Easiest trick ever!

    • Gold Top Dog

    Easiest trick ever!

    My dog has this habit of putting a paw on my arm when he wants attention. So I started moving my arm so he would hit my hand and every time say "paw." I've been doing this for about a week. Today I wanted to see if he would actually do it on command, and he does.

    This excites me very much, and I'm impressed with how much my puppy seems to pick up.

    What are some of the easiest ways you've trained a dog without really "training?" I do regular training too, but it's also nice to just be able to sit down and spend time and still "accomplish" something.
    • Gold Top Dog
    The easiest tricks for Dodger were shake a paw (which also opened the door to "other paw" and "wave" and paw targeting). 
    It was also easy to teach "speak", it happened unintentionally when I left a treat on the table while watching TV.  Dodger quickly reminded me with drool and grumbling (which opened the doors to "little speak", then "big speak" and "sing").
    Hand targeting "Touch" was pretty easy as well - it doesn't seem like a worthwhile "trick" but its very useful - all I did was get a few kibbles before I sat down to watch TV and rewarded him when he automatically (out of curiosity) went to sniff the hand I presented him with.
    Teaching Dodger to "rest his head" on a table or a lap was easy too - I just needed to lure him into position during a commercial break!
    I also found that perfecting "leave it" was great when I wanted a break - it was work for Dodger but all I had to do was leave a treat on the floor and put him in a stay.  It doesn't seem like a fancy trick but now I can put food on Dodger's nose and leave the room, or have him hold and retrieve high value food like hotdogs - ALL of which started with a simple stay around food!  You can lay the foundations early, even when you aren't 100% into it and work up to some really challenging tricks - your imagination is the limit! Anything that comes naturally to your dog will be easy to teach without much effort on your part (all you have to do is capture and reward the behaviour when you see it!). 
     
    HAVE FUN!
     
    • Bronze
    I'm not sure if it qualifies as not "training"[;)] but taking a behavior you dog already dose and getting them to do it on cue can be fun. My dog had a habit of snapping her jaw when she was excited(not biting or anything like that) so I started to encourage the behavior. I'd get her excited over a treat and throw it to her as soon as she would snap her mouth shut with the verbal cue "say please". Not only did she learn manners[:D] but now when she really wants somthing she dose that insted of bark. Which I like since I have had to do so much "training" to "teach" her not to bark about everything and anything.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Actually, I just taught my two foster dogs each a new trick. Basically Charlie-Girl knew how to shake on command and didn't know how to lay down on command, but Sport knew how to lay down on command but not shake on command,,,,,,,,,,so I just used that to my advantage. I had them both sit in front of me and then told charlie to "shake" which she of course did, I then rewarded her with a treat and told sport to "shake" and grabbed his paw and rewarded him. After watching Charlie do it he caught on in like five minutes and now does it every time I ask him too. Then I used the same process with teaching charlie "down", she just watched sport and I think she actually caught on to it in like 15 repititions. It works great because if one of them is confused with what I want, but the other one understands, then they just watch each other and they figure it out a whole lot faster than if they had to figure it out on their own.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Not a trick, but the easiest thing I ever taught my dog is to cross the street with me on command. Every time we'd cross the street I'd say "cross" and before long he knew the cue. Easy peasy.
    • Gold Top Dog

    ORIGINAL: barngirl

    Actually, I just taught my two foster dogs each a new trick. Basically Charlie-Girl knew how to shake on command and didn't know how to lay down on command, but Sport knew how to lay down on command but not shake on command,,,,,,,,,,so I just used that to my advantage. I had them both sit in front of me and then told charlie to "shake" which she of course did, I then rewarded her with a treat and told sport to "shake" and grabbed his paw and rewarded him. After watching Charlie do it he caught on in like five minutes and now does it every time I ask him too. Then I used the same process with teaching charlie "down", she just watched sport and I think she actually caught on to it in like 15 repititions. It works great because if one of them is confused with what I want, but the other one understands, then they just watch each other and they figure it out a whole lot faster than if they had to figure it out on their own.



    It seems crazy, but it is true dogs can just watch and learn from other dogs.

    Bailey does about a dozen trick, one on which is "high five". I always have him do something, obey a command or do a trick for a trick.

    My girlfriend's dog , Woofie, is Baileys best friend. Neither she nor I have taught Woofie any tricks, but out of the blue one day I told Woofie "high five", and held up my hand, and he immediately did it perfectly.
    • Gold Top Dog
    I taught Sioux to sneeze on command by "capturing" it when she did it on her own, then adding a cue.
    • Silver
    My grandfather was helping me teach my dog to sit, and then right after that he went into "give paw" (shake).  So now everytime Marty sits, he also gives paw.  [:D]
    • Gold Top Dog
    Another good easy trick, if Teddy knows down, is say you're sorry. Basically from down, he would lower his head. If he knows down and will stay there, he'll probably stop holding his head up to look at you at some point and you can capture it. If he won't do it on his own, but will target your finger with his nose, you can have him go into down, and then have him target your finger on the floor with his nose.
    Also, since he is crated, he probably comes out and stretches (at least Max does) you could capture those stretches on command. Max does play bow stretch when he comes out of his crate which I have put on command, and he also does a thing where he stretches himself forward, which I have not yet put on command or even really attempted to much (I just say stretch when I see him do it, but I haven't reinforced it. When I remember to grab the clicker and treats before letting him out of his crate, he'll probably get the idea quickly.)
    • Gold Top Dog
    I tried to capture my walker hound's "shake yourself" thing she did for the whole 10+ years I had her--capturing it and then giving it a cue and it never worked. Ever. I read this old book that said that it would but I don't think I did it right.
     
    The goof.
    • Bronze
    Easiest thing I taught the curent dog was every little thing.  I got her as my last dog was getting a bit deddery on it.  And let the doggie hierarchy do the rest.  Not only did the new dog pick up all the tricks but the old dog got a wake up call that made him suddenly decide that a top dog gets every little thing spot on every time.  You know that's what I'll do next time.

    But this is the best bit.  Old dog was trained in te Reo Maori coz at that time we lived in the drug belt.  On balance I decided that going ooga booga at a dog was impolite to the general publci.  So new dog is 100% bi-lingual.  but what is funny is lthat as commands invariably get diluted in their righnowfulness, itty bitty britty maintained a core set of commands that a) no one else will give her and b) are onlyi used to mean right here right now.