Dog Training - Nosework

Geller, Tamar, and Jonathan Grotenstein. 30 Days to a Well-Mannered Dog: the Loved Dog Method. Gallery Books, 2011.

1/19/18

For my final post, I decided to try a fun game with Marcy that involved her amazing abilities to track scents. This game, while being enjoyable, will also be the next step in teaching her how to retrieve lost items based on the scent she picks up from it. Since this will be a new concept to her, I can expect this to take a longer time, but hopefully by the end she will have mastered it.

To start, I set up 3 containers without the lid in an open area. I placed thin cloths over the top to cover where the treat will be hidden, but not hide the scent. Geller instructs, "Let your dog smell the food, then 'sneak' it into one of the boxes without letting your dog see which one you've chosen" (Geller 329). She also mentions that you can utilize the "stay" command in this game as well (Geller 329). The main objective for Marcy was to correctly choose which container held the treat.

The first obstacle I ran into with Marcy was getting her to smell the treat without eating it. Every time I held out the treat for her to smell, she would lunge at it with her teeth. I had to tell her to sit a few times before showing her the treat. As soon as she got a whiff of it, I took it away. Then, I placed her in a separate room to hide the treat. I then brought her back in the room to choose the container. At first, she only looked at me, not knowing what she was supposed to do. I pointed at the containers and said "treat" since that's what she best responds to. Her ears immediately perked at the word, so I continued to point at the containers. Eventually, she started to sniff around the boxes, using her paws to try to take the cloth off. She was clawing at all of them, probably missing the point of the drill. I had her smell the treat again, then immediately pointed to the boxes again. She went to one of the boxes and poked her nose at it. I took off the cloth. She hadn't chosen the right one, but she was getting the idea.

I decided to try a different food that had a stronger scent. I let her smell some ground beef instead, then placed it in the container. This method seemed to work a lot better, as she picked out the correct container on the first try. I set it up again, and she picked the right container once more. To make sure she really got it down, I added boxes to make it a little more difficult. I don't think she really paid much attention to them because she always went straight to the container with food. For the final level, I decided to hide the food outside of the box, to see if she could find it somewhere she didn't expect. The first few times, she went for the containers. Eventually, as she sniffed around a little longer, she found the food. I tried hiding it in different places (but still close enough to smell it), and almost every time she found it. 

Overall, I think this game went really well and it really improved her ability to use her sense of smell to find hidden objects. 

Would you consider trying this game out with your dog?
What are some other games you like to play with your dog?

I 

Dog Training - Shaking hands

Geller, Tamar, and Jonathan Grotenstein. 30 Days to a Well-Mannered Dog: the Loved Dog Method. Gallery Books, 2011.

1/10/18

One of my favorite dog tricks is hand/paw shaking. Watching other people/dogs perform this with ease always fascinated me and I've always wanted to try it with my own dog. Based on previous training sessions, I think this will be the most difficult task to achieve because she has a difficult time associating words with actions. Hopefully with the help from author Tamar Geller, Marcy and I will be able to get it down easily and in a short amount of time. 

Geller starts by saying, "Hold a treat in your hand, low to the ground. When he raises his paw even slightly, to investigate the treat, slide your hand under his, say, 'shake,' and reward him with a treat from your storage hand" (Geller 272). She then goes on to say that if your dog doesn't lift his paw off the ground, you can gently shake their paw until he gets the hang of it. The first time around, Marcy didn't lift her paw off the ground, instead she buried her nose in my hand, trying to get to the treat. I had to hide the treat, then take her paw in my hand and slowly shake it up and down, saying "shake." I took the treat out again, but she only went for it with her nose. I did the action for her several times before she finally lifted her paw up so I could slide my hand under hers. As soon as I shook her hand, I rewarded her with a treat. 

"Once your dog associates 'shake' with lifting his paw, keep raising the bar - hold back the praise and rewards until he's raised the paw a little higher than he did the time before" (Geller 273). As I said before, Marcy isn't the best at association, but she is able to get the hang of things if the action is repeated over and over again. I continued on working at the basic level of just lifting her paw off the ground slightly. To raise the bar, I tried using hand gestures to show that I wanted her to lift her paw higher. The first few times, I had to pick her paw up myself, then give her a treat to show that that's how she would get rewarded. Anytime she lifted her paw slightly, but not high enough, I would show her the treat, but not give it to her. Eventually she was able to raise her paw a little higher, even if it wasn't by a lot. Every time she raised it high enough, I rewarded her quickly so she would know exactly what she was doing right. 

In Geller's section of "Common Coaching Mistakes," she includes, "Sessions that are too long or repetitive. It's so important to end on a high note, with your dog feeling good about the results rather than feeling like a failure" (Geller 268). Taking this advice, I waited for Marcy to set her paw in my hand a few times, before ending the training session. She still had room for improvement, but seeing as she got pretty far today, I ended the session. I decided to try to perfect the trick the next day. 

