Crawl

For my last blog post, I chose to teach Shasta to crawl. To some people, "crawl" sounds like it would be a easy task. But to Shasta, poor thing was struggling so much. During the time it took to teach her to crawl, she whined, she got confused, and she out-right gave up at one point. She constantly thought I was trying to get her to roll over. In the book it suggested that I should position one of my hands over her shoulder. That helped, but it also confused her into rolling over instead.
We practiced this trick over and over again until she finally started to figure out that she needed to inch forward, towards the treat in my hand. The quote from the book that helped the most with this trick is "Hold the treat level with his nose- if you hold it any higher, it will cause him to pop up to get the treat. Let him sniff the treat, then move it just out of his reach so he must stretch to get to your hand."(Fogle 36)
 Fogle, Jean M. Tricks for Treats. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.      
Holding my hand(with the treat) nose level in front of her helped her start to inch forward and make progress. The more we practiced and she inched forward, I moved my had a bit further away from her, causing her to crawl forward towards my hand. Shasta is very smart but has very little confidence in anything. Is teaching her tricks boosting her confidence?             

Leave it. No.

This certain trick that I chose to teach her made her more confused than usual. I decided to teacher her "leave it" and not matter what I said, she would NOT take no for an answer. She really wanted that treat. Over and over again I would attempt to follow what the book told me to do, but, Shasta was very persistent..
After very, very many tries and teaching her the trick. She began to understand and listen more because I am even more stubborn than her. A quote that helped me efficiently with teaching 'leave it was, "Move your closed right hand in front of your dog's nose, and say "leave it." He will sniff, lick, and possibly paw at your hand. the second he stops trying to get the treat and either looks at you or back away, say "Yes" and give him the treat in your left hand."(Fogle 18)
Fogle, Jean M. Tricks for Treats. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Shasta actually began to nibble at my hand, desperately wanting that treat. As the quote tells me to do, I put my closed fist in front of Shasta's nose saying "leave it" and watched in amusement as she tried so hard to get it. And when she looked at me all sad, I just laughed and said "yes" giving her the treat from my left hand.
The reading has impacted the way I train my dog by giving me great tips that actually work, and brought Shasta and I a lot closer because of how stupid she looks when she tries but fails. its actually quite funny. How much should I be teaching her tricks?

Rolling on.

Today I decided to step it up a notch but also teach a more easier trick for Shasta. I chose 'roll over' and was pleasantly surprised to see that she caught on very quickly. I have noticed Shasta improving increasingly every day that I train her. She always gets very excited when the treats come out and will try to do anything you ask. But she still has tendencies to give up at times so there is still more room for improvement.
A tip I did not know about teaching a dog to roll over is that you should always do the trick on a rug or outside on the grass; "So you have a soft spot to roll over. If your older dog is reluctant to roll over, he may have a sore back."(Fogle 40)
This tip helped me make sure that we were on the carpet to it would not cause any harm on Shasta. I believe teaching her this trick on carpet gave her more confidence and caused a more positive result.
Another tip that efficiently helped with teaching Shasta to 'role over' was to pay attention if she is already laying on one hip. -"As he relaxes, pay attention to which hip he settles on. if he is resting on his right hip, he is already leaning to the right, making it easier for him to roll that way."(Fogle 40)
Fogle, Jean M. Tricks for Treats. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

By learning the tips to teach Shasta from the book Tricks for Treats, I have expanded my understanding what the dog needs to achieve tricks or any type of training. Does it seem like I am being to easy on her?

What.

Shasta has gotten increasingly more comfortable with 'shake' since the last post but she is a very slow learner when it comes to anything new. That is why I decided that the next trick should be 'wave' because it builds off of 'shake.' Shasta has been through traumatic events so she is a bit off and needs to go slow.
While teaching Shasta how to 'wave', she showed many signs of confusion. She does not enjoy doing anything new or out of the ordinary, so it was difficult for her. After reading the tips from the book and repeating the steps for teaching her, she began to understand more but is still a bit fuzzy. She just wants to do 'shake' and me to give her the dang treat.
Although, she has improved. She still needs more practice.
A tip from the book that helped the most was "This time, move your hand up higher than you usually do for 'shake' so your dog is reaching up to get your hand."(Fogle 12)
Fogle, Jean M. Tricks for Treats. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
For the longest time, Shasta would just look at me very confused, or as I call it the "what" face. But she is getting much better at trying new things. Should I try and push her more out of her comfort zone?

She's Kinda Weird.

I chose to teach some tricks and train my dog, Shasta, because all my family does is complain about her and she honestly doesn't do much. She's kind of weird. She is around 6 years old and we rescued her about 3 years ago after she had spent some time getting abused and neglected,  and thrown out into the middle of nowhere in Idaho.
When we got her she was very scared of everything. She would scream at the slightest touch and was always afraid we would leave her. Three years later and she has gotten better. But she doesn't play with any toys and has not really been trained. So I decided to take the privilege of teaching her into my own hands.
Also, as the book says, this will help us bond as well.
The book I have chosen is "Tricks for Treats." by Jean M. Fogle. For my first post I chose to start with an easier trick that she has a bit of experience on, just to start her off. This trick would be... shake. Dun dun dun.
When I started off trying to teach her this, she was very weird about it. She would get confused and  slowly start to lay down and just plain give up. But soon enough she started to get the hang of it and understood what I was trying to tell her. Her favorite part was obviously the treats.
"Choose the right treats. Don't be tempted to use your dogs dinner kibble; find a treat that will really motivate him, and use it only for trick training."(Fogle 6)
     Fogle, Jean M. Tricks for Treats. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
This quote from the book has helped me learn an easy way to motivate, Shasta. Instead of using her regular dog food (Well actually, she eats cat food. She's kind of weird.), it is more tempting and motivational for the dog if you use dog treats or some chicken or cheese.


The picture that I took for this post was my beautiful Shasta completing 'shake'. She ended up licking my hand as well while I was taking the photo. But like I've been saying, she's kind of weird.
Do you think that she will start to overcome her intense fear of everything the longer I spend training her?