Riley is a great dog to train. We first knew he was able to learn a great many tricks when we had to teach him a trick to showcase at his puppy kindergarten class graduation. He had already learned, "sit" "paw" or "shake" and "look at me." I had done a lot of puppy training research and taught all the beginning obedience skills on my own using a Clicker. Then, after watching a trick performed on the TV show, Animal Planet, I set off to teach Riley to, "be bashful." This trick requires Riley to hang his head, lift his paw up, and cover his nose, as he looks bashfully at you. It is a great crowd-pleaser. It still requires some refining as he does not response to voice commands as well as he does to hand commands and when he gets over-excited, he will often miss his nose. But, usually, he can get it right within 2-3 tries. Other tricks we have learned or are still refining include:
Lay down, all the way down, stay, leave it, high-5, jump up, paws up, come, back up, wait, stay, speak, take a bow, and crawl.
Our most recent trick we've been working on requires Riley to pay attention to actual vocabulary. We have been working on touching objects on request, such as a ball, right paw, or left paw. We're nowhere near mastery, but we have made progress. What I have observed from every skill or trick I have taught Riley is that, I am the one who needs to practice. I need to practice diligence and patience. Riley has always eagerly and readily learned everything I have ever attempted to teach him. I have all too often lost patience or dropped a trick I felt was too difficult. The first few weeks are always the hardest and most frustrating. And then suddenly, he begins to get it and it is so rewarding. Maintaining consistency in performance continues to be my responsibility. More diligence. More patience. So rewarding. Riley performs for me everyday, for our friends, for strangers, and for patients.
No comments:
Post a Comment