HOOPS! PART I

Your dog should be very healthy (i.e. no arthritis, limping, etc.) before trying this trick. You won't want to further hurt your dog by asker her to jump. For older dogs, don't ask your dog to jump very high. You won't need your clicker for this trick beacuse you will holding a hoop and rewarding your dog with food.
1. You need a door way. Alternately you can sandwich the hoop inbetween a couch/lazy boy and a cofee table. The idea is to restrict ways around the hoop so your dog has no choice but to go through the hoop but voluntarily go through on her own to get food.
2. Put hoop in doorway with the bottom part on the floor.
3. Through a treat through the hoop and reward your dog for going through. Repeat several times, by putting food down on the ground on the other side of the hoop. Praise your dog each time she goes through.
4. Try raising the hoop ever so slightly- about 2 inches off the ground and repeat. This time when your dog has to do a little bunny hop to go through the hoop to get the food, say "jump" and then praise your dog immediately. Repeat this several times, while raising the hop slightly higher each time. The key is to keep it low- low enough so that your dog can't climb under to go get the food.

Dog Whistle App

An interesting and FREE dog whistle app offered for the iPhone.

http://appshopper.com/utilities/dog-whistler

Play Dead

How to teach "play dead"

Shoot your dog and see her come back to life!
1. Put your dog in a down position.
2. Tell your dog to lay down. CLICK! and REWARD!
3. Now, with your dog relaxed rub her belly and try and get her to lay on her side. If your dog is getting up right after laying down, put some peanut butter in the ground after they lay down and then start rubbing (provided your dog is NOT food possessive) and then try rubbing her belly. The idea is to get her laying on her side and enjoy a belly rub. Praise your dog when she is laying on her side. Practice this several times to get your dog used to being on her side and comfortable with the idea. When she is laying on her side say "good bang god yes you are soo good yes bang yes good". Say bang multiple times when your dog is on her side- so she associates it with something positive- food and a belly rub.
When your dog does this step (it make take several days and practice sessions) you may move to the next step.
4. When your dog is laying down and you go to try and scratch your dog's belly start saying bang as you gently push her into the side position. *CLICK* and REWARD.
5. Soon your dog will catch on and realize bang means a belly scratch. Now, when you start to go in and scratch your dog's belly say "bang" when you are leaning down and use a pointer finger outstretched to cue your dog when you do a belly scratch. So in one motion, go in with a pointer finger, say bang and then instantly immediatley turn your pointing gesture into a hand to rub your dog's belly.
6. Now adjust it so that you say "bang" and point at your dog as your dog is in the down position. Your dog will immediatley roll over for a belly scratch. For each successful attempt.
7. Practice Practice Practice

Target Practice

In lessons 1-3 your dog became aquatinted with targeting different part of their body to places that you want your dog to move to or touch. This will be useful later on when trying to learn more advanced tricks =) Also, targeting is an easy way to get you (your timing with the clicker) and your dog used to clicker training, since it is very basic.

Lesson 3: Target Stick

First, Construct a target stick.

Use a bamboo branch or old broom handle to make a target stick. You may choose to put something like a tennis ball on the end to make it softer. Or you can paint the end white. The idea is to have an area for your dog to aim for.

Why is a target stick useful?
A target stick can be used to teach your dog to aim for a set point (much how you taught to target your hand in lesson) and will be useful for getting your dog to learn other behaviors. For example you can raise the stick above your dog's head and teach her to beg.

1. Put some peanut butter on the very end of the stick and hold the other end. When your dog sniffs the stick, say "target", click and reward your dog.
2. Repeat several times. Now come back later and reward your dog for nudging the stick, most dogs catch on in two or three lessons.
3. Practice!

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Nose Targeting

Roxy is trained to touch her nose to my hand so I can get her to move where I want her too. You can also train your dog to target a stick.

Some clickers even come with built in target sticks, like this one: