Training

Ziggy and I have been keeping up with practicing the few tricks we got down a couple weeks ago. Now we are improving in some areas and standing still in others.

On the one hand, today he has started listening to my commands without me having to hold a treat in my hand (speak is the easiest one for him, sit he doesn't care for, didn't try shake, and he really seems to care for down the least, treat or no).

And on the other hand, I cannot for the life of my get him to spin, the trick I had decided on next. He doesn't do this on his own so I can't use it to my advantage. He doesn't follow a treat in a circle---he may begin to but then he just sits down and follows it with his eyes, flopping his head to either side if I lead it too far behind him for him to see, but will NOT get up for it, and eventually loses interest.

I am starting to wonder if I should come back to this one later, and work on something that he is more naturally inclined to do. (Sometimes when I ask for shake, he gets a little too eager and puts both of his paws in my hand at once and let's me make him stand that way kinda, so maybe something with that? He will also do a kind of wave if really excited for a treat and I don't give it to him or ask him to do a trick).

Help!

0 members like this

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ludi on October 19, 2012 at 10:25pm

If you want a dog to stick to your hand like glue for luring, you've got to use a treat that they cannot possibly resist. For my two, it's probably soft cheese. It's smelly, it's gooey, and you can let the dog lick tiny bits through your fingers as you lure. Now, it's important to fade the lure pretty quickly in this scenario or you'll be dependant on using stinky cheese for him to do the trick. But yeah, I would just amp up the treat for behaviours where you want to lure.

For other tricks, try to catch any quirky behaviours. If he is willing to stand up with his paws in your hand, try extending both hands and ask him to stand like that (to avoid confusion with shake). Then, you can gently shuffle from side to side to let him get used to moving his back feet. And ta-da, he's dancing!