#159. #2 in series: Fun Ideas for Your Smart/Active Dog

I started this series to give you ideas of how to occupy a smart/active dog’s brain. Whether the weather is bad, your schedule is busy or whatever reason. I like dog breeds that tend to be active/working breeds, my dogs are mixes but both have a few active breeds in their first 5 breeds. I did a post on DNA testing, it was #29 on my blog. If you go to the home page you can scroll down to it & read it. You can also find my table of content from my home page to see all the titles of my previous posts, it’s under the Show tab.

Today I want to tell you about teaching your dog to do fun things such as pressing an easy button thru shaping behavior. Shaping behavior means breaking down a complex action into tiny manageable steps & rewarding the dogs progress with each step.

1.You first need to figure out what trick you want to teach. For today my example is getting my dog to press an easy button.

2. You will need a bunch of tiny tasty treats (1/2 the size of a Cheerio should work) & then you need to decide what your expectation is at first to earn a reward. I usually start with the dog looking at the easy button (or object).

3. You will need a “clicker” to mark the behavior or a marker word like “yes” to mark the smallest progress towards the end result. Example the dog starts to stare at the Easy button.

4. Raise the expectation slowly, example: maybe next your dog lightly touches the Easy button with its paw or nose. Once the dog masters the first steps stop rewarding & only reward the progress, any progress.

Remember shaping is a slow process & your dog is thinking & trying to figure out exactly what you want(without words or leading). Keep it positive & fun for the dog. Some dogs will give you some cute behaviors & try every trick they know to get a reward.

Another fun thing to teach is to play (press keys) on a toddler/baby’s toy piano. My dog Sydney was in a tricks class & they had one with 5 keys & the trainer (Liz) said she is the first dog she had that would play all 5 keys & look up for a reward. Liz had cooked steak so Sydney was all over that. I did many classes with Sydney to build her confidence, she had been abused (admitted by former owner) & she was scared of so much. It took me 3 months to get her to walk to the end of my driveway. I am guessing she was never taken on walks or exposed to new things from the time they got her as a puppy & when I got her at 3 years old. Shaping behavior helped her so much, as she learned new things, she was open to more new things. She was a Wire-haired Pointing Griffon which was a hunting breed so very active & smart. Someday I will share her story more in detail.

When you are using shaping to teach a dog a trick remember to go slow & mark & reward each step your dog takes to get to end result. When you are trying to teach a dog to press a key on the piano you need to figure out in advance do you want them to use their paw or their nose? If you want them to use their nose, I still reward at first for any touch even with a paw. After a few times I stop rewarding the paw & if my dog starts to touch with its nose I reward, even if their nose doesn’t make contact with the piano or easy button. I think it is interesting to watch your dog try & figure it out. If your dog gets frustrated or you do say “All done” or “release” & do something else. If you just feel your dog needs a few moments then toss 5 to 6 treats away from the object & let your dog go find them. You can then go back to the shaping exercise. REMEMBER to KEEP it FUN. : )

Shaping can be used to teach a number of tricks, so be creative & think of things you might want to teach your dog. Shaping is helpful if you want to teach your dog to ring a bell to tell you they need to go outside to go potty. I have taught several of my dogs to ring bells to tell me they need to go outside.

I hope you are finding his series helpful & fun while giving you some ideas of things to help your active/smart dogs. Dogs at any age can still learn new things & using their brain actually can be more stimulating than an hour walk. Not everyone can walk their dogs much or far, but enjoy having dogs in their lives, but don’t want them getting bored or getting into trouble because they have nothing to do. I will give more ideas of things you can do with your dog as I continue to write this series.

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Thank you for reading. If you have a question or an idea for a post feel free to reach out to me at echoinggreatpetcare@gmail.com Debbie