too smart for tricks?

[samham88]

Here's a little background on my Sammie...He's 3 years old and lives with just me and my fiance. We've never really tried to teach Sammie any tricks. He can sit(if there's a treat present) and he does listen to us pretty well. We live in a little neighborhood with a lot of grass to run around in and little trails and we normally don't need him on a leash since he'll come right to us or stop in his tracks when we call him.(and he may be too afraid to go too far). We never thought he needed to be too obedient cause he's do darn cute!

We've been trying the past week to teach him to give paw. I've watched a couple of youtube clips on it too. Sammie just won't do it. We've been working on the principle of repetition but we can tell in his eyes that nothing is clicking. He doesn't seem to understand at all why we are going for his paw and holding it. He just wants treats and knows he'll get them anyway, trick or not.
I keep reading that dogs just want to please their owners and I see Sammie doing this too but just not with tricks.

Does anyone have any advice for us? Are there some dogs that just won't do tricks? Tricks or not we love him to death but we want to show off his smarts! Thanks! Sorry so long!

[QuickSilver]

Well, don't give him the treat if he doesn't do the trick.

Have you tried holding the treat out in your closed hand? He should try nuzzling for the treat, and then pawing at it. Reward him for pawing at it, and gradually shift to a command (or open palm).

Thor wouldn't paw at my hand, so I had to teach him to paw at something else (treat ball). Then I tought him to paw stuff in general, and then I switched to my hand.

[RoxyLuv]

I agree with QuickSilver. No trick - no treat! Sammie is playing the two of you for all he's worth, & you don't get it. It's great that he's as well behaved as he is, but it's a shame to waste all his intelligence with no training to do more. There's all kinds of training books, dvds, free training info on internet. Get busy & use it. You could really impress yourselves if you put some effort into it.

Treat & praise every little thing he does correctly. Eventually you can wean off the treats with lots of praise. The more you can teach him, the prouder all three of you can be of each other. Go for it!

[ferraritiffie]

yes I agree, no trick, no treat!!

I like the say the command once method and wait till the pup figures out what you want. This really helps if you have no idea what "sign" you would like to apply to the trick.

To get Genghis to "shake" which I've switched to "high five" as I think it's cuter, I would hold the treat in my hand and put it near his foot/paw. It kind of forced him to put up a paw. When he did it on his own I'd give him the treat, but not the one that was in the hand I wanted to "shake" or "high five" but the other hand.

I've been working on a combo trick "high five" and then "Now two hands" which works but as Genghis is pretty small he hasn't figured out he's supposed to touch both of my hands and not just use his paws and high five the same hand. When it get's better I'll post a video.

I'm also working on "bang" from a sit up position, which is not going well. he just lays down.

I'd sort of addicted to teaching Genghis tricks, as it is sooooo fun to see him do it.

[JoeyP]

Its always best to leapfrog off the dogs own behavior when teaching them new tricks
If you force them to sit or take their paw instead of having them give it to you
its not going to really work
They have to make that connexction themselves
If you want to make him shake ... figure out a way where he will raise a paw to you
sometimes pups will swat things or sometimes they will mimic you if you paw at them
see what works for your pup
when he does lift his paw .... THATS when you praise him and give him the treat