I was watching Pet Star with my nephew and a guy had a toy poodle that could
do several back flips in a row. I was blown away. How on earth do you
teach that? I don't see myself trying to teach Maui that (rolling is good
enough) but I am curious as to where you would even begin.

MauiJNP wrote:

I was watching Pet Star with my nephew and a guy had a toy poodle that could
do several back flips in a row. I was blown away. How on earth do you
teach that? I don't see myself trying to teach Maui that (rolling is good
enough) but I am curious as to where you would even begin.



I kind of suspect that you start with a really hyper, boing-y dog that
has a natural penchant for leaps, spins and flips, and start carrying
your clicker and a bag of treats at all time. Wait for the behavior to
be spontaneously displayed (waiting for supper, or maybe when the
doorbell rings) then reinforce with clicks and treats.

The only other method I can think of offhand involves the use of a small
catapult.

Kathleen

"Kathleen" wrote:

I kind of suspect that you start with a really hyper, boing-y dog that
has a natural penchant for leaps, spins and flips, and start carrying
your clicker and a bag of treats at all time. Wait for the behavior to
be spontaneously displayed (waiting for supper, or maybe when the
doorbell rings) then reinforce with clicks and treats.

I'd be interested in knowing if the dog was doing a true backflip, or a
half-flip like Rocsi and Morag do....

Your suspicion is about 90% correct, btw, for how Rocsi learned it; she
copied Morag doing it when she (Rocsi) was about 3 months old, and I just
put it on command. Didn't use a clicker, just elicted the behaviour,
rewarded it, and put a name on it.

Morag's version of the trick arose when I was tossing a tennis ball to her,
and slipped and threw it over her head. She flipped backwards, caught it,
did a 180 twist, and landed. I thought that was cool, and we worked to make
it higher and more spectacular.
She won't, however, do a really high one *without* the ball - she doesn't
see the point. G



The only other method I can think of offhand involves the use of a small
catapult.

Heh.