laid up and need ideas

Hello there []

Now, I am sorry to hear about your broken ankle, and I hope it heals swiftly and painfree! On the upside, while sitting all day, you at least can't break anything else. []

To entertain your dog, there are many options I would think. For one thing, there are endless dog toys one can stuff with some food, and that will keep them busy for hours when done properly. If you have a yard, I do not see why you could not have your dog retrieve while you throw from a chair. Inside, teach him all sort of odd tricks (a few days ago, for instance, I saw some pet tricks show. One of the dogs there, a golden, was sitting in front of some stairs, then putting his front paws up, lowering his head between the paws into a 'praying' posture. It looked so cute, you can now come and see my Labs sit side by side praying []). If you want more useful stuff, teach him how to do things for you, say, getting a can of coke from the fridge, the remote that is out of your reach, open and close doors, and so forth. Basically, do easy items of the service dog training list. Not only will that give him a lot to think about, it could also come in quite handy with a broken ankle. []

Good luck and get better! [][]

P.S.: If you have questions on how to break down such service dog training items, just ask, but I had the impression you did some training already and just needed ideas.

thanks- am trying some of the suggestions already. I like the other ideas, especially the praying pup one.[] Exactly some of the suggestions I was looking for.
 
How do you teach a dog to get a soda or specific object? I can't figure out how to get him to get a specific object via voice command, he just grabs the first toy/object he sees. It would really come in handy with the remote!
 
Yes, I have done a fair bit of training w/dogs and horses and had a service dog in the past. I got lucky in that my other dogs were relatively calm and rather quick to learn. Tyler is not the sharpest crayon in the box, but I think it is mainly do his age (just hit 3, but only off the streets for the past 12 months) and exuberance. Must be more Irish then Golden, eh?
 
But of course, I wouldn't trade him for all the tea in China!

I would search the archives of the Clicker List

Hello there []

Ah good this helped a bit. Now, it is not too hard to teach him to bring a particular object. There are in fact several ways to go about this. The first I normally do is teach a fetch command in general. Next, the dog is taught specific names for specific items (this is, as I said, one of many ways you can teach this). Say you take a glove. Throw the glove, and say 'bring glove' (in general: fetchcmd + item). As he knows to retrieve, he will go get it anyway. You do this for a day or two throughout the day. Then you drop the glove or throw the glove somewhere when he does not see you do it. You call for his attention, show him the general direction, and tell him to bring the glove. The glove (or whatever item you were training) should be VERY easy to see at first. The idea is, to teach him step by step to search for that item. If he picks up any other item, give a no-reward mark. You can ease the training by using a smell on the object (something nice and distinct that is on nothing else, say a perfume, and later fade that additional cue). Once the dog knows this item, you teach him in precisely the same manner a new item. Once he knows that, you make him get one or the other.. and so forth. To deepen item recognition, you can just have the item lay in front of you and have him give it to you (pick up glove, give glove). Once he does that reliably, put another item beside it. If he takes the wrong one - ah ah! - if he takes the proper one, click/treat. He can learn tons of items in no time like that (I would always first teach the name of an item quite thoroughly, before I would ask the dog to discriminate; in my experience, that is faster than having several items at once. So if you move on to teach 'pick up paper', first do this until he seems to understand what the paper is, before you then put old or new other items beside it).

In all this you can use a clicker/shaping to help him win the game. If he does not retrieve, throw the item. When he moves towards it, click and treat. Do this a few times. Soon he will go up to the item, waiting for you to click! Once he gets the idea, wait till he moves all the way to the item before you c/t. Repeat this (and all following steps), until he seems to do the action fairly reliably. Then proceed to wait until he sniffs it, then until he touches it, then until he takes it in his mouth, then until he moves a step towards you.. and so forth. In no time, you have shaped him to pick up and bring to you whatever you shaped him to bring. You can now add a voice command to it all, then proof it, then move on to a new item.

With bringing stuff from the refridgerator, I would use backchaining. Think what the last step in the chain of action is. Well, giving you a can of coke. So I would teach him to release items on command. Then to pick them up on command. Then to pick up a can and give it. Then to take it out of an open fridge and hand it to you. Then how to open the fridge. And so forth. If you plan this out a little, step by little step, it is not hard. There are also, btw, excellent books out there on how to train your own service dog. As many of those things are items to be trained around the house, this might be a worthwhile read for you in your present situation. []

Get better!

Thanks for the tips and thanks for the good thoughts also!