What do you think the hardest trick for your dog would be? 
What areas does your dog excel in, and what could they improve in?
How often do you spend training you dog? 

Dog Training - Take a Bow

Geller, Tamar, and Jonathan Grotenstein. 30 Days to a Well-Mannered Dog: the Loved Dog Method. Gallery Books, 2011.

12/29/17

"The great thing about 'taking a bow' is that you can teach it without any real effort, like when you're half awake in the morning, still too tired to get out of bed," Geller says, in her section of Cool Dog Tricks. Taking a bow is basically what your dog does when they stretch, and also where we get the yoga term "downward dog." I probably should have started with this trick, seeing that it was the easiest to achieve and took the shortest amount of time. But that does not mean there weren't any hiccups along the way.

I first had to condition her to bow on command, since she was so used to bowing as a stretch rather than a trick. In order to do this, I had treats ready and I would place the palm of my hand on the floor to guide her into the bowing position. "When he does, narrate the behavior by saying, 'bowwwww' in a drawn-out voice" (Geller 269). The first few times, she would just lie down, or she would sit. Every time she would do the wrong gesture, I would shake my head and say "no." I ended up demonstrating the bow for her, hoping she could mimic me. Finally, she got the idea after I had bowed a few times and she was shown a treat. Once she was in the right position, I said "bowwww" and rewarded her with a treat. This was how I would get her to associate her stretching form with the word bow, so she could perform it quicker and easier the next time around. 

In her section for common coaching mistakes, Geller advises, "Don't move on to the next step just because your dog has done something 'right' once or twice - make sure that he's really mastered that particular step before raising the bar" (Geller 268). I commanded her to bow 6 or 7 times and only counted it if she could perform it on the first try. A few times she would lie down, then quickly get up in the right position. I continued placing my hand on the floor and drawing out the word "bow" to keep consistency so she wouldn't get confused. Eventually, she was able to bow on command, it would just take her a few seconds. 


To raise the bar, I tried commanding her with only my voice and no gestures. At first, she stared blankly, so I had to go back to placing my hand on the floor, but eventually I took my hand away and since she was used to doing it over and over again, she performed with only the help of my voice. It wasn't always automatic, but she was doing it. Geller had said that this trick was a good icebreaker for kids who are wary of dogs. I will definitely try this at the next house party. 

In terms of tricks, how advanced is your dog?
Do you think this would be a good trick as an icebreaker for kids?
What other tricks do you think could match this level of ease and efficiency? 

Dog Training: Hand Signals

Using Hand Signals

Training your dog to complete certain tasks can be difficult without certain methods.  An important and key part of instructing your dog is consistency.  Without this key, your dog can get confused easily.  Hand signals can maintain this consistency.  A clear, concise, hand movement can be useful for dogs to perform in places that are quiet, among other benefits, (Sundance, 59).

You can make up your own signals for tricks but keep in mind that hand signals correspond with the trick you want them to complete.  "A downward hand motion is used to signal "down" and parallels your initial luring of the dog near the floor," (Sundance, 59).  The hand signal coincides with how you initially lead them to complete the trick.

Today, I worked on moving from leading my dog to complete the "spin circles" trick.  I attempted to move from leading her with a treat to complete a circle to simply using a hand signal.  I found that this process took some time, but tricks were easier and better executed when the hand signal was used. The picture below demonstrates the different movements thoroughly and carefully.

(Sundance, 59)

The left side of the image shows the woman leading her dog. The right side is the hand signal suggested.  First, I lead her to complete the trick.  This made it easy for her to complete the maneuver, but made her chase after the treat recklessly. I tried the trick this way 10 times, where the results are mostly that she succeeded. 
Second, I tried using just the hand signal.  This was difficult for her to understand because although the signal was based off of the movement, she struggled to make this connection at first.  Therefore, completing the trick this way took many more tries and was scarcely successful.  However, I think that this may be partly because of my dog's unfamiliarity with the trick.
Therefore, I draw the conclusion that the hand signals can be more convenient but take time and familiarity to use.  The signals can be used in place of verbal commands and sometimes work best.

As stated earlier, you can make up your own hand signals for the tricks you wish to teach your dog.  What kind of hand signals have you made up for your dog, or what signals do you wish to use?


Sundance, Kyra. The Dog Tricks and Training Workbook: a Step-by-Step Interactive Curriculum to 
               Engage, Challenge, and Bond with Your Dog. Quayside Pub. Group, 2009.

Dog Training - Playing Soccer

Geller, Tamar, and Jonathan Grotenstein. 30 Days to a Well-Mannered Dog: the Loved Dog Method. Gallery Books, 2011.

