Here are a couple of ideas for you

1) Yawn on command - really fun and easy to teach --

2) Playing the "shell game" - you have three "shells", but a treat under one mix them up and teach the dog to put a paw on the right one. Sounds simple 'cause they can actually smell the treat, but getting them to slow down and think the process through and actually select one by placing their paw on it is a bit of a challenge.

We also did this same trick by teaching her to pick a hand - we would let her watch us put a treat in one hand, put our hands behind our back and mix swap hands back and forth. We would have her sit down and sniff both hands and place her paw on the hand she wanted. If she picked the correct hand, she got the treat, if she didn't, then we tried again. Really neat trick.

3) There is a thing that our boxer does that is really cool. For lack of a better name for the trick we call it - "Eating like a RedNeck". She will open and close her mouth rapidly mimicking someone eating with their mouth open. It started by her watching us eat - we noticed that when she got excited she would open and close her mouth as we ate -- thus the idea. It was a simple matter to praise/reward her whenever she did it. We then taught her the verbal command and hand signal - finger on side of cheek.

How do you teach them to yawn, lol!?

1. Yawn on command.
How do you teach this? :confused:

2. Pick a shell and choose the correct hand.
He already knows these tricks.

3. Eat like a redneck. :yelrotflm:yelrotflm:yelrotflm:yelrotflm
I couldn't stop laughing when I read this one. Oh please! please! please! Could you post a video of your boxer? I know everyone would lve to see this.


Thanks for the tips chattiesmom!

My camera sux and I need to get a new one, but that won't be happening anytime soon. Brit can answer you, she's got great gadgets.

btw, what kind of food lure or treat are you using for the trick training? If it's not a high value, he won't really respond, however, if it's TOO high, all they will focus on is the treat and their brain will turn off. :rolleyes:

Teaching a dog to Yawn on command is easy, Easy EASY. It takes some time, but not much effort. To begin, start praising the heck out of him each time you see him yawn. Tell him GOOD yawn and point to your cheek -- you are actually teaching the verbal and hand signal at the same time. That's all there is to it -- you just catch him yawning and praise him. DO NOT ask him to yawn until you have "caught him in the act" enough so that he associates the word/hand signal with the action. To hurry the trick along a bit you can gently push the area where his mouth ends. This encourages them to open their mouth and many times to yawn.

You can also teach sneeze using the same basic idea, in fact, look for things that are a bit unusual that your dog does naturally and then take them a step further by teaching him to do those things on command.

I will try my hardest to take some videos of Boo doing the redneck thing. She is almost 14 years old and she has become selectively deaf - she hears what she wants to hear :D .

I'm using both kibble and lamb roll. The kibble is of higher value to Maximo than it would be for most dogs, but the lamb roll is even better -- perhaps it is too much. What do you use with Uni?

Maximo also responds very well to praise and happy dance celebrations. I practiced with him outside today with distractions and he did very well with quiet, sit, stay, and come. Although he was on a short leash, this was a major accomplishment considering a man he dislikes was to the left and a Husky was to the right of us, both within close range.

Oh good job Max!!! I used to do the happy dance thing too. When Uni would get something for the first time, i cheered so loud I freaked her out, and then she wouldn't do it again for a long time. :rolleyes: So now I just do petting and praise. As for the food lure, I use her kibble. have been ever since she was a baby. Trick training during mealtime, and she did not even know what a treat was until she was way over 1 yr old.

lol, yep, I've learned not to be too excited.... cuz then he just becomes unfocused so I just give him a few "Yes! good boy!"s every he does a trick.

Sooo food motivated
 

Bentley is soo food motivated, (I swear I could use dirt!:eek:) that I can't get him to focus on a trick. We have been working on roll over for weeks... he is not even trying, I move the food around beside his shoulder and as soon as it is part way over his back, he turns his head the other way, "oh mom , I can reach it..."
He does sit, stay, down, wave, dance (with such exuberance, it is dangerous for everyone around him lol:rolleyes:), and thats about it
I tried using a toy, he doesn't care, I got a new toy, he loved it, so I tryed keeping it only for training purposes. No, didn't work either...
Suggestions?

maybe when you move the treat over his shoulder move it reeeeeeeaaaaallllllyyyyyy slllllloooowww. if you see him start to turn the other way, move it back closer to him so he doesn't try to go to the other side. Also I have noticed that Uni will only turn one direction, so maybe try the other side?

Two stumbling blocks for Maximo:

1) He leads with his nose, never his paws, so we are having difficulty with lures for paw tricks. He wants to sniff, not paw my hand.

2) His butt is glued to the floor. He is obsessed with "sit" :rolleyes: (unless I say "come"). When I hold the treat over his head to try to get him to go up, Maximo wiggles his butt on the floor and stiffens his front legs as if to say, "I'm sitting nicely, give me the treat!"

I need to do my homework and watch the videos, read the books.

Does Maximo know how to shake hands?

Maybe if you do the guess which hand trick. Have him see you put a treat in one hand and make fists with both hands, and have him tell you which hand has the treat. I'm sure then he will use his paw. If he STILL uses his nose, you can modify it into a new trick. Uni does "tap" which she taps her nose on whatever I ask, be it my hand, or if she wants me to feed her faster she will tap her bowl that i am holding.

Hmm.... does he know shake? Have you ever tried to gently just take his paw and say 'shake' and shake his paw? Jackson for some reason took forever to learn shake. It took me physically grabbing his paw gently and saying the word shake for a little over a week every night and finally he just caught on.

He did "shake" for 2 days and quit. I now have to pick up his paw and shake it. We'll keep trying -- maybe the new kibble will motivate him.

I played the game and yep, Maximo used his nose. The only thing he seems to want to use his paws for is ripping hair out of his topknot. *sigh* I still need to watch some training videos on the web.