[oliwa]

What sorts of "tricks" have you trained your Basset to do? Snickers is 5 months old and so far she can do the following:

1. Sit
2. Lay down
3. Spin
4. Roll over
5. Back up
6. Take something in her mouth (but immediately drops it)
7. Swat at things with her paw
8. Stay
9. Waits to go through doors (if asked)

I'm working on the following:

1. Drop it
2. Leave it
3. Loose leash walking
4. Shake
5. Take and hold
6. Tracking (when weather gets warmer)
7. Distractions (all of the above in Petsmart)

 

[murraysmom]

It sounds like you're having fun working with Snickers! Maybe down the road you can work on Canine Good Citizen- it sounds like she's well on her way to that!

 

[vb3]

Rosco can:
Sleep
Eat
Chase cats
Burp/make other gas exiting noises (only ocasionally though)
Drool
Beg for belly rubs

 

[AmyB]

Your question made me smile. Spencer's best trick is getting me to cater to his every need & want! I have never been successful in teaching him any tricks. My Sadie girl (at the bridge) was much more of a people pleaser. She could sit, stay, down, speak & give both paws. Spencer is the ultimate in stubborn & definitely has a mind of his own, but he's certainly full of personality. We are also Cincinnatians. What part of the city do you live in?

 

[Lightning&Stomps]

Lightning bites the heads off dandelions on command. We also have a game called "tunnel of love" or "tunnel of terror", depending on whether the cat is involved, that's too complicated to get into here, but is hysterical. He also knows "go inside", "go outside," "oh my god get that thing out of my house" (which is similar to go outside), and sit, stay, and wait. The great thing about Lightning is I can teach him to do anything as long as food is involved.

 

[Mikey T]

from Clean Run Magazine
Mariah before a run at a trial warming up with Hand Targeting ( touching her nose to my hand]

Test of distance skill hander can not cross red tape on the ground after the whitle


first basset pairs run in a qualifing attempt


proof they can still be bassets
Basset Brace
running two bassets at the same time.

Loose leash walking

personally I find this just about impossible to train as the acceptable criteria is too large for me to effectively reward. I find it much easier to train "heel" which is more precise. On a walk with the hounds alternating between heeling which the dog must maintain the percise postion to "all set" in which it is my job to maintain a loose leash regardless of what the dog is doing. Basically the dog get to do whatever it wants. I do have the ability howver to return the dog back to heel at anytime.

I would suggest putting high on the list an effective recall (come) regardless of the distraction. This can be a life saver.

 

[lvnMattie]

Rosco can:
Sleep
Eat
Chase cats
Burp/make other gas exiting noises (only ocasionally though)
Drool
Beg for belly rubs

LOL!! That sounds like Mattie's tricks too. I have to add, Mattie begs to have her chest rub while you are driving down the road.

 

[imaslave2bassets]

tricks..

Your question made me smile. Spencer's best trick is getting me to cater to his every need & want! I have never been successful in teaching him any tricks. My Sadie girl (at the bridge) was much more of a people pleaser. She could sit, stay, down, speak & give both paws. Spencer is the ultimate in stubborn & definitely has a mind of his own, but he's certainly full of personality. We are also Cincinnatians. What part of the city do you live in?

I think it's a male thing....my 3 male bassets were not interested in learning any cute tricks, just the basic sit down, chase the rabbit...but no roll over shake play ball(well Vern would go get the ball and bring it to me about 3 times in a row, then on the 4th he would give me the"what the heck did you throw it away for, I brought it back, so now get it your self" look. But My one female MayBelle would do all sorts of tricks, and try her darndest to please me and my family. Soooo not that I'm a female chovenous pig....but I think the females want to please you more then the males.

 

[imaslave2bassets]

from Clean Run Magazine
Mariah before a run at a trial warming up with Hand Targeting ( touching her nose to my hand]

Test of distance skill hander can not cross red tape on the ground after the whitle


first basset pairs run in a qualifing attempt


proof they can still be bassets
Basset Brace
running two bassets at the same time.



personally I find this just about impossible to train as the acceptable criteria is too large for me to effectively reward. I find it much easier to train "heel" which is more precise. On a walk with the hounds alternating between heeling which the dog must maintain the percise postion to "all set" in which it is my job to maintain a loose leash regardless of what the dog is doing. Basically the dog get to do whatever it wants. I do have the ability howver to return the dog back to heel at anytime.

I would suggest putting high on the list an effective recall (come) regardless of the distraction. This can be a life saver.

I totally agree with you a recall is very important for your dog, I had Vern and MayBelle both trained to their own seperate call back, Vern's was "YO Handsome", that got some looks from the neighbors sometimes And MayBelle well all I did was squeek her ball, and she was on a dead run to me, or maybe it was to the love of her life, the ball. But reguardless they both came when I called them back.

