I was able to teach Odie how to fetch yesterday afternoon. It's not part of the things we have to learn for school, but with a bazillion movies and TV shows with dogs playing fetch, I've always dreamed of a dog who could do such. What I didn't expect is for him to take it a notch higher.
All in all, it took us around half an hour to learn it and get it down pat. It's pretty good considering our training area has moderate distractions.
I went out with family for dinner last night, and tried reviewing "fetch" again upon getting home. He seems to have gotten the hang of it! We did it for around 5 times, the fifth time being the most surprising. I threw his tug toy and told him to fetch, so he came back, dropped the toy right in front of me, and that earned him a treat. After which, he picked the toy up again, dropped it in front of me, and made eye contact, expecting to get a treat! I didn't even say anything! I guess he wanted to see if there was a shortcut. I laughed and told him he's missing out on the game, so he picked the toy up again, ran to where I usually throw it, and brought it back to me! WHAT! He was playing "fetch" single-handedly!
I'm amazed though at how he's really exploring his options! In Pet Centrics, he's already learned where Doc Marose keeps her treats, so upon seeing his teacher, Odie would already shove his face in Doc's treat container instead of waiting for her to dispense treats by hand. It's very surprising to see him thinking out of the box all for the sake of getting a treat. His brain and his senses seem to be on overdrive during training. It's a good thing though so I can't complain :)
I wonder what he's up to this week.
Wow! I'm jealous. I have retrievers but they don't fetch. :| I tried rewarding Boo every time he chased the Kong and brought it to me in exchange for a treat, but after a few times, he decides he just wants the treat and doesn't want to bring me the Kong. :| So, yeah, I resort to teaching tricks that are easier to teach and pretty much useless (but cute... Still kind of useless, unless I'm trying to appeal to the emotions of people).
ReplyDeleteMaybe we'll give it a try when class is done (ONE SET OF HOMEWORK LEFT!!! I hope we can do some reviews of previous ones in never-before-seen areas). How did you go about teaching fetch?
I'm still working on having Odie fetch his Kong and his other toys. For now he's only successfully responding to the tug toy. I like the one you took a photo of the other day! Is that the ashamed pose? HOW did you do that? So cute!!!
DeleteWhile we do have some homework left to do, part of me is trying to explore what other tricks I can teach Odie. I also taught him to turn the other day. He seems to like doing it!
I decided to teach him fetch because he's at a phase where he gets random stones and puts them on a pile of some sort. I don't know if that's his version of building blocks. And when he has a toy near him, he makes sure to bring it with him when we're leaving that area. Parang gusto niya may baon lagi on his mouth. So one time we played tug and out, tapos when I said out and he gave me the toy, I threw it and said fetch. He ran after it and when he got it na, I bent down and told him to come while showing him a treat as a lure. Tapos yun, he tried doing the shortcuts on his own :D
I call it "where's your nose?" because...that was the first thing that popped into my mind, but I should've used "ashamed"! It's really funny but once I make them do it, they won't stop (literally, they won't "break" the "position", even if I tell them to play dead). Sometimes they paw at their noses, but if I'm lucky, they shove their noses in between their paws. :')
DeleteIt's easy! I just put tape on the bridge of their noses, I say the command, mark, and give treat every time they paw. Sometimes they throw their heads back in an attempt to bite the tape, so I'm thinking if that's something I want to mark too, HAHA
I know, I really want to do our homework, because it's really great to teach them recall and sit with distractions, but sometimes Bon is just too distracted. When I ask him to do a trick, he happily does it though, so I guess he's bored by the sits? :(
Aww, so cute! Odie is one smart puppy! He knows what he wants to be na. HAHA. Boo chases after the ball, picks it up, but drops it even before he gets to where I am. Bon, on the other hand, would just watch my hand with the treat, completely ignoring the ball. :| I guess we'll work on that after our last class.
Ooooh! I'm gonna try that after graduation! Yesterday Odie kept burying his face in my arms and my friends and I kept gushing when he did it. I'll remember to mark that next time. It was so cute!
DeleteI think I'm gonna have to skip on the videos that need an assistant. I'm still shooting alone, and STILL hoping I could use the tripod at least once. Odie is consistent with recall and I'm amazed at how he just sits in front of me sometimes, expecting to get a treat. He's just really motivated by food. Even kibble excites him!
I hope I can teach Odie to get the morning paper without him tearing it apart! But my real mission (even before getting a puppy) is to get him to say grace before meals :D I'm also thinking of things to work on after finishing basic obedience. The homework kind of feels like a book report. It piled up and there's a deadline so it's hard to finish, but once vacation sets in, the freedom makes you want to work more.
I'm so careful about the recall exercise! Thankfully the few times I risked it, they both came to me happily.
DeleteSobrang pressure talaga yung homework. But it'll all be over in 3 days!!!
Gusto ko din yung praying before meals, with matching bow ng head! :| Haha, pati yata tayo na-burnout sa exercises, we want new ones. But the result of the basic OB class: we have very good dogs! :)
AAAAHHHH!!!! I'm totally cramming the homework! I've decided to just edit everything ASAP and keep my fingers crossed that there'd still be a bit of time left to shoot and edit at least one more video. I don't know Odie's status in terms of points (INTENSE ANG DAMI NG VIDEOS NIYO!) but I hope he gets a prize for his efforts.
DeleteDIBA? Ang cute lang nung videos of dogs praying before meals! With matching praying positions pa!!! I hope doc can teach us those trivial things too!
Super agree. I saw our puppy class homework videos last night and I didn't realize how much Odie has learned since then. He kept breaking his sits and kept pouncing to get treats! It's a lot more fun to teach new things now. I think training since puppy class helped Odie develop good focus. I hope the next puppy class students take their education seriously. HAHA ang daming say!