Puppy/dog trick suggestions needed

[uppityperson]

Hi Pet people, my pup is now 8 months old and smart. I have been working with her, teaching her new tricks both for fun and because it helps her focus her energy, and it is great to work together. So far we've done the basic sit, down, come back to sit from down, stay, shake, roll over, catch popcorn. Spin was easy as she does this all the time anyway. Crawl took a couple days to get down. Heel is going quite well. Speak involves a snort/sneeze, though she does bark when someone drives up. Drop is taking a bit longer as why should she drop whatever she has in her mouth? She is learning the names of different toys also.

I'm thinking about getting a hula hoop ring for jumping through, and need to do the sit up on back legs but am running out of ideas. Have you seen other fun tricks? Looking for other ideas here. She's right under 50 lbs so I can't catch her. I very much enjoy working with her, it really helps her focus rather than simply run amok and is also funny to watch. Especially the snort/sneeze for Speak and the joyous Spin.

I'll post some more pictures soon, thanks for your suggestions for more things to train her to do.

[TheMadMonk]

1. Kitteh sez play ded. /nt

[Stinky The Clown]

2. I may have misread what you've taught her so far, but some potentially disaster-averting commands:

"Come" needs to be instant. I could save her life (a car bearing down on her) or save her reputation (she is suddenly running toward another dog or a person).

"Stop" also needs to be instant. For pretty much the same as above. Also, it gives you a moment to assess the situation before *any* action is begun.

"Stay" is slightly less important, but also needs to be in their repertoire.

I had to use "Stop" on our GSD just this weekend. I was in the front yard and both big dogs were out with me. The people across the street were having a yard sale. Someone parked right in front of our house. The husband got out and the dog saw him and went alert. As the woman was getting out, she started walking toward her, barking. The woman dove back ibto the car and the man froze.

Just as she might have started to run, I said "Stop!" very sharply. And she did. Instantly. I hand used my hand signal to call be back and she came. Instantly.

The people got out of the car and went across the street. Others came and went. Big only gave short growls for the time we were out there. But she did it where she was laying down. Right where I told her.

I admit that I am very lazy about tricks, but we work really hard on control commands. They know our property limits and almost never cross them. The only exception is when our next door neighbors are out. They LOVE our next door neighbors and will go charging over when they seem either of them, property line be damned. That has to stop, though, because now we are starting to find them over there, just hanging out.

Anyway, those are my suggestions.

Sounds like you and the (no longer quite so) new dog are doing really great. That's a good thing!

[uppityperson]

4. "stop" is a great one, thank you, hadn't thought of that. I need to train MrUP to use commands

correctly also, that if you say one, you mean it and make her do it. You don't say "come-ere, come-ere, comere, you stupid puppy" when she ignores him but "COME" or "Name, come" and make her, don't let her look and wander off la-de-dah, smelling over here now.... Commands aren't meant to hear yourself talk but for her to obey. Still working on that one but it is changing around.

I have her snap trained for Down. She knows when I snap my fingers at her that I'm not playing.

[Curmudgeoness]

6. Ah, training MrUP will be your problem!

Sounds like puppy is doing great. I have no suggestions for tricks since you are already beyond what I have the ability to teach a dog. Maybe skateboarding and surfing? OK, then, how about playing Frisbee. And if you find you need more to do, look into how they do those obstacle courses they use for dogs.

[s-cubed]

3. Agree with other posters.

Come is crucial. Stop means stop, sit, stay. Leave it is also very important: all my dogs have learned to generalize this to mean whatever the dog is interested in must be ignored, be it food or another dog or a bicyclist. You start with a small treat in the palm of your hand say leave it. The pup goes for it, but you can close your hand faster. After a few tries the dog will look away in frustration. At that point you praise and give the treat. Progress to something on the floor that you can cover quickly with your foot. Eventually you can drop food or throw it. Progress to toys etc.
Sounds like your pup is doing great!

[uppityperson]

5. That is my "drop it" command. She's not as good as my old dog who would spit out treats when

we told him to, but I expect she'll get there. We use "leave" when she's trying to get the cats to play, maybe I'll work with that also, to get her to stop what she's doing rather than the specific "drop" to drop what's in her mouth.

She's smart and needs other things, other interactions, to be happy. Hmmm, maybe will set up an agility style course in my yard, things to jump over, under, etc. I'd rather not have her learn to dance on her back feet. Maybe a stop/drop thing.

[TorchTheWitch]

7. seek and find could be fun for her

Dogs use their noses so much anyway that a game where you hide things for her to find would be fun. I've found this one to be surprisingly simple especially if you start with just one thing and make it a food item or favorite toy and start with hiding it in the house then progress to the yard and finally you can hide things all over the neighborhood for her to sniff out. Food items in the beginning seem to work best though - no dog in the world wants to not find food when they catch a whiff of it. I started out by bringing him to the general area where the treat was hidden to make it easier for him to figure out what he was supposed to do. The only hurdle with this one was trying not to keep hiding treats in the same places so that instead of using his nose he started using his memory of where he'd found treats before. I thought this would make it easier for him to figure out what he was supposed to be doing in the beginning but it turned out to just confuse him so that he first checked the places I'd been hiding treats instead of using his nose to sniff them out, so I got better at always hiding treats somewhere different than before.