treadmill

**Cali** · 08-19-2010, 11:33 PM

Actually for Riot there wasn't much of a process from what I remember. It's been over a year.. I am pretty sure I just lured him onto it (riot was a tard when it came to freeshaping) and just let him nibble the treat while he walked.. Kinda like a horse and carrot type deal lol.
Sorry that's not more help :/
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**fawkese1** · 08-19-2010, 11:40 PM

lol, no that does help... *shrugs* some dogs are like that tho... clover not so much, i'm about to have another little session with him, i'm gonna try some stuff and see where it goes...

thank you for replying

**TonkaTruckJK** · 08-19-2010, 11:46 PM

Oh man...I have a motorized treadmill, and I was using it daily, and Tonka would just stand next to me while I walked, then when I got off, he would get on (it was off).

So, I left it on one day, and he jumped up (it was moving fairly slow), and he just started moving along with it.

After 2 or 3 successes like that, I left the speed @ 3.5 mph and hopped off, he hopped on, there was a little stumble, but he recovered right away and I haven't been able to get him off of it! He loves it...

This was all before I got Chloe...

Once she came along, she started to try to get on behind him, but there wasn't enough room for anything more than her front feet, so she would stay stationary back legs and walk with her front legs for awhile...I guess that got boring, because she learned how to jump on, using Tonka's side as a backstop (and effectively knocking him off) and walk on it by herself...

They actually got pretty good at 'taking turns' without me even intervening...and SOMETIMES they'll walk side-by-side on it, but Tonka's big butt usually gives Chloe a run for her money...

I have video somewhere, I'll look for it.

Foxy Lady, once you get Clover started, good luck getting him to stop!

I can't give many pointers for how to get him started on the non-motorized one, except maybe sewing on a handle every few feet so you can pull it for him to get him going quicker...that might be a lot of work though...

Good Luck!

**fawkese1** · 08-19-2010, 11:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonkaTruckJK

Oh man...I have a motorized treadmill, and I was using it daily, and Tonka would just stand next to me while I walked, then when I got off, he would get on (it was off).

So, I left it on one day, and he jumped up (it was moving fairly slow), and he just started moving along with it.

After 2 or 3 successes like that, I left the speed @ 3.5 mph and hopped off, he hopped on, there was a little stumble, but he recovered right away and I haven't been able to get him off of it! He loves it...

This was all before I got Chloe...

Once she came along, she started to try to get on behind him, but there wasn't enough room for anything more than her front feet, so she would stay stationary back legs and walk with her front legs for awhile...I guess that got boring, because she learned how to jump on, using Tonka's side as a backstop (and effectively knocking him off) and walk on it by herself...

They actually got pretty good at 'taking turns' without me even intervening...and SOMETIMES they'll walk side-by-side on it, but Tonka's big butt usually gives Chloe a run for her money...

I have video somewhere, I'll look for it.

Foxy Lady, once you get Clover started, good luck getting him to stop!

I can't give many pointers for how to get him started on the non-motorized one, except maybe sewing on a handle every few feet so you can pull it for him to get him going quicker...that might be a lot of work though...

Good Luck!

smart dogs! thanks for the reply... i can just see myself pulling a treadmill down the road so my dog can walk on it!

like one of these:

except way bigger and with the dog on treadmill...

i think i just had a bit of a revelation tho, i am now giving the good stuff to him for making the belt move, he easily gets on and off it, so *fingers crossed* this works

Mikey · 08-20-2010, 01:55 AM

We used a moving one, but honestly I never thougth I'd do it-and it was easy.

Free shape him onto the treadmill
Free shape him near it while it was 'on' so he got used to the noise
Then:

Put him on it and start it up-hold harness and praise and treat. And just hope his feeties start moving properly...he got it quickly!! And Mikey, lovely as he is, is not the sharpest pencil-so a similar process should work

**fawkese1** · 08-20-2010, 02:03 AM

well... the difference is that clover has to make the one i have move, it doesn't really move on it's own... i don't have/want a motorized one, too big/expensive, lol, tho i do think it would help him to figure it out at first....

you held mikey on yours with his harness tho? hmm...

Mikey · 08-20-2010, 09:40 PM

Yeah he wore his harness -we didn't really hold, we just put our hand on it (that's enough for him, he's sensitive-so just having our hand on his harness meant stay put)

Maybe you can get him on the treadmill and call him to you-while you are in front so he starts to walk towards you and then it will move-and then go crazy with rewards....

That or maybe you both go on at the same time, him inbetween your legs, and you make it move, hold him in place and click-treat?

**fawkese1** · 08-20-2010, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Yeah he wore his harness -we didn't really hold, we just put our hand on it (that's enough for him, he's sensitive-so just having our hand on his harness meant stay put)

oh no, i was just thinking that if i put clover's harness on him, it will give me a better handle on him to stabilize him while he figures it out, for some reason i was thinking that to you the harness i would have to strap him to the treadmill, this just gives me a different option

Quote:

Maybe you can get him on the treadmill and call him to you-while you are in front so he starts to walk towards you and then it will move-and then go crazy with rewards....

this is sorta what i am doing now, and it is sorta working, like i posted above tho, i think i'm going to try clicking him for making the belt move instead of for just getting on it, and going from there...

Quote:

That or maybe you both go on at the same time, him inbetween your legs, and you make it move, hold him in place and click-treat?

you underestimate the size of clover, and overestimate the size of the treadmill

tho i think this would actually work if there was enough room...

thanks mikey

**fawkese1** · 08-25-2010, 12:02 AM

ok, so we are having some success now... once clover figured out how to climb on the thing, he quickly figured out how to climb on without the belt moving, such a smart guy

too bad that isn't the point! anyway, my camera is full so i haven't been able to video our last few sessions, but i tell you, i was laughing so hard i was crying, he would get on it, if the belt moved he would push his nails into the top roller thing and keep the belt still or stand with one foot off the belt on the side of the thing to steady himself, i finally resorted to giving him little pushes to get him going, at first he was like "wth are you doing that for

??" and he would leap forward into a down and hook his front paws over the front edge... omg! so dramatic... he didn't seem to frightened by it, but i decided that wasn't going to work so for a while i clicked him for standing with just his front feet on the belt and for taking steps while i pushed it, now we are up to him climbing up it a bit while i do that... he still doesn't seem to comfy with it moving under his feet, but he is actually taking steps on it while it moves now, and seems to be getting that i am clicking the steps...

gotta clean off my camera so i can video the rest...

**TonkaTruckJK** · 08-25-2010, 12:14 AM

Great news! Never understimate the power of a smart dog...he's just holding out for more click-treats!