that nothing else seems to. He seems to really enjoy doing tricks - when it's 'trick' time, you can see how focussed and business-like he is about it - he delivers up various tricks in an attempt to have the right one. It means that he doesn't engage in destructive behaviours (no excessive digging/chewing/barking/escaping etc) and he seems very happy to hang out in the yard until it's time for him to come in the house. If we didn't teach him tricks, I'm not sure what we would do to keep him entertained ...

In terms of tricks like putting things in a box or telling left from right, it's quite fascinating to watch him 'learn' and 'understand' what it is we want him to do. We don't teach him tricks like limping which would require us to wrap a leash around his leg and make him limp for a bit ... we try to teach tricks that he can either learn by imitation or by capturing his existing behaviour.

Edited September 28, 2010 by koalathebear

[Kavik]

Most of the stuff I teach, even 'tricks' serve some purpose in the sport I am training for. Many of the more pointless tricks help a lot with balance/body awareness which is important for agility.

Shake paws

Beg

Bow

Backup

Spin

Crawl

Play dead

Roll over

Balance on objects with all four feet (eg block of wood)

Walk through ladder

Touch objects and hand with nose or paw

Pick objects up

Stick head in bucket (as part of picking up object and putting it away/in bucket)

They are taught by either luring or shaping with a clicker.

[superminty]

Like a few others - working dog in suburbia, occasionally weather is too miserable to go outside for a walk, so trick training it is to tire his brain out and make him sleep (oh bliss, I love it when he's asleep).

And because it is training after all so improves the bond between us so that we get along better.

Other than basic manners, I agree that anything you teach a dog that it doesn't already do naturally (or is something it does do naturally and you put it on cue) is a trick.

Edit to add - most of my favourite tricks are completely useless and are taught more to challenge me as a trainer i.e. get a beer out of an esky. Ok, so that one is not completely useless...

Edited September 28, 2010 by superminty

[Cleo's Corgwyn]

Yep, I often train tricks when the weather isn't conducive to outside activity. My girl is smart, and mental stimulation is almost as good as physical.

My obedience club requires tricks to pass the first couple of levels of training, on the basis that yes, anything we train is a *trick*, but training something that people see as fun, helps to keep it fun for both people and dogs!

I like training tricks though!

[flatchat]

No tricks here either. We do show, obedience and retrieving stuff but not tricks as such, I don't like them.

[rastus_froggy]

What tricks does your dog do ?

Frog: Fetch ball put it in a basket and bring it to me, speak, jump over another dog or dogs, "crazy" which is where she jumps up puts all fours on my tummy pushes off and does a spin, heaps of the 101 Box Tricks stuff, opening drawers, from a drop if you say boing she springs up into the air, she can play the drum (she puts her feet on a paint can and steps them up and down)

Stimpy: spin on her back feet, while in a sit if you say 'who knows the answer' she puts her paw up and she then waves it around to get your attention - like a kid busting to give the teacher an answer, she can do shy, jump on my back, sit on a peanut ball without it being held (that's pretty new and I am so proud of her for it), box tricks, speak, skip in the skipping rope with me.

Chevy: He knows to drop the ball/ kong/ frisbee in front of you then run around behind you or he doesn't get to play again.

Why did you teach that trick/those tricks in particular?

Chevy's was because he kept getting the ball kicked into his face, so for practical reasons.

Froggy and Stimpy get taught stuff because it is my way of challenging them and it's fun for me and them!!

Was it something your dog gravitated naturally toward?

Stimpy and Froggy are both naturally very jumpy dogs so anything involving jumping really suits them.

Did you teach as a pup, or as an older dog?

Pup... what's that?? I haven't owned a pup since 1992, mine are all dogs when they come to me.

[Staranais]

What tricks does your dog do ?

Why did you teach that trick/those tricks in particular?

Was it something your dog gravitated naturally toward?

Did you teach as a pup, or as an older dog?

Wow, let me see. My girl's tricks include:

competition sit,

competition down,

competition stand,

attention heel and pivots,

attention front,

dumbbell retrieve,

"be a meerkat" (beg!),

walk backwards,

spin left,

have a piggyback,

target with her front feet,

target with her back feet,

climb on this,

climb off this,

bark,

quiet,

find my keys,

find your toy,

bring it,

& heel between my legs.

Those are the ones I can think of right now.

I teach tricks constantly, and for lots of reasons. I think teaching tricks is good for her brain - the more she learns, the easier it is for her to learn. Doing tricks teaches her that working with me is fun. And expanding her vocabulary allows us to communicate more easily. Many of our tricks are useful things, or small components of competition behaviours, in case I care to compete with her later. And many help her develop physical coordination.

Silvia Trkman is my inspiration when it comes to dog tricks! http://silvia.trkman.net/

[blacklabrador]

I used to teach T bone tricks when I lived alone, was bored in the evenings. He loves the interaction and we used to play all sorts of games together. Hide and seek was a great one but I could never teach him the concept of hiding himself. He was great at finding me though.

The other dogs just do normal obedience commands but T bone is different. He has a real working drive, is a bit of a clown and has a great aptitude for learning new things, even at 7 years old.

[persephone]

Thanks

I do see that working type dogs in suburbia can benefit from the stimulation ...

I love this!

"be a meerkat" (beg!),

he,he,he.Reminds me of my Kieran ( around 40 kg of dane x) Whenever he was supposed to lie down, I would always say "resting puppy"

I am also pleased that ours is not the only trick free household .

Mind you, our dogs have the chance to chase feral cats/rabbits. Most of the adults work sheep ..so they are learning new stuff always