 

[oliwa]

Lightning bites the heads off dandelions on command.

I would love to see this!

Spencer's best trick is getting me to cater to his every need & want!

Sounds like he's a tad spoiled? My girl is super spoiled!

Burp/make other gas exiting noises (only ocasionally though)

Love it!

personally I find this just about impossible to train as the acceptable criteria is too large for me to effectively reward. I find it much easier to train "heel" which is more precise. On a walk with the hounds alternating between heeling which the dog must maintain the percise postion to "all set" in which it is my job to maintain a loose leash regardless of what the dog is doing. Basically the dog get to do whatever it wants. I do have the ability howver to return the dog back to heel at anytime.

Snickers already does a pretty good job of loose leash walking on her daily walks around the neighborhood. I have no interest in having my dog walk lined up with my heel and keep pace...that's for show IMO. I have a 6ft lead so I don't care if she walks ahead, finds a scent, and smells it for a second or 2 as I catch up and pass her. I don't want her pulling me forward, to the sides, and I don't want to pull her down the block. As long as the leash is loose I praise her.

As far as what you refer to as "all set", that sounds more like tracking to me. When the weather warms up I am going to track with her, at which point I'll put a harness on her with a longer lead so she can follow the scent and it's my job to keep up with her. This is a clear indication of when it's ok to pull and when it's not.

I left out come...we are working on that as well.

 

[vb3]

Rosco's newest trick has only recently shown up. It's called 'let's all die in a car crash', and it involves him trying to crawl in my lap while I drive.

 

[oliwa]

Rosco's newest trick has only recently shown up. It's called 'let's all die in a car crash', and it involves him trying to crawl in my lap while I drive.

:lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

[lvnMattie]

Rosco's newest trick has only recently shown up. It's called 'let's all die in a car crash', and it involves him trying to crawl in my lap while I drive.

That is too funny. I can only see the faces of the other drivers on the road as Rosco is doing this. We have been told by others that have passed us when Mattie's in the car, they are not for sure if we are driving or if Mattie is. Cause she sits right in between the two front seats.

 

[oliwa]

We are also Cincinnatians. What part of the city do you live in?

I sent you a PM.

 

[Marcia]

Wow, I watched your utube...impressive! I love how she does everything in slo mo...typical basset. Our Sally knows sit pretty, high five, shake, speak, and how to steal a chair by pretending to need out and jumping up when we go to open the door. Not really a trick, more like manipulation.

 

[oliwa]

Wow, I watched your utube...impressive! I love how she does everything in slo mo...typical basset. Our Sally knows sit pretty, high five, shake, speak, and how to steal a chair by pretending to need out and jumping up when we go to open the door. Not really a trick, more like manipulation.

Thanks! My favorite part is when I say "roll over" and she grunts and whines.

 

[Marcia]

One question - will she do anything if you don't pay her with food? I ask mine to do anything without treats present and they look at me like I have three heads.....

 

[oliwa]

One question - will she do anything if you don't pay her with food? I ask mine to do anything without treats present and they look at me like I have three heads.....

Short answer...yes. I use food as a lure when I first taught her spin and rollover because it was much faster than shaping the behavior and I could get the behavior I wanted by making her follow the treat with her nose. After a few trials I just used my hand (no treat) to get the same behavior and then I clicked and treated.

Even though I have treats in my hand and she can smell then she doesn't know if she is going to get the treat.

If they won't do the trick without the treat present it sounds like they were lured too long.

Take a look at these articles on how to fade the lure...

Fading a Lure (while teaching SPIN)

Good Choices in Dog Training

Dogs don’t just go around being “good” and practicing impulse control on their own! When they make those “good” choices, and look to you for reinforcement (even when there are absolutely no cookies anywhere around), it is because they have had a previous history of being reward for those kinds of choices. Once behavior becomes habit, it is its own reinforcement. While working in my office, if a pen falls off and rolls under my desk, my dog comes running into the room to crawl under there, pick it up and hand it back to me. I don’t have to ask. The behavior has become habit. I just thank her and go on with my work.

 

[Marcia]

You're probably right. I work with non domestic animals and for the most part they are always paid with a high value food item when training, particularly the carnivores. They really have no other reinforcers that will work in our situation - although they do enjoy our company and attention, these things are not quite worth working for! As our training is husbandry oriented we need absolutely the best cooperation possible and this is what works. I'm sure I've created my own monsters at home using the same methods!

 

[Lightning&Stomps]

I just watched your video--Snickers is not only adorable, she's very willing to do what you ask of her. If she didn't look like a basset, I would think she was anything but! Excellent job!