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I know I suggested paw stuff so I'm not patting my own back, but I like the open-ended-ness (yeah, I just wrote that). Maybe we have the monthly challenge but also have an anything-goes trick discussion? I imagine many of us have other tricks in progress and I wouldn't mind bouncing ideas around even if they're not for the monthly challenge.

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So, who would like to be the official "thread poster"? (At least for this month).

I suggest we have a dedicated thread for the trick of the month, and that way we can all go there to share progress, see progress, and ask for suggestions/give suggestions.

Something like: February Trick: Front Paw Work (or whatever)

That's my 3 cents, but any structure really will do! :)

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I hope to be able to participate in this, though I'm stretched to the limits ATM.

 

One thing I'd like to request is that the different tricks are kept separate so that they each have their own thread that we (or others joining later) could refer back to and that would keep the various tricks discreet from each other in case people would want to try them at a different point in time.

 

Another thing I'd like to suggest is that maybe we start out with some simpler tricks and work up to more complicated ones. I've never been a huge trick trainer and some of the lists of tricks some of you have already trained is a little intimidating for me! And some of you are already using training terminology that I don't have the skills to implement.

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I just quickly jotted down some ideas of where tricks start and where you can take them. Maybe it'll help someone with finding the building blocks to some tricks? I didn't include "how to"s, I figured we can discuss that in the thread.

 

I also didn't include anything with sit pretty. I figured that was more difficult and not quite pertinent to the front feet theme. But if you have a sit pretty, this list can get about twice as long!

 

Sorry it's a bit messy, I didn't want to get up. :) This isn't at all an exhaustive list, but it might get people started depending on where they are in their trick training.

 

post-14480-0-65070300-1454260318_thumb.jpg

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One thing I'd like to request is that the different tricks are kept separate so that they each have their own thread that we (or others joining later) could refer back to and that would keep the various tricks discreet from each other in case people would want to try them at a different point in time.

 

Another thing I'd like to suggest is that maybe we start out with some simpler tricks and work up to more complicated ones. I've never been a huge trick trainer and some of the lists of tricks some of you have already trained is a little intimidating for me! And some of you are already using training terminology that I don't have the skills to implement.

 

I concur on both points.

 

Also, some of us even might want to continue with certain tricks, or revisit them at a later time, and it would be great to have a single thread devoted to a particular trick topic.

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Yay! It is done!

 

Since this is the auxillary trick page, I'll share the video of the latest trick we've been working on. It's absolutely the dumbest, least useful trick he knows. But it makes me giggle. We're working on getting it off of the board.

 

 

That's awesome. I like that it's isolated to the rear feet. Reminds me of Cohen's tappa-tappa (I gotta figure out a better name for the trick -- nervous dance?). I imagine you captured it initially then shaped it?

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I love Cohen's tappa-tappa! Especially the noises!

 

Keeper started doing this while getting up the courage to do a handstand on the wall. From there I just captured it. He picked up on it super quickly once I started rewarding it. I laughed at him do it for a month before thinking "I could put that on cue."

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So at one point I taught Aed how to turn off the lights, and although he's capable, I stopped using it because he scrabbles at the wall (he's only barely tall enough to touch the switch) and it's leaving scratches. Any ideas on getting rid of the scrabbling? Preferably in a way that doesn't involve a lot of practice scrabbling and scratching before he gets the hang of not doing it.

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So at one point I taught Aed how to turn off the lights, and although he's capable, I stopped using it because he scrabbles at the wall (he's only barely tall enough to touch the switch) and it's leaving scratches. Any ideas on getting rid of the scrabbling? Preferably in a way that doesn't involve a lot of practice scrabbling and scratching before he gets the hang of not doing it.

 

Oh, those "fallout" tricks. I spent a LONG time teaching Speedy to work with his front paws!! It was a long and slow shaping process, but he finally mastered it.

 

Not long after he mastered the skill, I woke up one morning to him with his paw on my shoulder, gently moving it back and forth until I woke up!! Thankfully, he only did it when he really needed "out" in the morning, but he never actually stopped doing that!!

 

As far as your situation, I would probably try to override that behavior with an alternative. I would place a pivot platform or a mat near the wall where the dog scrabbles and HIGHLY reinforce either planting both front paws on the pivot platform, or laying down on the mat. I would use such a high rate of reinforcement in the first introduction (probably far enough away from the wall that it is not in the picture) that it would override the desire to scrabble. Once that became a strong default (I would expect that to go very quickly), I would fade the platform or mat to get either a nice default down in that location, or a strong four-on-the floor.

 

That might work very well and very quickly.

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Sekah, that is ADORABLE.

 

I struggled with the same light switch issue with Keeper. I keep his nails wicked short and built so it wasn't doing any damage, but he started being able to turn the lights off and not on. He'd let his paws drag down the wall and switch, which would turn off whatever he had just turned on. I don't have a resolution for it yet. I'm giving some pretty strong thought to changing the switch to a nose/mouth behavior instead.

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