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| Trick Training |
| Featuring Elvis, a 10 month old foster |
| This first trick is "Lift your paw" You can turn this into a wave, or shake hands, or to press a lever or play the piano...use your imagination! |
| I begin by offering Elvis a bit of cheese, he accepts it and this sets the tone for positive reinforcement. You can use the clicker, or just say "good" or some other word to let him know when he has done the behaviour you are looking for. I then point to the paw I want him to lift. This will eventually be my cue. |
| In the picture on the left, Elvis is more interested in the treat than in figuring out what I want, so I gently lift his paw and then give him the treat. I will repeat this as often as necessary until he starts to lift his paw before I have a chance to actually touch it. |
| Elvis is extremely food motivated, and also quite smart. In just a few repeats he started lifting his paw when I reached for it. |
| I then placed my hand under his paw. I can use this to create a "wave" by not putting my hand out & rewarding the paw coming up. Once the paw is coming up reliably, then withhold the treat a few seconds & the dog should try lifting higher to get the treat. Once you can get the dog to raise either paw when you point at it, you can use it to perform many tricks that envolve paw movement. High 5's, wave, shake, play the piano, move checkers or other items, pick a card...really you are just limited by your imagination! This is an extremely basic trick that can lead to some spectacular advanced tricks! |
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| Duke showing the finished "high wave" or high 5 |
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| Back to Home Page |
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| Teaching "Jumping thru a hoop" |
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| Clicker training page |
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| Teaching "sit up" |