I'm trying to spend more time with Pongo getting him to use his brain, so would like to teach him a few new things. He knows 'sit' and 'stay' and 'lie down' and 'sit up again'; and he knows them as hand-signals as well as words. He also knows perfectly well what 'Pongo, Come!' means but chooses to ignore it if there is anything more interesting going on under his nose :-\ . Anyway, I'm going to try teaching him to 'fetch', although I'm not sure quite how to go about that. Any suggestions for the first steps on that one? And what other simple tricks would you suggest I teach him? Much as I love him, I'm not sure that he is the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to learning - he seems just too happy with life to want to bother doing anything.... bless him! He is a very laid-back boy, and it is quite hard to get him really motivated about doing things... especially anything that requires running at more than a leisurely prowl.... Rosie
Re: Suggestions for new 'tricks' Holly picked up fetching pretty quickly. We rolled a ball a few feet, she picked it up, and when she brought it to us she got a big treat. After a few days she got the hang of it so we started rolling it a bit further. Over time she got the idea that "fetch" means "if you bring back whatever I've just thrown you can have a big treat". We then repeated it with our slippers using the command "slippers" rather than "fetch". The big difference is that we didn't throw the slippers but placed them a few feet away. Over time we moved the slippers out of sight, and she got the idea that she had to look for slippers. Now when we come home we say "slippers" and she'll search for them and fetch them. The one problem is that she hasn't yet learned that one pair is mine and the other pair is Ruth's. Whichever pair she finds first is the one she fetches!
Re: Suggestions for new 'tricks' We do spin/twists at our puppy class, spin is anti-clockwise, twist is clockwise. I can't describe how to do it but quick google search on youtube gives an example on how you get started; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67x0EhX7Wto I'm trying to get her to do the play dead/roll over but at the moment am failing miserably but it's fun trying. I also made up one where she had to guess which treat the hand was in by using her nose, but that was basically like giving her a treat for free so we stopped that one but might see if I can come up with a similar alternative where she has to use her nose.
Re: Suggestions for new 'tricks' Hi five is a quite an easy one and a good crowd pleaser,I used this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh5KmlooDac ..and take a bow....although ours can still go into a lie down at times. I did this just by luring Dexter down holding a treat by his nose and a hand gently under his tummy to keep him in osition c&t when he is in position Here's some suggestions from Pippa that can help,they can be games in themselves or help with different things you want to train http://www.thelabradorsite.com/4-fun-games-to-play-with-your-labrador/ Happy training!
Re: Suggestions for new 'tricks' I taught Harley 'paw' and 'high five' by moving her paw and saying the word. She picked this up really quickly. I also play 'go find' either using treats or balls or toys. Have fun
Re: Suggestions for new 'tricks' Try roll over, or weave between your legs as you walk - both can be taught using luring with food initially. If he barks you could try 'speak' on cue For an obedience exercise to go with your sit and drop you could do the stand.
