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A quick lesson in teaching new dogs old tricks
5 January,
1999
Retrieve or Fetch
As well as being a fun activity for pet and owner this game will also
help keep pets fit and healthy. Don’t worry if your dog is not a natural
retriever, it can be taught.
Start with a ball and a food reward. Make sure you have your dog’s attention,
throw the ball a short distance and as soon as your dog picks up the
ball call your dog back to you with the food reward. Praise your dog
heavily every time it brings the ball back to you and offer it the food
reward. Keep throwing the ball further distances and slowly drop out
the reward and replace it with praise only.
Take your time, your dog may not learn the rules of fetch over night,
but if you practice for ten minutes every day he’ll soon catch on.
If this game is old hat to your dog, try challenging it with a frisbee
instead. You can also make this game more interactive and rewarding
for yourself and your dog by patting, as well as praising, your dog
every time it returns the ball to you.
Hide and Seek
This game is a natural lead-on from retrieving and is best played with
two people. Start with a small toy, preferably one of your dog’s toys.
Show it to your dog and let it sniff the toy. While one person holds
the dog the other places the toy behind the dog, but within sight.
Let go of your dog and give it the “FIND” command. If your dog has trouble,
the person who was holding the dog can help by pointing out the toy,
however make sure it is the dog that picks up the toy and returns it.
Upon return praise the dog.
Continue the game in ten minute blocks making it harder and harder for
your dog to find the toy and increasing the praise as the dog continues
to achieve.
Remember to be patient with your dog, eventually you should be able
to hide the toy or even yourself anywhere and your dog will delight
in the challenge of seeking the toy or you out.
N.B. If your dog is showing little interest in finding a toy, switch
to hiding a person instead.
Obstacle course
Start off small and slowly develop a complex course. This can include
jumping over logs, jumping through a large hoola hop, picking up a ball
and dropping it off at another point along the course and a retrieve
section where your child has to throw a ball and your dog retrieve it.
The combination and complexity of the course is up to you, so you can
really let your imagination run wild.
Remember to encourage your child to praise the dog at each point along
the course, this will help build the relationship between child and
dog. It is also important that your child understands the importance
of giving praise to their dog whenever it shows positive behaviour.
Tricky Business
Shake hands or Give a paw
Dogs seem to know these tricks instinctively but a little prompting
will probably be necessary to start off with. Parents should perform
this trick with the dog before their child does.
First, make sure your dog is calm. Slowly and quietly, so as not to
startle, ask your dog to put its paw in your hand. If your dog doesn’t
offer its paw you can try gently picking up its paw, saying ‘PAW’ at
the same time. Praise your dog while you hold its paw. After one or
two goes, have your child repeat the same process until eventually the
dog offers its paw without yours, or your child’s, help. When the dog
does this give it lots of praise. Continue practicing this for around
ten minutes a day.
Roll-Over
Once your dog has learnt all the normal training commands such as ‘sit’,
‘stay’, ‘come’ and ‘down’ you can try introducing it to some more complicated
tricks such as rolling over. This is a little more difficult to teach
than giving a paw, but most dogs who have had previous dog training
catch on and become masters at this trick quite quickly.
Again, parents should try this trick with their dog first before handing
over to their child. To start have your dog sit quietly. Once it is
doing so give it the ‘DOWN’ command. Once down encourage your dog, with
a food reward, to roll-over. While you are doing this introduce a ‘ROLL
OVER’ command.
This trick will take a bit of practice. Try practicing for ten minutes
at a time, offering your dog lots of praise when it performs the trick.
Pointers
1. Practice makes perfect. Once your dog has mastered the skill you
still need to keep up the practice – just a couple of minutes a day
will do. It will keep your dog alert and give you and your child the
opportunity to play positively with your dog.
2. Remember that as soon as your dog loses interest in the game stop
playing and take it for a walk instead. If you continue to play while
your dog is disinterested it may not want to play the game again.
3. To ensure your dog is not being over feed it is a good idea to take
any food rewards from your dog’s daily food ration.
4. Games like tug-of-war and chase should not be encouraged. If a game
looks like turning in to either of these you should stop the game immediately.
Tug-of-war and chase can incite your dog’s predatory instinct or it
may use the game to try and gain dominance over you or your child.
Back to School
After spending so much time with the family over the summer it is only
natural that your dog will get a bit lonely when everyone returns to
school and work.
Separation anxiety is a very real phenomenon in dogs, just like us they
miss their companions. This could in particular occur if your dog has
spent a lot of time bonding with your child over the holidays.
Unfortunately dogs tend to act out these emotions and their boredom
by barking or digging up the garden. But there are some solutions.
To help soften the blow on your dog, towards the end of the holidays
gradually begin leaving your dog by itself for a few hours at a time.
It is also a good idea to not make too much of a fuss of your dog when
you leave the house, thereby making your leaving not such a big event
for your dog.
You can also provide your dog with a few toys to play with during the
day or hidden food treats to discover.
Enrolling in a dog training course is also a good way to keep your dog
stimulated and to develop the relationship between child and dog.
And remember, keep the games, tricks and walks up after school goes
back.