Trick Training Videos

Canyx said:

How do you teach him to throw things KB? I am thinking now that there is no flat screen TV in the vicinity now might be a good teach Soro that!

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First I started with getting the picking it up behavior (waiting through all the pawing and sitting and lying down and all that).
Once I got it, marked and rewarded and then did that like 20x to make him really think he's figured it out.
Then I did the evil "oh yeah, by the way I don't want that anymore" look away.
So he put it down. That's not good enough either. Look away.
He picked it up again - but nope. Looked away.'
He put it down kinda forcefully. Mark and reward.
He picked it up eagerly. Mark and reward.
He put it down, but not hard. Nope. Look away.
He snatched it up. Nope - time to get past just holding it, Wally.
He shook it. Mark and reward while shaking. Of course, he put it down while getting the treat.
He picked it up again. Nope. Look away.
He's getting wound up now, I hear him making these breathy "rawr-rawr-rawr" sounds really fast - like a pant and a sound mixed together. That's his "WHY THE **** DIDN'T IT WORK" sound.
He picked it up and shook it HARD. Mark and reward. (When he does it with the rabbit skins or his fox, it sounds like someone shaking out a towel)
He did it again, but still holding it. I mark and reward that a few more times, then, nope - look away.
He shook it hard and "dropped" it. Mark and jackpot. Just got his first throw.
Now he's doing that - mark and regular rewards a few more times.
Then he's trying to "work backwards" and is picking it up and dropping it. Sly dog. BUT NOPE. Look away.
He shakes it and lets go while shaking. Mark and jackpot trying to time it just as he's letting go. (Trying to watch a moving mouth while he does his kill move on the poor thing is hard).

At that point we stop, but that's the new criteria going forward.

For this point on, I start requiring it at the most wound up time ever. Dinner time. He has to give me at least a few GOOD throws before he can eat. And of course, it's not just ye olde dog food. Like tonight it was steak and cheesy rice and cabbage. Other times it was cod and buttered rice. Oh yeah, he's whimpering and whining and LOOKING for things to throw.

Oh, but I don't stop there. Oh no, I wouldn't be the evil taskmaster if I did. Now I start picking up the things he throws a few times and taking them out of the picture. When I first did that, he looked down at the spot, tilted his head and barked like he was saying "What did you do with it?!" and he starts looking around for something else to throw. My mom fell out laughing when she saw him get really violent with it. She lost it when I had taken all the toys and he still didn't get to eat and he started grabbing his wool little throw rug he lays on (this is what eventually led to him grabbing the edges of rugs and trying to "throw" them which I'm trying to morph into him folding it).

There you go, the saga of Wally's throwing.