Tricks of the Month for July: Bow and Balance a treat on the nose!

Squeeker · 07-12-2009, 08:51 PM

I have a bit of a month off as Libby knew both of these tricks already. (I'm still working on cross paws from last month, though...)

I taught "take a bow" by luring her down and placing my arm under her belly to keep her back end up. She caught on really fast. I still sometimes need to remind her to not go into a full down. I do need to work on making the hand signal a little less exaggerated, though.

Balancing a treat on her nose was also a pretty quick one for us. I described how I taught it in the link I posted at the beginning of the thread. She usually catches the treat after I release her, but she didn't here!

ShadowSky · 07-12-2009, 08:59 PM

I hope to be participating in this, I just need to get a start on it! I'll be teaching Jake to bow first. I don't know if I'll get to the other this month.

Bird-Dog · 07-12-2009, 09:08 PM

Question for the group -

Since Hershey is adamantly against the physical manipulation (yes, something we'll be addressing separately

) and a treat on the ground in front of her equals "down" I've been coaxing her to crawl by dragging the treat forwrd after she's in a down. After a few crawls she sticks her butt in the air on a perfect bow for a few seconds.

The question: do you think this is a suitable way to train "bow" and will it cause problems later when I try to teach "crawl"?

txcollies · 07-12-2009, 10:51 PM

I taught play bow in a day by luring. My first dog I would lure while keeping my hand up under his flanks. Bingo.

My young male puppy offered bows for fun, and caught on in 10 min when I did a formal session with him.

FourIsCompany · 07-13-2009, 07:06 AM

Great vids, Squeeker! Libby's little tail in the play bow is so cute!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bird-Dog

The question: do you think this is a suitable way to train "bow" and will it cause problems later when I try to teach "crawl"?

I think it absolutely is! Any way you can encourage the position (without hurting the dog, of course) is good. As soon as she sticks that butt up, click! Then later, for the crawl, you'll be clicking sooner, in the first steps of the crawl. That's how I would do it.

I've been busy (researching raw and training the neighbor's puppy) and haven't been working on this, so I'll have to start over. I'm so bad.

Bird-Dog · 07-13-2009, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FourIsCompany

I think it absolutely is! Any way you can encourage the position (without hurting the dog, of course) is good. As soon as she sticks that butt up, click! Then later, for the crawl, you'll be clicking sooner, in the first steps of the crawl. That's how I would do it.

Great, thanks. I was at a loss on how to get the silly mutt to cooperate!

As far as Hershey is concerned, "hurting the dog" is subjective and I'm the chief torturer. She doesn't have it down yet so she offers up everything under the sun trying to figure out what the crazy lady wants.

JustAnotheRunner · 07-13-2009, 09:32 AM

This might be information overload for the first post, but since this was my first month finding this, I was naturally curious to what I had missed.

Squeeker,
Would you ever consider ending your monthly tricks post with links to the previous months? Example:

- (Tricks of the Month for June - Cross Paws and Beg/Sit Pretty!)
- (Tricks of The Month for May - Lick Lips and Open Door)
- (Tricks of the Month for April - Speak and Close Door)

Also, These are what I got from a quick search. Should I go back further? Does it go back years? or just months?

FourIsCompany · 07-13-2009, 10:02 AM

They started in November of last year. If you do a search on "Tricks of the Month" you'll find them all.

BigBlackDogGal · 07-13-2009, 11:00 AM

I tried the balance trick with Rufus this weekend, and it seems to be another one of those things he already knows (mysterious shelter dog knows millions of tricks). HOWEVER, he won't hold it on there for long. The minute I take my hand off the treat he flips it into his mouth. I tried the strategy that FourIsCompany used - starting with paper, but he just flips the paper into his mouth and then I have to dig it out. Any suggestions?

I also tried it with my parent's SCWT, but the treat sticks to her long fur and then she looks around like "hey, what's going on?" until it flies off. Tee hee.

Squeeker · 07-13-2009, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Question for the group -

Since Hershey is adamantly against the physical manipulation (yes, something we'll be addressing separately ) and a treat on the ground in front of her equals "down" I've been coaxing her to crawl by dragging the treat forwrd after she's in a down. After a few crawls she sticks her butt in the air on a perfect bow for a few seconds.

The question: do you think this is a suitable way to train "bow" and will it cause problems later when I try to teach "crawl"?

The problem I see down the road is that, if you teach "bow" to the point where you fade the crawl, GETTING her to crawl will be very confusing to her as you got rid of it in the first place.

Of course, there are many different ways to teach crawl, so as long as you use a different method you will be fine!

