Clicker training....

[tabulahrasa]

You all lied, it does not tire the monster puppy out, I think he needs ritalin or something, lol - but seriously...

I need things to teach him that won't aggravate his sore leg - we've found the limp, it's in his right elbow.

The problem is that he already knows, come, sit, down, stand, wait, stay, leave, drop, off and paw

We've done, look (at me), touch and sad - I made that up for my own amusement, it's down with his head flat on the floor because he looks sad, lol, with the clicker over the weekend.

We've been playing 'find' with bits of his food too - just so you know what he's doing.

So, please, do you have any ideas for anything else I can do with him, preferably with instructions for a numpty (me, not him) I've tried looking online and I see lot of stuff about how to do basic things but not so much on anything else.

So any suggestions for websites or book I can order would be much appreciated or how to do anything nice and static and calm :)

[ijustwant8hours]

Gwen Bailey has a book about things to teach your dog... (Not the puppy one, a different one). I got it from the library once, but I can't for the life of me remember what it is called...

[tabulahrasa]

The superdog one?

I've been looking on amazon, but it's really hard to tell how useful books are when you can't flick through them.

and of course when you're trying to entertain the boredest saddest puppy in the world you've not got masses of time to browse for books as well as sorting out christmas stuff.

He's allowed on lead walks, but because he's like a coiled spring, he's literally bouncing up and down and throwing himself at people walking past, he was doing really well at walking on a loose lead and not jumping on people, but it's all gone to pot :( and of course that's exactly what he shouldn't be doing to his leg. I think I'm going to have to get him a head collar before it becomes how he walks and he's almost to big for me to manage when he's like that as well.

It's all massively frustrating, for both of us, lol

[Whippoorwhill]

I clicker trained Old Dog to yawn on command and to lick her nose. They are cute party tricks and easy to capture if you are patient. Lip licking is good for practicing getting your timing accurate and most frustrated dogs will lip lick if they can't work out what you want. Capture a lick and then gradually hold out for the biggest licks until they are licking their nose. Yawning works the same way.

Bad Dog is fun too. A bit like your Sad but capture a sit with head down, looking at the floor. I lured it with the clicker hand underneath the chin because if I used the treat hand she would lie down every time. Cued it with a finger wag and 'bad dog' and she'd look sheepish.

Good luck though. It must be horribly frustrating for both of you.

[tabulahrasa]

Thanks, that should keep us busy for a couple of days at least, lol.

The vet thinks it's an injury rather than anything longterm so hopefully he'll be back to normal soon.

He won't have it that his leg is sore - even with a fairly noticable limp, lol, so it's a case of keeping him as busy as I can so that he doesn't have time to turn into tigger.

[ijustwant8hours]

Think the one i saw was called Clever Dog. I havent looked at it since having the dog though...

[ChickensHaveNoEyebrows]

I'm playing '101 Things To Do With A Box' with Jasper. It's brilliant. You don't tell the dog what to do, he has to work out how to interact with the box in order to get the click and treat. We started off with just sniffing the box, then putting his head in, then touching with his nose, then pushing it, then tapping it with his foot, and now we're flipping it I love it because you never quite know what the dog might choose to do. We achieved all of the above in three sessions, btw, of 10 minutes each. He now spins with excitement when he sees the clicker and the cardboard box come out :)

[tabulahrasa]

I looked at 101 things to do with a box before - the problem is that he likes boxes, a lot, they make him a bit too frantic.

He's not a calm puppy, lol.

He's ok with find because he's so bad at it that he can't work himself up into running or jumping about, it takes him 45 seconds to find a biscuit on an empty coffee table that he actually watched me put down

Boxes makes him jump about though - I suppose I could make him sit beside a box without leaping on it, lol

[poachedeggs]

Check out Dr Sophia Yin's website. She my hero.

[tabulahrasa]

cheers - I'll look her up.

Bad dog's not working so well yet, it's an opportunity to lick my hand, lol, but it keeps him occupied.

Dead works well though, I accidentally clicked with one paw bent towards me, so he puts it there every time, sort of mid pawing...but I quite like it, it adds a wee touch of melodrama