When you have this all done and do the show you should have someone tape it.
It would be cool to see the video.

Celeste

"diddy" wrote in message
...
A friend and I are bringing our puppies to a nursing home in Maryland in
July to put on a show.

We are coordinating efforts and tricks to choreograph the show.

We decided the finale of the show would be the boys would end the show
after a day of playing, doing chores, cooking, laundry, etc, and they
would
wave goodbye to the audience, say their prayers, and roll up in a blanket.

This is how it's being taught. Training started today. You can do it too.



The entire trick will be two stage..
wave goodbye (both dogs already know this)
SAY your prayers...
then go to bed
The goal is for him to say his prayer (put his paws over his nose/eyes)
(not taught yet)
and then to go to bed.
Where he will crawl on his blanket and then take it and roll over,
covering
himself up.

Basics required
down
roll over (not taught yet)
grab the blanket and hold (also not taught yet)

So the goal for him today, is to teach him to roll over

I told him down..
And the difficulty was increased, because Reka wanted to play also, and
downed beside him so closely neither could possibly roll over.


I made brownies last night. Chocolate is poisonous to dogs!! But Tuck has
been going nuts looking at the brownies. Alright, a "small" taste won't
hurt him. But he's going to have to earn it.


command:
Tuck Down
result:
Both dogs downed.

command:
OVER
result:
Both dogs stared at me
remedy:
So I showed them and rolled Tuck over on his back.

PRAISE!!!! 1/4 of a DOG BISCUIT

Rinse , lather repeat about 5-6 times.

This time REKA rolled a quarter turn over.

PRAISE, upped the ante.. small crumble of bacon left over from breakfast.
(just a smell)
Tuck saw Reka got something he didn't, so he copied and also got a small
crumble of bacon

rinse lather repeat
Dogs stared blankly.

I rolled Tuck over.
Praise small crumble of dog biscuit.

rinse lather repeat.

Tuck quarter turns over.
PRAISE.. Tuck gets a small crumb of brownie that he's been coveting.

Reka sees what he got, and follows suit.

Rinse lather repeat.. BOTH dogs quarter turn over.
HUGE praise!!!!! both get a crumb of bacon

But I roll Tuck on his BACK first

Rinse lather repeat (RLR)

both dogs quarter turn, and I sit silently.
Tuck then quarter turns on his back. I give the brownie praise joyously,
AND QUIT!!

Total time spent, TEN MINUTES
It took me longer to write this than it did to do the training session,
and
I never got out of my chair
I just trained two dogs.

Is it the desired trick? NO
But they are developing the ELEMENTS of the trick. You can do this too.
I will let this lesson soak for a few hours, and introduce the blanket
(target) that they will down on.
They will repeat the roll over on the blanket (nothing more)

Next lesson will be shorter.. only a few minutes to re-enforce the new
skill (roll over)
As they learn to complete the rotation, praise and desired reward will
ante
up in comparison to their success.

Training sessions are short, and fun.
If your dog has the basic command "Down" already in place, you are ready
to
start training this exercise.
If your dog does not know take/hold (can be with any toy)
You need to start developing this skill also

Later:

I let the dogs dwell on their lesson for a bit. I just asked them both to
repeat the lesson.
I simply said "over"
Tuck got down and did a half roll over. I know he's got it. Reka does not.
Remedial for Reka.
Tuck got the brownie crumb. Lesson over for Tuck for the day.
Reka successfully does "over" once I ask her to down. (1/4 small puppy
biscuit for Reka)

Reka will play this several times yet today, if Tuck participates, he
achieves a reward as well (just biscuits.. no more brownies)