Quote:

Would you ever consider ending your monthly tricks post with links to the previous months?

Yah, I could do that. Thanks for the suggestion!

Quote:

I tried the balance trick with Rufus this weekend, and it seems to be another one of those things he already knows (mysterious shelter dog knows millions of tricks). HOWEVER, he won't hold it on there for long. The minute I take my hand off the treat he flips it into his mouth. I tried the strategy that FourIsCompany used - starting with paper, but he just flips the paper into his mouth and then I have to dig it out. Any suggestions?

I also tried it with my parent's SCWT, but the treat sticks to her long fur and then she looks around like "hey, what's going on?" until it flies off. Tee hee.

Did you try the tape on the paper? I think that's how FIC did it with the paper.

What I did was place my index finger on Libby's nose at first to keep her steady, releasing her to the treat when I removed my finger, and then gradually increasing the amount of time between when I removed my finger and when I released her.

As for your parent's dog... what about trying something bigger or more obvious to start, like a box of floss, an empty box of tic tacs, a playing card...

Bird-Dog · 07-14-2009, 09:39 PM

So I gave the hand under the belly manipulation another try, and after a few tries she started getting the hang of it. In the process though, I discovered the next trick we're going to work on...

"handstand"

Yep, Hershey can get almost vertical on her front paws.

GottaLuvMutts · 07-14-2009, 11:46 PM

We need to revisit "take a bow". It was taught in obedience, but was too hard for us as beginners. I'll bet we could manage now, though. Since "bow" sounds so much like "down", the trainer suggested "Who's the boss?" as a command. Thought that was cute.

We've done a bit on the other trick, too, but haven't gotten far yet.

On a side note, I hereby declare popcorn to be an unsuitable treat for teaching new tricks. Kit goes wild and we end up getting nothing done!

JustAnotheRunner · 07-15-2009, 08:44 AM

My thoughts on the Balance Treat were to start with just getting him to balance, and then move on to catching it mid-air because I always thought it was the coolest when my childhood family dog did that.

I asked my dad and he said it's as simple as catching the treat if he drops it and making him start over. I started this a little and sure enough, he seemed a little more motivated to snap at it as it fell off.

My question is that I'm worried he won't get enough reinforcement that he is doing a great job balancing it if I keep catching it. But then again, if I am not consistent, will he get the point? Anyone have any thoughts? Experiences?

CoverTune · 07-15-2009, 02:52 PM

Hey, I know I've been kind of MIA through this thread, but I'm still here!!

I spent no more than 5 minutes with Corona today working on 'take a bow' and she has it down! I was even recording it... but sadly, as I have no camera person, I didn't realize until afterwards that she was completely out of frame the whole time, DOH! lol So, I'll try again later today to get it ON camera, lol.

In the meantime.. I thought I'd share my progress with my 11 week old puppy Aria who, to date, only knows "sit" (and only sometimes lol).
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRBQ-tkyqkg[/YOUTUBE]

Alright, here's some video of Corona, let me know what ya think!

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pGHku1ebi4[/YOUTUBE]

MaddieTheDog · 07-16-2009, 01:45 PM

Maddie takes a bow all the time-when she stretches. We tried incorporating it into a trick. We say "Bow" but she lays down...perhaps bow and down sound alike to her. So we tried 'yoga'....and give her praise/treats but she wont do it on command.

FourIsCompany · 07-16-2009, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoverTune

Alright, here's some video of Corona, let me know what ya think!

I think that's just about the cutest thing I've ever seen! How sweet! That's inspiring me to go work with mine... Aria is adorable, too!

KBLover · 07-16-2009, 02:00 PM

Wally won't let me put anything on his nose because he's too busy trying to sniff it and then eat it.

As far as bow goes - I could probably capture it, but then it's the same motion as the folding down - would have to figure out how to stop him from folding all the way, but then to do it when I want him too. The actions are so similar, I wouldn't want him to get mixed up.

The holding him up would work, but that might make him stand back up square. Hmm...

KBLover · 07-18-2009, 12:57 AM

Does this count?

If I stand up and stretch, he'll get up, come over to me and stretch/bow.

No idea why he does that, but he will, almost every time.

LoveMyBirdDog · 07-21-2009, 02:49 PM

worked with Scout today and was able to teach him "take a bow" rather quickly. However, he occasionally wants to lay down instead. Here is a video. Quality is somewhat poor and my basset hound is laying in the floor too so just ignore her head!

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj5svssFGEk[/YOUTUBE]

Squeeker · 07-21-2009, 05:04 PM

Haha, great job!!