Tuesday 18 September 2007

more about dog-trick - 'shy'


We went to K9 Kompany today and had lots of fun. I was telling Cindy, our teacher, about Amber-Mae's great idea for the 'shy' trick and she knew this way of teaching it. She suggested placing a 'stick-it' note exactly above Penny's eyebrow so that Penny would position her paw over her eye.

Who would have thought that Penny would ignore it?
 
Posted by Picasa


Maybe I should have suspected what would happen. Some months ago, when we were at A Perfect Spot training, taught by Jill and Jenny, Jill suggested a similar approach. Each class member gently draped the lead across their dog's muzzle and we stepped back, clickers in hand, ready to reward the moment when they pawed at the annoying thing on their nose. They didn't. They all sat beautifully still, waiting patiently for some clue as to why their 'people' had done such a strange thing. It was one of the most hilarious moments I've had in dog training. The dogs were equally perplexed to see their people roaring with laughter, but they still sat there waiting.

We just gave up at that point.
This may be one trick that isn't for Penny...

3 comments:

Amber-Mae said...

Have you tried clipping her hair with a soft & light clip? usually that will work coz they can feel something pulling their hair down & the clip tends to move around their face when they move their head. I think the reason why Penny didn't paw the note pad on her face was becoz she couldn't feel a thing! The not pad is stuck to her fur, the note paper is light & the fur on her face is quite thick. For me, my hair is short so 7 I can feel it but for Penny, she can't. This trick, almost all dogs can do it with no problem! Try it with a clip. It should definitely irritate her & if it works, yippeee! Another accomplishment!

Love licks,
Solid Gold Dancer

Amber-Mae said...

Oh yeah, one more thing...Try & clip the middle of her forehead. You want her paws to cover both her eyes than it'll be much cuter than just using one paw.

Love licks,
Solid Gold Dancer

parlance said...

Amber-Mae, thanks again. I remember that in your movie you had a soft clip. We'll try it that way now. It's such a cute trick that I know Penny would just love showing it off!