When teaching tricks I am usually engaged with my dogs on the floor in each others “space”. It is during these times that I believe a trust and bond is being developed between us. As a puppy I trained Riley “touch” & “paw” and these are the two tricks I turn to when we need to overcome a fear or she is being introduced to something new.
As with any small dog (especially for me, Shih Tzus) a fear of an object can develop out of the blue even where it once did not exist. Case in point a reinstalled baby gate. At our last house we had several gates installed around the house. At the new house I have only reinstalled one gate to our sitting room. The baby gates of choice in our house are by Munchkin because of their durability, easy installation and they provide easy walk thru access. For some reason though Riley no longer will cross the thresholds.
So the easy fix for this was to show her that the threshold was something that wasn’t going to hurt her, but she would have to do this on her own. So I begin with getting out my two trusty tools, my clicker and my treats.
Shih Tzu Training: Steps
Step 1: Ask for the known behavior and reinforce. In this case I asked for her paw a couple of times and reinforced the behavior with a treat. Though she will give a paw willing at other times, I reinforce it this time with a treat to let her know she will continue to get treats as correct behaviors are given. (Click n Treat = CNT)
Step 2: Have her move physically closer to threshold and ask her for the behavior directly over the object, CNT.
Step 3: Point to object and have her for a paw touch on object, CNT.
Step 4: Cross Threshold!! CNT.
Each step was repeated until she was comfortable and showed no signs of apprehension with giving the behavior. Total time to overcome fear with a trick was 5 minutes!! Yes this was fast, but remember she is experienced with clicker training and giving behaviors.
So how about you? How do you use tricks? Are they for fun or do they also serve a purpose?
Join us next week when we introduce clicker training to a mature dog with no prior experience with a clicker. (Video)
So here we go! Join my co-host Boingy Dog and myself for our weekly
Thursday Training Blog hop – A Trained Dog is a Super Dog.
Besure to grab our badge.
Hmmm…that is an interesting concept. I would like to think I am not a total dunce but I don’t have any “real” training experience with Chester and Gretel beyond sit, down and roll over. When I read your title I was thinking that it was something I could do when we are out in the world and encounter other dogs……Gretel’s biggest anxiety. I am not sure how I could translate this to that situation though.
Oh Jessica I can easily help you with that! And we can use a similar concept, next weeks blog will get you started and we will work up from there. Thank you for your comment! I will help you get Gretel going in the right direction!
I think my mom will try this with me 🙂
Laika recently posted…Besat..
This is awesome! Kayo developed a fear to our gate too recently. I think it knocked over when her walker went to pick her up and it may have hit her. Our walker is very good and would not have freaked out but Kayo did. When I brought it out before my last boarding job, it was leaning up against the wall in the kitchen and she wouldn’t go near it. She wouldn’t even come into the kitchen. We’ve never used the clicker – though I’m learning a lot about it – but used treats and games to get her comfortable with it again. I used “find it” and put treats all around it. Then I’d give her treats through the grates in the gate so that she’d put her nose right up to it. I’d make her work to get the treats out of one hand and gently shake the gate with the other hand so she’d be desensitized to the sound. That’s a jump for most people but we did a lot of desensitization early on so it worked well for her. After a few sessions she’s completely OK with the gate now. ;0)
BoingyDog recently posted…Challenge Yourself, Challenge Your Dog
And I forgot to answer your questions! We use tricks for both fun (balancing on a hydrant – although that also qualifies for exercise and core strength!), and a purpose (like my Tuesday post on teaching a dog who is terrified of nails trims to file his own: http://dogthusiast.com/2014/01/06/training-tips-tuesday-dog-scared-of-nail-trims-file-instead/ ). Overall, even the fun ones serve the purpose of bond, mental stimulation, and relationship 🙂
This week has been crazy for me, so I will go to your Tuesday post… that is one I am working on 🙂
How great! Distractions are so effective when dealing with fear. Your photos and instructions are wonderful!
-Jen
PS: Your linky still isn’t showing up in some browsers. Maybe try the code alteration I mentioned last week, see if it helps?
The linky seems to be working now! 🙂
Jen recently posted…What motivates your dog? Motivate your dog to help with dog training
it’s actually going to drive me crazy!! lol
Good ste-by-step instructions on mastering a fear. We’ve done similar exercises with our Maggie. Like the new Hop, will be sure to join in the coming weeks.
slimdoggy recently posted…Dear Labby, Can I be sued if my dog bites someone?
Thanks SlimDoggy!! I will be returning to your hop again too… so trying to get organized before school starts next week 🙂