Trick Training Bow

[bret]

hi all

i have the 'only trick training book you wil ever need' and have found that a lot of the stuff is good, but i am baffled at the way they teach the 'bow' command/trick

as a quick over view here are the steps involved

after you have tought your dog 'touch' targeting you hand, you can then teach the bow.

1 - in stand position have the dog target your hand 3 inches below his chin, click and treat (i don't use a clicker, but i have a verbal marker 'yes')

2 - gradually make this harder lowering your hand by 7 inches or so at a time,

3 - when your hand hits the ground click and treat for all times the head touches without them going into a 'down'

4 - watch for any elbow movement'

then advance from there.

the problem is that, by the time my hand is on the ground the dog only has to lower her head and she is touching my hand. i am trying to wait for free shaping and let her work out something else, but she only lays down or waits for the marker.

has anyone else taught bow and if they did can they give me an intermediate step in there that will maybe force her to bend her knees, which is what leads to the bow?

cheers

bret

[aquaticmalamute]

I taught my girl to bow using treats (not via clicker training) this is how I did it.

1) Have your dog in a stand position

2) Kneeling on the dogs right hand side, slide your left arm under the dogs belly right at the dogs stifle and support the dog with your arm

3) With treat in your right hand entice the dog down and forward along the ground

4) The dog should slide down onto its elbows, feet in front and rear end being supported by your left arm

5) The instant the elbows hit the ground reward and give the command "Bow"

Gradually you should be able to get the dog to bow with less and less rear support from you. I was able to graduate to hand signals, my signal for bow is point at the dog arm outstreached and sweep the hand toward my feet (standing in front of her) and say bow.

Not sure how you would teach the dog to bow by bending the knees, but I presume the dog supporting most of it's bodyweight on the knees would be detrimental to its joints.

HTH :p

[Kavik]

I taught Zoe to bow quite a while ago so don't remember exactly how I taught it :p

But from memory, I lured her head down with a treat and had to put my foot or something else under her so she wouldn't drop (we had done a lot of obedience, and she thought anything down meant a drop). Eventually she would keep her bum in the air and her head and front down in the bow position. She is really good at it now, it is a favourite trick to show to friends and kids on walks

[bret]

I taught my girl to bow using treats (not via clicker training) this is how I did it.

i dont' user clickers either, but a verbal marker and treats,

1) Have your dog in a stand position

2) Kneeling on the dogs right hand side, slide your left arm under the dogs belly right at the dogs stifle and support the dog with your arm

3) With treat in your right hand entice the dog down and forward along the ground

4) The dog should slide down onto its elbows, feet in front and rear end being supported by your left arm

5) The instant the elbows hit the ground reward and give the command "Bow"

i thought i might have to do something like that, i couldn't see for the life of me how she would understand or offer the bow without her bum still in the air!

thanks i will work on that one.

cheers

bret

[CavsRcute]

I taught my girl, using a clicker and treats. I sat on the floor and bent my knees. In my left hand I had a treat and lured the dog under my knees and clicked. When she went for the treat her bottom was up in the air and her paws came forward into the typical bow position. When she was able to do this regularly I got up off the floor and introduced the hand signal. All up it only took a couple of days to learn, in short bursts.

[pie]

I was lucky in that Kyzer often did it when he was really little, i just started clicking and treating everytime he did it, then brought in the bow command, now it's his favourite trick LOL

[Anissa]

I have shaped id freely to Peaches, she is always streching after a nice sleep. :rolleyes: Took me a while untill she figured out what I want but it's her most favourite trick.

Manu just copied Peaches one day and learned it instantly. That was really funny!

[Lab_Rat]

I taught my kelpie and RR t bow, just by taking advantage of their stretching!

When the kelpie started to stretch (bow) in front of me, I would just say "bow", in a really exagerated voice.

After a few times she caught on, so I started giving her treats shen she did it.

She managed to learn a repetiore of "Bow", "Sit", "Five" (one paw), and "Other Five" ( the opposite paw) quite quickly I thought!

When the ridgie came along I decided to teach her as well, as theyre not renowned for being "trick" dogs!

However, she now does all but the "Other five". And man, does she give you five! Really whacks her huge paw on your hand, aaahhh it cracks me up every time!

We also had a kelpie cross that used to take our sox off!

RG

[B-Q]

i was gonna teach buster bow, i put my arm udner him (which i saw somewhere) and ask him to drop. funniest thing i've ever seen, he whinged for a while then tried to lie down on his side (i don't know) so i still had his backend and his front end was sideways on the ground. lol!

sorry, its not helpful but it cracks me up

[Golden Rules]

i was gonna teach buster bow, i put my arm udner him (which i saw somewhere) and ask him to drop. funniest thing i've ever seen, he whinged for a while then tried to lie down on his side (i don't know) so i still had his backend and his front end was sideways on the ground. lol!

sorry, its not helpful but it cracks me up

The visual of that cracked me up too