Trick Challenge #1-March to the Music

[romeosangiovese]

Omg I just saw this thread! FUN! I will go try training this now. I was thinking instead of hands, maybe I will get the dogs to paw my raised foot, so that I can use the motion of ME marching as a cue for them to do it too?

Will try!

 

[corbinam]

Omg I just saw this thread! FUN! I will go try training this now. I was thinking instead of hands, maybe I will get the dogs to paw my raised foot, so that I can use the motion of ME marching as a cue for them to do it too?

Will try!

I plan on starting with pawing hands, then moving my hands over my feet, then moving my hands away.

 

[Lahree]

Day two with this and Ellie voluntarily raised her paw about three times. When I yelped "GOOD GIRRRRRRRRRRRRL!" She was pleased and you could see the wheels turning "Man, the treat came much faster that time--what did I do?"

Both my husband and I train her using exactly the same words and technique (he's home all day with her). She works about the same level with both of us. I have hope she'll get it, but I think this may be one of her slower tricks.

(BTW: I do say GOOD GIRL! as a praise marker every single time--it's just my GOOD GIRRRRRRRRRRL! when she does it voluntarily has surprise mixed in, LOL).

 

[k9kreationz]

That's a good suggestion, but how would I reward her if she does it right? It has never worked for us giving her verbal praise. She doesn't care about that. She works for FOOD.

I saw that you decided to use "good girl", but had a question still.

Is she clicker trained? If so, don't forget that the treat does NOT need to come a split second after the click. The click is to mark the correct behavior, then you treat. I have had times were I have to move the food far enough away so Koji could concentrated. I'd just click, walk to food, treat and continue. It didn't lower his rate of learning, it just slowed me down since I had to walk to the food and back.

Figured I'd post that in case there are others thinking the same thing.

 

[k9kreationz]

Version 1:
1) Get your dog to paw touch your hand. Teach alternate paws, so the dog will reach out with either on command.
2) Move the trick on so you can stand away from your dog and ask them to lift their paws without having to actually touch your hand.
3) Now with the dog standing ask them to lift their paws alternately. Gradually increase the number of steps the dog has to do before being rewarded.
4) You can now add the cue word or teach your dog to march by following your leg movements.
NOTE: This will teach the dog to march on the spot in front of you.

I need some help with specifics. So, Koji can shake, but he doesn't have separate cues for left/right paw shakes. Should I first teach that cue? He usually will use the correct paw accordingly to which hand I have up. Usually, but not always.

So, let's say I don't need a cue, but put my hands out, as I move away. It seems like if "shake" is followed by a literal shake, wouldn't that confuse him now, because I'm not shaking? Or do you think that's not part of the actual command, and the command is really for him to raise his paw?

Lastly, if I use the shake command, wouldn't that reinforce shake to eventually become march? at what point do I need to stop using shake?

thanks!

 

[corbinam]

I need some help with specifics. So, Koji can shake, but he doesn't have separate cues for left/right paw shakes. Should I first teach that cue? He usually will use the correct paw accordingly to which hand I have up. Usually, but not always.

So, let's say I don't need a cue, but put my hands out, as I move away. It seems like if "shake" is followed by a literal shake, wouldn't that confuse him now, because I'm not shaking? Or do you think that's not part of the actual command, and the command is really for him to raise his paw?

Lastly, if I use the shake command, wouldn't that reinforce shake to eventually become march? at what point do I need to stop using shake?

thanks!

I'm no expert, but this is how I'm teaching it.

First, ask for any paw to any hand touch/shake.

Then, ask for left paw to right hand and right paw to left hand. My dogs tend to prefer only one foot over the other, so if they get frustrated I go back to the hand that they know, or reward any paw to any hand again. Jackpot if they get the "weak" paw to the hand I want.

I am not using the "shake" or "high five" command with Bentley. It is a totally different trick, I'm only using the knowledge that he has ("hey! a hand is out, I will touch it with my paw. Sometimes I get treats for that")

So really, it's not a shake. I bet he will stop shaking (leaving his paw there for a second or two) as soon as he realizes that you are clicking (or marking however) just for a touch. So it goes like this

1- Paw to hand
2- Immediate click!
3- Treat

My dogs hear the click and want the treat. I've captured the touch, not the linger. Make sense?

 

[k9kreationz]

Thanks Ashley.

I asked about the command since in the example that was given, it said to use that command. I will have to see what he does without a command but with my hand stretched out.

 

[Lahree]

I saw that you decided to use "good girl", but had a question still.

Is she clicker trained? If so, don't forget that the treat does NOT need to come a split second after the click. The click is to mark the correct behavior, then you treat. I have had times were I have to move the food far enough away so Koji could concentrated. I'd just click, walk to food, treat and continue. It didn't lower his rate of learning, it just slowed me down since I had to walk to the food and back.

Figured I'd post that in case there are others thinking the same thing.

We have used "Good Girl!" since she was 8 weeks old (she is now three and a half). We have consistently used that as a marker. She definitely knows that it means she is "right." I have never tried to clicker train her. I do HAVE a clicker, I just never felt the need to use it because she did just fine without it. I could certainly give it a try.

When you first start, do you click (for doing nothing) and feed them a treat so they associate click=treat or since she is already trained to do a lot of things, should I have her perform something she already knows how to do and click and treat when she does it? Also, I know the Click means "right" but so you also do a verbal marker along with it?

 

[k9kreationz]

We have used "Good Girl!" since she was 8 weeks old (she is now three and a half). We have consistently used that as a marker. She definitely knows that it means she is "right." I have never tried to clicker train her. I do HAVE a clicker, I just never felt the need to use it because she did just fine without it. I could certainly give it a try.

When you first start, do you click (for doing nothing) and feed them a treat so they associate click=treat or since she is already trained to do a lot of things, should I have her perform something she already knows how to do and click and treat when she does it? Also, I know the Click means "right" but so you also do a verbal marker along with it?

Yikes. I'll be honest. I can't recall how to train to use a clicker. It would seem what you do is just the verbal way of clicking. I do know the clicker noise is supposed to mark things more strongly, so they learn faster, but if she's learning with good girl, I'd stick with that.

Here's a link to a boat load of information regarding clickers.
http://www.clickertraining.com/basics
I'll look around at the site to see if I can find a "how to" on starting. Until then, I figured you could check it out.

 

[DPSheltie]

Riley has been clicker trained, but since I don't always have the clicker on me I also use a verbal marker "YES!" I keep the verbal marker short, so it's almost like the clicker, but it works no matter where I am.

I think that as long as they have a marker word that ACTS like the clicker, then it shouldn't matter if you use an actual clicker as long as you treat the verbal marker the same as a click. So same theory, different noise (verbal marker v. click).


To associate that click=good job I did a few repetitions of click then trick (10-15 times per rep) for a day or so until Riley understood that click=treat. Easy and not rocket science My problem lies in the fact that even with the clicker I don't have accurate timing, so things get a little screwy sometimes!