Does your dog do parlor tricks that impress kids?

[Scarlett_O']

i think we're going to have to bypass the stuff that requires feet leaving the ground. He won't even look at a treat above his head this morning. I am guessing it is uncomfortable for him, as he is highly food motivated.

Paw and crawl, we are getting good on. he can do left and right shake, and crawl about 3 feet.

he doesn't seem really enthusiastic about it, though.

With paw, he actually gave a big sigh before raising his foot up. And it's a slow-motion process. Then he looks at me with this totally bored and half-irritated stare. Happy to get the treat, though.

Aren't they supposed to act happy about doing all this? What am I doing wrong? Definitely giving lots of treats and praise.

Or maybe he's just manipulating me.

Oh, and I'm definitely not overworking him. About three minutes every hour to hour and a half.

AHHAHAHAHA, that is HILARIOUS!! You see, Rhett can run thru his whole "workout" in less then 3 minutes, and is SUPER excited about it, will even try things when Im giving others treats just to see if he gets one too....Leo on the other had will do just what your boy is doing!LOL He looks at Jesse as if to say, "REALLY Dad?! Arent we both grown ups here?? I mean come on, Im sitting down, just hand me a few treats, then Ill lay down and give me the rest!" When Jesse does make him do other stuff he huffs before and after EVERY SINGLE thing!!!!LOL

[MollyWoppy]

Don't let him get to you. Mol does the exact same thing. Pretends she can't hear me, stares out the window or at the ceiling. Does things in slow motion. After I'm done throttling her though, she perks right up.
I think the problem is that she just gets plain bored. She's good when I'm teaching her new things, but the older tricks bore her silly. It was the same at agility. Once she had learn't the jumps/tunnel/board walk things and we weren't learning anything new because we had to wait for the rest of the class, she'd just lie down on her side like a dead dog in the middle of running the course. Nothing would make her get up unless I physically peeled her off the ground, or if I went and hid.
So, you are not alone. If he gets bored, try teaching something new. He's probably quite smart you know!

[Huginn]

AHHAHAHAHA, that is HILARIOUS!! You see, Rhett can run thru his whole "workout" in less then 3 minutes, and is SUPER excited about it, will even try things when Im giving others treats just to see if he gets one too....Leo on the other had will do just what your boy is doing!LOL He looks at Jesse as if to say, "REALLY Dad?! Arent we both grown ups here?? I mean come on, Im sitting down, just hand me a few treats, then Ill lay down and give me the rest!" When Jesse does make him do other stuff he huffs before and after EVERY SINGLE thing!!!!LOL

Hahah like when you were giving Ajax treats and Rhett wanted one so he sat down and was like "how about now mom?" then he laid down and was like "ok, is this what it takes?"

So cute.

[Scarlett_O']

Hahah like when you were giving Ajax treats and Rhett wanted one so he sat down and was like "how about now mom?" then he laid down and was like "ok, is this what it takes?"

So cute.

HAHA, yep exactly!!

Then the other day I was giving the kitties treats, Dixi and Rhett were in "the cat room" with me and the girls were on their tower....I had him in a lay, and when I was done with the treats I gave him his "ok" command to break...and he started crawling towards me thumping his tail on the ground! LOL

[xellil]

yes, one of the reasons we guit going to dog class was he got so disinterested in doing stuff. The trainer would say "down your dogs" and Rebel would take a full 30 seconds to go down. He would shift from foot to foot, getting a tiny bit lower each time. Everyone would be staring at us.

He's not crawling today either. He was doing it great for awhile. Paw is still getting a big bored look, a sigh, and a halfhearted pathetic lifting of the foot.

Well, I'll try circle and a couple of other ones where he doesn't have to exert much effort but I have a feeling I'm not going to be doing any of those videos some of you guys do that people say wow that's cool.

[chowder]

yes, one of the reasons we guit going to dog class was he got so disinterested in doing stuff. The trainer would say "down your dogs" and Rebel would take a full 30 seconds to go down. He would shift from foot to foot, getting a tiny bit lower each time. Everyone would be staring at us.

He's not crawling today either. He was doing it great for awhile. Paw is still getting a big bored look, a sigh, and a halfhearted pathetic lifting of the foot.

Well, I'll try circle and a couple of other ones where he doesn't have to exert much effort but I have a feeling I'm not going to be doing any of those videos some of you guys do that people say wow that's cool.

This is typically what it's like trying to train a Lhasa Apso or a Chow. After 15 years, Chelsy had two things she would do on command and I was lucky to get that much interest out of her. My Chows are always the slowest on the agility course....we go last so other puppies don't have to wait forever while mine SLOWLY meander through the course at a leisurely bored rate.

It's usually the really smart dogs who give you the bored look over things like 'shake paw' .....maybe you can teach him to read or do calculus!

[xellil]

It's usually the really smart dogs who give you the bored look over things like 'shake paw' .....maybe you can teach him to read or do calculus!

Yes, I guess I am not nearly stimulating enough for him. He did the same thing on the agility course as your dogs - at the time, I thought he was just too big and ungainly to go fast like the other dogs but now I wonder. It's pretty sad to realize I am dumber than my dog.

Although I don't think the dogs that do those things well are smarter than him - they probably just enjoy it more. I do have the cart that I could never get to fit right, if I could get hubby to extend the shafts so he can pull it maybe I can get him to pull those kids around. He is a working dog; maybe that kind of stuff would be more up his alley.

[twoisplenty]

I love the Bang Bang trick :)

Bang! Three boxers playing dead - YouTube

[KittyKat]

I'm trying to teach Piper how to hug. Right now she can do "right", "left", "shake a paw", and "figure 8". I tried to teach her to roll over, just never happened. She doesn't roll over on her own either. The closest she gets is rolling onto her back against the couch cushions.

Training is good for them, stimulates their brain.