Fun and Useful Actions and Tricks

These foundation elements will add fun and stimulation to training and lay groundwork for some advanced manoeuvres.

1.     “Place” – Go to the “Place” (such as an upturned basin, or the pup’s bed/ corner of the room/ etc.) and place the front paws on it. Also taught in the Junior Puppy Home Training articles.

-        The point of this exercise is to teach the pup to go to bed or its place, say, when visitors arrive – and is also the start of the “Away” cue, which is a much more advanced exercise, in which you send the dog away from you towards a designated point or the far end of a field.

-        Exercise is initially taught by “shaping” or “free-forming”- taking the pup to the Place and when it puts its paws on the spot saying “Yes” and rewarding. Never drag the pup to the Place but just encourage with a treat. If the pup is slow to get it, maybe touch the pup’s paw with the treat hand and as it lifts that paw say Yes and treat – but nothing more aggressive than this. It’s all about fun and encouragement and building the concept in the pup’s mind – it is amazing how they will figure out what makes you happy and delivers them the reward.

-        Eventually add the cue “Place” then running to the Place with the pup on-leash and saying “Yes” and rewarding. This evolves to off-lead with the cue and result. Start with very short distances – initially right up against the Place, then just a meter or two away, graduating over time to, say, 3 – 5 meters. Great exercise for a rainy day, because you can do this game indoors.

2.     “Spin” – Whilst heeling, spin anti-clockwise and resume heeling – don’t stop or hesitate.

-        The point of this is purely to maintain (or recapture) the pup’s attention to you whilst you walk with the pup on heel, so that it is always mindful that you have a fun activity in mind (for which they will be rewarded).

-        Taught by having a treat (as the lure) in your left hand as the dog heels on your left side, whilst still moving forward place the treat just in front of the dog’s nose and rotate your hand out and away in a counter-clockwise circle, ending back where it started and release the treat. Add the cue word (“Circle”/ “Spin” - or whatever you choose). Don’t walk too fast nor move the lure too fast – start off quite slowly so the dog has a chance to follow the moves – without getting tangled and without the trainer tripping.

-        As an indoor rainy-day trick, you can stand still and ask the pup to Spin in front of you, using a treat and rotating that in your hand.

3.     “Touch” – With a treat held under your thumb on your flattened hand, place your hand a few cm in front of the pup’s nose and give the cue “Touch”. Gradually increase the separation of your hand from the pup’s nose and vary the position (up/down; using left/right hand) always giving the cue and releasing the treat at nose-touch. Also taught in the Junior Puppy Home Training articles.

-        This is mostly just a fun exercise the pup enjoys (because it is simple to learn and it gets a treat each time – initially).

-        The exercise also can be the groundwork for other cues: 

§  Come this way (follow-my-hand)

§  Turn LEFT or turn RIGHT

§  Settle down and just pay-attention to me

4.     “Load/Climb/Up” – Cue to encourage pup to mount a platform/ get in the car/go upstairs, etc. Just use a hand signal (as the body language cue) plus verbal encouragement, treats and always follow the successful climb with “Yes!  Good pup” and reward (additional treat plus pat/cuddle).

5.     “Straddle”  (or “Centre”) – Have the pup walk along with you - but between your legs rather than at heel. Fairly easy to teach using the lure of a treat – stand still with legs wide apart and treat down in front, then call the pup from its position behind you – as it nears the space between your legs (or actually steps between your legs) deliver the treat right at the front of your legs so the pup stops there (and later walks with you). You can initiate this training with the lead plus a treat, but do not pull/drag the pup into the position on leash (this would make it nervous and think this was a punishment rather than a fun thing to do).

-        This is a fun exercise - but also helps with pup attention and will help develop focused heeling – because the pup has to look up at you (and the treat) and gets the feel for staying in step with your body – your legs act as “guide rails” as you move and turn (maybe a little like riding a horse – at least for a large pup?).

-        You can also use this like the Touch and Spin exercises, if your pup is distracted on a walk and might want to chase or bark at a distraction. This is using good “pup behavior management” (part of what is called “concept training”) in a fun and rewarding way to recapture your pup’s full attention (and working on “impulse control”).

-        If your pup is small to medium size, you can develop this “center” or “straddle” position into a “weaving” action as you walk carefully forward – or as a “figure-8 action” as you stand still with legs apart and the pup weaves in and out around your legs in the “8-pattern”.

-        Always concentrate on your dog so you avoid tripping or treading on the pup’s toes.

6.     “Finish” – This completes a recall very prettily.

-        Clockwise finish - With the pup sitting in front of you (having come to you when called) move the leash and treat in your right hand clockwise around your body with the pup following around – then behind you swap the leash and treat into your left hand and bring the pup into the heel position – then (when introducing this exercise at first) cue Sit and reward. The Sit will eventually become automatic for the pup without the additional cue (after many repetitions). As you add the auditory cue to your rotating hand motion, use a unique word like “Finish”, or whatever works for you.

-        Counter-Clockwise finish - same concept, but start with treat and leash in left hand, move the hand counterclockwise to bring the pup into the heel position (a bit like the Spin exercise above) – treat/praise when pup sits at heel (add the Sit cue initially when training – after a while the pup will understand the exercise requires an auto-sit). Suggest you think of a different cue for this than Finish to distinguish the action from the clockwise version (such as maybe Complete – whatever works for you – as with all cues, just be consistent).

-        Teaching both the right and left finish is fine – just more of the “good mental stimulation” for the pup and teaches it to wait on your direction or cue. Suggest that you teach one, left or right, first, then when that’s working really well, you can introduce the other version as just a separate stunt. Once the pup has learned both – alternate them randomly so the pup waits on the cue rather than anticipates (sometimes just reward the pup in front of you to ensure this wait for the cue is understood and it doesn’t pre-empt the cue).

Remember - whatever you are teaching, have fun - laugh off failures and rejoice in sucesses - even small ones - and be sure to include your dog in the fun and rejoicing.