Before I get to showing and telling you what Delilah and I learned at Tricks Class last night, I’d like to ask a favor of you.

There is a young boy in Kentucky who is dying of Cystic Fibrosis, his dying wish is to make the Guinness Book of Records for receiving the most Christmas cards.

Can you spare a card and a stamp to help make a dying child’s wish come true?

Dalton Dingus

HC 62

Box 1249

Salyersville, KY 41465.

 

You can send it to the above address.  My card is going out in today’s mail.

The last night of tricks class.

Boy am I glad I told our instructor that I’m a blogger, now as she walks around the classroom observing us, she happily picks up my camera and snaps some pictures.

The first trick we learned is back-up.

You train this by standing in front of your dog with a treat in each hand, place a hand on either side of their face, then slowly walk towards them.  If they sit down or don’t back up, try again.  If you get a tiny step backwards, praise and treat.

Most dogs can be trained to back up using this method.

Ariane tried it with Delilah as the model.

 

She ended up having to put her hands behind her back and work with one hand, two treats is just one more than Delilah can handle.

What worked best for her was when I put a treat in front of her nose and pushed it towards her.  Sometimes she sits down and I just lure her up again and start over.

 

Another way you can train this trick is by creating a sort of tunnel for your dog by using one wall and some chairs, you want it big enough for your dog to fit, but not large enough for them to turn around.

I think I’ll try this in my hallway.

Dance, Stand or in Delilah’s case….Hop.

Take your treat and hold it up high, your goal is to get your dog up on their hind legs, where they can either just hold a stand, or take a couple of steps or hops.

If you’ve trained your Target or Touch command and your dog is comfortable with it, you can use this.  I like the treat because I want her to learn the verbal cue I will be using which will probably be hop.

 

You want to make sure your dog is not touching your body with their paws…that’s cheating.

Weave

The last trick we learned was Weave, as in between your legs.  You know it and probably some of you showoffs dedicated trainers have already taught this to your dog.

This is the trick where you walk and your dog weaves in and out of your walking legs.

Finally, the last night of class, the last trick turns out to be the one I wanted most to learn.  This trick will come in handy when we take our Freestyle class next year.

To teach this trick you start with your dog in a heel.  It doesn’t matter which side as long as you remember to lead with the opposite leg.

Delilah’s on my left, I step forward with my right foot and place my right hand behind my right leg, luring her through.

KEY COMPONENT: toss the treat away from you, this lets your dog know they are to go completely through your legs.

I step forward with my left leg and lure her back, again tossing the treat.

 

We practiced this a lot and by the time we had finished I would have to say we probably took about six to eight steps before I made a mistake and had to start over.

 

We learned a lot of different tricks.  I know that I won’t be working on training all of them, but there are a couple I’d really like to focus on.

What kind of tricks do you do with your dog?  Have you ever taken a tricks class?  Would you?