Thu, 05 Aug 2010 4:00a.m.
By Kelly O’Neill
Hi everyone,
Firstly, my apologies for not being on here recently - it has been crazy at Happy Pawes and lots is going to be happening and changing in the near future.
Things are going well on the training side and I had an excellent time at the Association of Pet dog trainers NZ conference. It’s always good fun catching up with my peers and swapping stories of all the fun people and animals we have met and helped.
It gave me lots of ideas for new games to play in class, as well as throwing in the odd trick to teach your dog so that you can have fun together.
Remember training for all involved should be lots of fun.
It would be great to hear what tricks you have taught your cat or dog. Whether it is to shake a paw, roll over, or bring you the newspaper - remember if you are training and you are unable to get the desired behaviour straight away, reward your dog until they are comfortable with that kind of behaviour.
For example, if you want your dog to roll over, reward your dog for lying on their side to begin with.
You can even get creative with your cue words. Teaching your dog to bow, instead of using the word “bow” you might want to say the word “King” or “Queen” - then you can ask your dog to “bow to the Queen” or “bow to the King”, so when your dog hears the cue word “Queen” they will bow.
A client did this and she had lots of fun. So did her dog, as he was looking forward to the rewards.
So lets hear your trick stories and get creative.