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Trick training ideas

Smushface

Member
Just wanting some advice or ideas on tricks I can train Mushroom, she already does the usual sit, stay, drop, speak and jumps through a hoop. Have any of you got ideas for other cool things I can train her?

Peace xo

Nat, Mushy and Mogwai
 
My Lucky is a certified Novice Trick dog ... don't want to hijack your post, but if you want I can post a video of him doing some tricks if they help you

some tricks he does are:

weave through my legs
jump over my legs
army crawl
jump through a hoop
skateboard
one that I call "circus elephant" (basically front paws on a round flat object & walks around it with back feet)
spin (left and right)
shake hands
Wave
paws up (on an object)
Say your prayers (paws up with head down - you can lure with a treat to get this action)
Take a Bow

Shake is pretty easy to start with, as is Spin. A young dog will probably do play dead and roll over more easily ... Lucky struggles with that. It's just not a trick he enjoys.
 
A great book is Brain Games for Dogs by Claire Arrowsmith -- available through the Cavalier Matters shop (profits go to cavalier rescue and health research; they ship anywhere).

A cavalier was one of the demonstration dogs for the book's illustrations! :D

http://cavalier-gift-shop.org/for-your-cavalier/brain-games-book/prod_211.html

Brain%20Games%20for%20Dogs.jpg
 
Luke has an intermediate trick dog title I think. kikopup on YouTube has a lot of good ideas.
Right now Luke is working on going around objects. He'll go around one way but not the other, and spinning without hand signals. Also sitting up and begging, but he has a really hard time balancing for that one. One thing you can do once they learn some stuff is to combine it. Ask for two commands, or three. We did this last year at clicker expo. Luke's first one that he did at the expo was go (to a chair I pointed at) + sit (on the chair) and wave. I was trying to get him to do a backward crawl with back + down, but he had a different interpretation. He backed up, then laid down. He just won't crawl. I did get him to back up while doing a bow though. He can figure 8 through my legs, but couldn't figure out how to do that backwards. He can't go backwards and curve, and also couldn't do back while going around an object (he backed up the walked around it). It's interesting to see how he interprets these combos should be done.
 
Wow Luke knows so much! I hope I can train my dogs to do some more advanced tricks like that :) I'm trying to teach mushy ATM to bark once twice or three times depending how many fingers I hold up and what I ask for but she has no idea, I am probably doing it wrong, but giving it a shot anyway, it's hard though to train her with the other two dogs here ATM also wanting treats.

Ive been combining jump through a hoop sit and speak and jump through the hoop again and she got that quite fast :)
 
Today Luke worked on putting his back feet on a box. He loves to do stuff with boxes. He can go in the box, all 4 feet on the box, front 2 feet on the box, and now he did back feet on the box. I hope this will help him in agility, to do his contacts. He can run across the room over the box and end with his back feet on it. He can also back onto it with his back feet if he's not far from it. All of the stuff he does with the box are from something called 101 things to do with a box. If you google it, you'll find lots of links on it, but this one just happens to have other ideas on the bottom of the page.
http://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/101_things_to_do_with_a_box
I'd like to train Luke to do a hand stand, though I don't know if he can do it. If I wanted to do it, I can put his box against the wall, and then start angling it up.
 
I enjoy trick training so it's nice to see some inspiration here!

Thought I'd add http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jo6BVt9cnU . It's a papillon, not a cavalier, but impressive! I'd love to teach my dogs even half of what this little guy can do.

My favourite trick with Drake (my brainiac) at the moment is his "High Five!" It was pretty easy to train, holding a treat between my middle and ring fingers and letting him investigate it with his nose, clicking and treating when he started to reach for it with his paw, gradually waiting a bit longer to give him the treat until his pad slapped firmly against my palm. I was so happy and excited at his little cool dog trick that I think it's rapidly become my favourite thing - he knows it, every time I ask him for a high five I get it instantly, and still squeal with delight every time :D
 
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