12/17/17

Dogs and soccer are my two passions in life, so when I found a chapter on playing soccer with your dog, I knew I had to try it. I know she won't be able to bend it like Beckham, but teaching her how to swat the ball into a designated area will hopefully be an attainable goal. Marcy has a short attention span, but when treats are involved, she will most likely stay focused on the task at hand. 

To start off, Geller (author of 30 Days to a Well-Mannered Dog) states, "Many dogs will instinctively understand the game - kick around a soccer ball for a few seconds and gently pass it to your dog" (Geller 269). Most dogs will learn from mirroring actions. As I lightly tapped on the soccer ball a few times, I held a treat out in my hand so that she would remain attentive. I later tapped the ball over to Marcy. I held the treat near the "goal." On the first time around, Marcy would leave the ball and go straight for the treat. I would then have to hide it and point to the ball. At some point, I had to slowly dribble the ball into the "goal" a few times and show her the treat at the end. 


Geller had later mentioned that it would help to have a clearly defined line for the goal. I set a colorful ribbon on the floor as the goal and started the process over. It still took a few tries for Marcy to grasp the idea of touching the soccer ball forward, but eventually she was able to swat at the ball enough times to get it over the line. As soon as she reached the goal, I rewarded her with a treat. I had her practice going through the goal several times before moving on. 

"As he begins to understand what you're asking him to do, slowly increase the distance he's got to roll the ball in order to get a reward" (Geller 269). I began starting her at a further distance from the goal, guiding her along the way so she would stay on the right track. She would often miss where the goal was located, so I used the treat to guide her instead. When she finally found the goal, I rewarded her with the treat immediately. But if she tried going for the treat while leaving the ball, I had to take it away immediately so she knew that only the ball getting over the line would get her a reward. Similarly to my previous post, I tried putting her in different rooms (like how I had given Marcy different targets) so she wouldn't get used to only doing the drill in one specific environment. 

Overall, the pace of her learning wasn't very surprising. I expected her to take quite a while to get the hang of it, but hopefully in the future she will start catching on a little sooner. She learned to play a fun activity that I could enjoy as well and do alongside her. She also learned how to work towards a fixed goal to earn a reward. This can later translate into her learning how to go to a certain place when I tell her. In my opinion, patience is key when teaching your dog new things. 

What do you think is key to teaching your dog (or anyone for that matter) something new?
If you don't play soccer, what other sports do you think you could teach your dog?
At what pace does your dog usually learn things at?

                    

Dog Training - Target

Geller, Tamar, and Jonathan Grotenstein. 30 Days to a Well-Mannered Dog: the Loved Dog Method. Gallery Books, 2011.
11/27/17
When I first got my dog, Marcy, she was untrained and only understood the commands, "sit", and "down." Having had her for more than 8 years now, I thought it would be wise to start teaching her more than the basic commands.  

"Teaching your dog how to touch a target with his paw or nose isn't only a cool trick, it's a building block that will help you to teach your dog all kinds of more complicated behaviors." (Geller 263)  The next step up from "sit" would be this simple drill. The simplest form of this task would be placing a treat on the palm of your hand, saying "target", then when your dog has touched your hand with his/her nose or paw, reward them with the treat. Changing levels of difficulty, such as moving your hand to different positions, will allow this drill to be the most effective. 

When trying this drill for the first time, my dog only jumped up and down in excitement and never understood when I said "target." 
"Rub a treat on your palm and hold it out to your dog." (Geller 263)
I tried this, instead of just holding the treat on my hand. I made sure that Marcy knew that the treat on my hand was the target, and not just something to eat. After several "target"s were said and many dramatic gestures were made, she finally started to get the hang of it. I started moving my hand to a higher position, then lower, then side to side. After being able to locate the target 10 times, I decided to move on to the next level. 

"Once he's learned to target your hand, you can switch to objects. Choose an area that doesn't have too many distractions, like a room with a lot of open space or your backyard. Your 'target' can be just about anything - a traffic cone, a stick on the ground, or a Post-it stuck to a chair." (Geller 263) 
I place a treat on a pillow and hold Marcy about 6 feet away from it. I point her in the direction of the treat, say "target!" then release her. For the first few attempts, she doesn't see the treat and runs in a frenzy trying to find it. Then, I pick her up and make sure she sees where I put the treat and repeatedly say "target," pointing at it. After a few more tries, she runs over to the pillow, eating the treat. 
"Don't move on to the next step just because your dog has done something right once or twice." (Geller 268) Before moving on to new and more challenging targets, I had to repeat the same target until Marcy was able to locate it several times. After a few mistakes, but an overall target achievement of 6 times, I moved the treat to places like the couch, the ottoman, and on a post-it note on the floor. 

Overall, this drill has improved Marcy's ability to understand a new command, locate objects, and identify goals. 
If you own any of sort of pet, what do you think would be the most difficult thing to teach them? Why would that task be difficult? Why do you think some dogs are fast learners while others are not?