[Ronne]

Hi guys!

This is a more general question.
I have my 5 month old puppy, and I'm just sourcing ideas for cues/tricks to teach him. I've had a bit of a look around, and there's some that I want to try, but I'm always keen on more info.

We've got sit, drop, stay, wait, focus (eye contact), sitting to cross the road + release word, all pretty strong. We're working on leave it, heel, roll over, shake, crawl, spin and mat. And of course, the recall always depends on if what he's doing is more important than what I have in my hand, but we're both getting better at making it work.

I was just wondering if you guys had any others that you'd suggest, especially if they've turned out helpful for later on (e.g. wait, leave it, etc.) I want to make sure he doesn't get bored with the stuff we're doing and start to find the short training sessions we have as 'not fun.' He's really good with stuff that involves waiting, as he seems to be a really patient puppy.
Plus, let's face it, it's always cute when you can get them to do a few things and all your friends go crazy over your super clever dog

Any ideas would be awesome Thanks!

 

[hkvik]

I would add "touch", just touch the hand with the nose - surprisingly useful for guiding your dog to a position. I use it every single day. Another favourite of mine is "place" which for me just means return to me and sit/lay down between my legs (looking forward). Easy to teach and great when you need to fumble with something in public (wallet, phone etc) and needs to keep track of your dog at the same time ( you feel with your legs if he is going somewhere or if he is getting restless so you don't need to keep your eyes on him). As well useful in crowds or when you don't want people to approach your dog to touch him. It's both my dogs default position after recall.
Two more that I made up myself just because it's fun: nose (touch my nose with your nose) and "be cute" (the dog places his nose on my arm and looks up into my eyes). Pretty useless but it's hard to feel frustrated and irritated at your dog when he/she does that

 

[hueyeats]

We are training Roman with "name" recognition now.

Besides naming his family, mommi, daddi, sister...
We are doing naming of his toys, like moose, bone, chew, etc.
Food too...

And new thing is to reinforce his "follow" command with "follow daddi" daddi takes off and he follows or mommi or sissis etc.

 

[Super Nova]

Touch is the most useful trick I taught my dog as it lead to hand targeting.

So far it has lead to closing doors, shutting off lights, crazy eights between my legs, right side, left side, heel, pressing crosswalk buttons, and more!

 

[kelly528]

I really like teaching dogs names. Not only is it great for playing hide and seek with them but if the dog is bugging you and getting underfoot you can just tell him 'Find Daddy' or 'Find Mummy' and he runs away and bugs someone else :rofl:

 

[Ronne]

Thanks for the suggestions guys!
hkvik, how did you teach "place"? Just luring to a drop/sit? I tried something similar with Frankie, but when he comes to me and sits, it's always facing me because that's what we've always done. I've given it a break just for now, because I wasn't exactly sure how to do it, and didn't want to confuse him as I tried a few strategies. (figured I should come to it completely knowing what I was doing)

 

[hkvik]

I just lured them. But remember that it's really a chain of three behaviours:
1. Come
2. Circle and go between legs from behind.
3. Sit (or down if you prefer).

The one you probably need to practice on is 2 and this is done with just a lure. Slowly take a piece of food and move your hand in a slow circle (right side) behind you and let him have it once he is halfway between your legs. Do it a few times. Then put hold the food in your left hand instead and lure him with your empty,right hand and reward him with your the food in your left hand which will make him take a step forward which places him right between the legs. Once you got that down, you can add a sit command. I kept doing the "lure" motion for a long time before I added a verbal cue and in noisy environment,I still do a circling motion instead of verbal cue. It's really simple, a 15 second video would describe it better than this text.
This is one behaviour I honestly would have no idea how to shape without using a lure.

 

[FinnAlva]

I taught Alva to lie down when she sees a plastic bag in my hand so I can scoop her poop easier.