Trick training
 

So I'm trying to teach Jackson some tricks every now and then! He's very good at sit and stay. He's semi-good at "come" but I definitely don't think he fully understands the meaning. Lay down he has nearly perfected. He's just NOT getting "shake" or "paw" I've been repeating "shake", taking his hand, giving him a treat for 3 weeks now for about 5-10 minutes every day and he just will not get it! I thought that was supposed to be an easier one?

Anyways, I wanted to move on to do some "fun" tricks so I started doing the "Bang bang" trick (where you put your hand in a gun shape and say "bang bang" and the dog plays "dead") Well I started by having him in the lay down position ... and I was saying "Bang bang" and I would sort of roll him over on his back and then give a treat. He allowed me to do it 3 times and then when I started saying "bang bang" he would kinda inch away backwards from me LOL. As if he was scared. Then I felt bad! But I gave him a treat anyways?? Should I just teach him to back up like that when I say "Bang bang" or start over again tomorrow? I don't think he's truly scared of me cuz he always comes right back to me and does other tricks but i dunno.

Need some trick training help!

Hubby taught Hot Rod bang, so I can't offer any help there but for the shake, I kinda remember doing what you are, taking their paw into my hand. I taught them left and right paw. Just be patient, they will get it. I would only do the tricks that they knew and then add 1 maybe 2 (related ones) tricks and did this for about a week. I always went through the ones they knew a couple of times and then the new ones. Hope this helps.

Thanks!

He sorta did "bang bang" earlier but then he kinda just stopped. I think he gets scared when I do the gun motion and say "Bang bang" lol. It makes me feel bad.

He's totally got "down" "sit" & "stay", he learned those very quick. He's getting better with "Quiet" too, where he stops barking when I tell him that. Guess I'll just keep practicing!

Yay he finally got down "shake!" lol. I was SO happy after 3 weeks of constantly grabbing his paw and saying "shake" he did it on his own! So proud of my little man. He now does "lay down" on command simply by me snapping my finger and pointing to the ground and saying "down."

Sit, down, stay, come, shake ... now for "Bang bang!" lol

Yay! I love tricks. It took Thor forever to learn "Shake" also, but it was definitely worth it because it's so cute. I also taught him "High Five", which was very easy after shake.

Let me know how "Bang!" goes. Thor seems very uncomfortable with "Roll Over", so I switched to "Spin" for a while. He picked up the basic idea very quickly. I'm working now on moving to a less dramatic hand gesture.

Yes, it's so cute! I was SO happy when he finally lifted his paw to shake my hand! LOL. I plan on doing high-five next since he's pretty much got shake down.

I'll let you know! I think I'm going to have to do the same type of thing and used a different hand gesture. He just does not like me doing the gun shape and saying "Bang bang" so maybe I'll just have to for "play dead." lol. Although I'm gonna keep trying for a bit because once I have him on his back, he stays totally still and doesn't really squirm or anything so he doesn't mind that part.

Tricks are so much fun and I'm so glad I've decided to teach him myself. It makes me feel better that I've been able to do it myself w/o a trainer or puppy classes :cool: I wouldn't mind a puppy class for socialization purposes but he's been around a lot of different dogs so far. Cockapoo, jack russell, bulldog, golden retriever, black labs, and he loves them all!

Oh, and Thor is sooo super cute. I love his coloring!