Training your dog can be fun for both you and your pet.
Our motto is "Just five minutes a day!"
Training Tips from Rick Caran
These tips are my self taught methods and theories that I have used all my life— based on my belief that you can shape your dogs personality and behavior through fun activities and lessons. We do short sessions every day (five minutes a day on new things) and EVERY day the dogs look forward to i and enjoy it— and so do I.
The following lesson is a perfect example of how a dog can learn naturally through activities that build one on top of another, the same way a small child would learn.
LET THE GOOD TIMES ROL!
How I taught Jilli Dog to push a wagon, and we had a GOOD TIME doing it!
The key word here, is LET... I wanted to teach Jilli and Spidey to push a little wagon across the floor.
The first temptation would be to place the dogs front paws on the cart, and try to walk them around the floor.
That might work, but I always like to teach in a way where the dog doesn't know that she's learning!
LET her learn it by herself, while having fun!
It's so simple! Keep in mind that before this training, Jilli did not like to stand on an object that would
move under her feet... Your pup should have a good stay position, before teaching this. (as with most tricks)
1. I kneel on the floor with the cart in front of me, holding it in place between my legs.
(use foam padding in the cart for 'paw' safety, if necessary). Next, I have Jilli sit on the
far side of the cart from me, in a 'wait' position. Then I hold a treat, and say "Jilli, come",
she steps on the cart with her front paws and happily gets the treat and some praise...
(the cart DID NOT move)... I did this for '5 Minutes a Day' for at least 2 days, even though
she accomplished it right off, to LET it be a fun, comfortable thing for her to do.
2. Next I move the cart about one inch away from my legs... just enough for the cart
to have a slight bit of 'movement'... In the excitement, Jilli jumped up, showed a little
bit of reaction to the movement, but realized it was ok, and took the treat and praise... (do this for at least 2 days)
3. Slowly increase the distance, a few inches at a time, always starting with the pup
in a good 'wait' position (never start training until the pup is focussed)...
Eventually
you should be able to do this several yards away, and more...
The lesson here isn't just how to push a cart (which is turning out to be fun!),
but more importantly, it's to try to make all training a GOOD TIME, where the
pups don't think of it as training, but fun!
