I wanted to know more about the tricks that my friends online taught their dogs, so I asked them about their dog’s best trick and how they taught it. I suggested: “Tell us about the dog—breed/mix, age, size, where did s/he come from (breeder, shelter, etc.), what training has s/he had, in what sports/activities do you and the dog participate?”
Then I added: “Tell us about the trick and how you taught it … don’t be shy!”
They shared some very interesting and inspiring answers!
Eileen Anderson (Arkansas) This is not a “traditional” trick; it’s husbandry. But it’s fun and Clara enjoys it. I taught my dog to take a pill without my having to disguise it. Swallowing something is a behavior, and it can be trained! I started with asking her to eat one piece of kibble, then giving her a better treat afterward. We did this a bunch of times. Then I switched to small pieces of carrot, which she doesn’t consider food. But the idea carried over, and she happily swallowed a tiny carrot piece for a treat. Then I switched to empty capsules, the ones made of gelatin. You can buy them online. Then we were ready for the real deal: an actual pill. She did it perfectly. Since then she has been on a few rounds of pills, and now she takes one daily. I’m so proud when I say “Take your pill” and hand it to her and she swallows it down. I make it worth her while every time with a great treat.
Tim Beau (Oregon) My dogs play flyball. It’s not really a trick … or is it?
Erin Saywell (Indiana) Seeker’s is her self-taught Sit-Pretty/Beg. She was a stray in Baltimore City … I fostered her at six months and fell in love. She plays flyball, and enjoys lure-coursing and dock diving. She’s nine years old.
Photo by Erin Saywell
Dot Dill (Colorado) [The trick my dog does is] to wipe his drooling jowls after eating or drinking. He taught himself. My kitchen hand towel was conveniently hung on a towel rack just above his feed/water dish. Treated with treats, put it on cue.
Risë VanFleet (Pennsylvania) Opening and closing the door when coming in from outside: Kirrie (a rescue) taught herself to open it to come in, and I taught her to close it on a dare from my husband using backward chaining. Once she learned that, she automatically closed the door every time she came in without any cueing from us at all.
Kate Jones (Alaska) My second border collie learned to get a coke from the refrigerator! The coke was a can in a cookie and I taught him to retrieve that (empty coke at first). Then I taught him to get it out of the open fridge. Then I tied a cloth towel to the fridge door and encouraged him to tug (which he already loved). So now he knew how to get the object out and how to open the door (tugging opened the door). Then I put the two things together, started the command GET (which he already loved from the release of Get It) to open the door. Praise and then tug with my tugger. Then I moved to a full retrieve from in front of the fridge. Later, Go get a coke was his command and away he went! My freckled butler!
Jill Gibbs (Montana) Ian learned how to “barrel race” because I taught him to shape agility jumps for agility and just ran with it, literally. Ian, golden retriever, from a breeder. I train my dogs in several venues. Ian is just learning as he is just over a year. He did receive his first title at six months of age, which was his trick novice title. He trials in dock diving, Fast CAT (lure coursing), barnhunt, and Trick Dog. He is training for obedience, rally, and agility.
Photo by Jill Gibbs
Shannon Thier (North Carolina) Pongo: Husky/Dalmatian cross; at the time of learning this trick, she was 11 years old. She was rescued from a sweltering hot dumpster in South Florida along with her littermate sister, Tonka, at eight weeks of age. She was proficient in clicker training. The only sports she did was earning trick titles.
I have every stage of teaching this trick on video from first session to final. First I let her into a room with the piano. I asked for a sit next to the piano. Then I clicked and treated for ANY acknowledgement of the piano at all. When she began to understand that I wanted something with the piano, without asking for a “paws up,” which she knows and I could’ve asked for, I let her work out to try to put a paw onto the piano, which she did. I C/T’ed any interaction with the piano at all, but did withhold clicks when she’d try to place her chin down on the keys to eliminate that from becoming a habit.
As she was great at understanding the clicker, she began to offer more behavior related to the piano, from one paw up, to both. Then I C/T’ed any pressing of the keys. I wanted her to use the entire piano, so I specifically delivered my rewards to set her up for success and moving along the piano by delivering them at the edges of the piano until she was moving her paws across the piano knowing that a prior reinforcer was delivered there. Then I began withholding my timing of clicks to raise criteria so she’d press more keys before getting rewarded. Continuing this approach, eventually, I had Muttzart! I kept all sessions to 5–8 minutes or less.
She knew how to speak on cue, so later on I added “vocals” with the cue “sing” (though I have no good videos on that). I did also teach her to play the chimes, and placed them atop the piano so she’d play the keys with her paws, chimes with her nose, then vary between singing vox and chimes. I do have videos of her learning the chimes from start to them being placed on the piano.
Video of a later session of just piano—This was session 14 (so the prior 13 sessions were shaping and raising criteria to reach this point, in 5–8 minutes per session).
Photo by Shannon Thier
I also have video of Maeby learning to stack pails at the age of 15, and I am firmly convinced that continuing to teach senior dogs new skills is critical to engaging the brain. She lived to be a month and a half shy of her 17th birthday—pretty good for a 60-pound dog (Tonka lived to 16½). She could do at least 100 cues and tricks, from ring toss, to saying her prayers before eating, to playing basketball, skateboarding, bringing me her rolling duck on wheels, turning lights on and off, rolling over into a blanket, playing dead, finding my lost keys, retrieving my asthma inhaler from the bottom of my purse without disturbing any other contents, finding a lost remote control and using it to change the channels … You name it—she knew it.
I could also explain Maeby stacking rings that must fit flush on the center pole if you prefer, but I could literally sit on this thread all day. As a CTDI (Certified Trick Dog Instructor) with Do More With Your Dog!, I venture to say my specialty is trick training, which helps with service dog training. The most important thing for teaching precise tricks is, IMO, a strong and succinctly timed verbal marker or—ideally—a clicker. Here’s Maeby learning to stack rings.
I also use Do As I Do with Maeby, which is a non-binary (not reinforcement vs. punishment) way of training based on concepts. She can watch me do a behavior with my body, then she can imitate it. Only one cue is taught for this technique—a “copy what I just did” cue; ours is “Now you go … ”
How she copies what I do when I do different things with the same object
What’s stopping you? If you’ve got a dog, you can teach a trick! Whether it’s a husbandry skill—like opening and closing a door or taking a pill—or a handy and entertaining action like retrieving a soft drink from the fridge, you can teach it and your dog can learn. Enrich your dog’s life … and yours!
