Teaching "Bow" and other misc tricks

Jamie knows the basics; sit, stay, lay down, come, and paw. But I wanted to teach her something a little more interesting such as 'bow' and something like 'uh oh' or 'oh no' where she'd cover her face with her paws. Or even 'bang!' and she'd play dead. But I don't know how to go about doing it!

I tried working with her on 'bow' tonight but she isn't quite grasping it. I try to hold her and tell her to 'stay' in the position, but even WHILE I'm moving her or correcting her, she still either lays down or stands up completely. I try to say "good bow!" before she stands back up but its nearly impossible :(

When I taught my dogs how to bow I did it the way I wanted LOL. That's actually the way I teach my dogs all their silly tricks and they do fine. Basically, I do whatever I can to get them in the position I want and hold them there while I go nuts saying "GOOD *Insert trick here*!!! YAY!!"

For bow I put my dogs in the stand position. I put one hand under their belly. The other hand is holding a treat and I say "bow" and direct them downward towards the floor. My dogs got it really fast.

Cagney knows the "uh oh" command. It was easy to teach him though, When you lightly blow on his face he puts his paw over his face so I just added a command when I did that.

I remember when I went with my friend to their obedience class they physically lifted the paw to the face while saying the command and gave her and treat

When I taught Kiara bow, I'd hold her bottom up and gently push her front half down while saying "BOW, GOOD GIRL!" and then let her hold her tennis ball (best training tool for Kiara.) Then she got the hang of it and did it on her own and I made an even bigger deal about it.


"Bang Bang" was easy as well. I'd roll them over and say "Bang, bang!" and then praise her in that position.

Kiara's "Are you shy?" is a little different than the norm. She does it while on her back. It was the only way I could get her paws infront of her face.
At first i'd say "SHY" and then put her paws on her face. Once she got the hang of that I added the "Are you shy?" part. :)

Oh wow those are great ideas, thanks guys.

I don't know if I want to do the 'uh oh' with her sitting or laying. It would be easier to do laying down because her paws would be free.

I'll work with her more tomorrow with some of the suggestions you've given me. I want to make sure she gets one trick down before working on another so she doesn't get confused. I'll do 'bow' first though. Thanks so much guys!

To add, I'm not sure how you do your training sessions but it helped a lot if I did about 5 minutes one day, 10 minutes the next, and then another 5 minutes the next. Also, finding something that REALLY motivates her is key.
It's different for every dog. For Kiara, it's tennis balls or just for me. For Simba, it's cheese. For Nala it's anything food related!

I usually put the other dogs away and wait until everyone is either asleep or gone. They seem to concentrate more on me and what i'm saying with no one else around. Then once they get the hang of it they do it with others around.

you have to show us some pictures when you get the tricks to work :D

Have you considered clicker training?

It's a great training tool and I've had many positive results with it. :) I taught Daisy "Take A Bow" and many other numerous tricks using a clicker. I told her to "Bow" (with the clicker in one hand and something like pieces of cheese or hot dogs for rewards in the other) and when she went to put her front half down on the floor with her bottom up, I would click and give the treat. She caught on and learned the trick in no more then a few minutes.

For "Bang, Bang!" it was the same as how Kay described, only using a clicker.

Good Luck! You'll have to get pictures of Jamie performing the trick/s. :)

I did progressive conditioning methods. Everytime Autumn got closer to the trick I'd reward her. The problem is, I had her speak and she barked while laying down. I rewarded her so now she thinks that she has to bark and lay down for "speak". Its funny. I'm working on getting her to stay sitting when she speaks.

I think it was easy to teach Kaige bow as he does it naturally. He likes to play a lot in the bow position and sometimes he'll even just sit there with his butt in the air.
I trained him by putting a treat in my hand & have my hand in front of him but almost to the floor to lure his front half down. I'd say "bow" & he'd start to lay down... luckily once he heard "bow" instead of "down" he would get a little startled and pause for a minute. That worked out good cause when he paused it was the perfect time to reward him.

Then I started to work on "catch" before he knew bow 100% and now his bows are a little weird. lol I have also noticed that he doesn't do bow on his own as much as he used to.

Frequent but short training sessions are best. 5-10 minutes at a time a few times a day. And if you work with Jamie when Charlies not around they do concentrate more on you.

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Originally Posted by lv4dogs

I think it was easy to teach Kaige bow as he does it naturally. He likes to play a lot in the bow position and sometimes he'll even just sit there with his butt in the air.

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Ah BOTH my pups do that actually haha

HJ just left for work, after my shower I think I'll put Charlie outside and turn off the TV and work with her a little bit. I know not to work with her more than 15 minutes at a time because their attention span goes away haha. So short sessions, definitely.

With the clicker training, I have considered it but just haven't bought a clicker yet. I've been successful in teaching them everything else so far without a clicker so I was hoping to achieve the same results this time around without one. If it comes to it though I WILL get one :)

I taught all of the Hoodlums (minus Micki) to "Hide your eyes" (they also respond to "Salute!" and "Do it, Do it, Do it now!" - these are my dad's own variations, lol)

Kyra was the easiest to teach, I took a small piece of tape and put it on her nose by her eye and she would go to wipe it off and I would say the command and give her a treat. I only had to use the tape once and every time I would move closer to her with it she would automatically hide her eyes. I did the same thing with Jack, Mini and Shadow but it took them a bit longer to grasp the concept. I always worked with them laying down when they were learning but now they can be in any postition.

Micki and Jack also know "Bow". I taught them both differently. With Micki I would slide my arm under his belly and lure his head to the ground, say the command and reward. Jack bowed automatically when I stand over him and rub his stomach and so thats how I taught him. Micki loves to bow and usually we do "Spin" first and then a bow.

Micki and Jack also can "Bang". Micki falls over automatically, lol so I just used that and put a name to it. With Jack it was a bit more difficult, I started with him laying down and pushed him over on his side, said the command and gave a treat. After repeating this a few times I stopped pushing him and once he got the hang of it he could be sitting and would "Bang" and eventually he learned to fall over from a stand. With Jack I decided to add more things to it where first he backs up ("Beep Beep") does a little "Spin" and then into the "Bang"

Sometimes if the dog doesn't seem to grasp the idea or seems bored or confused I stop and try again the next day. Usually I was surprised and the dog (usually Jack)would do the command the first time, lol.

Good luck with Jamie! I'm sure she'll learn in no time!

Urgh I'm so ready to give up. She just isn't GETTING it. I'm just working on "bow". She has such a one-track mind that if I even bring out food thats ALL she thinks about and she'll cycle through all her other tricks with no regard to what I'm trying to get her to do at the moment.

I've even tried playing with her with her toy rope and rewarding and praising her when she does the position but she just isn't GETTING it. I've been trying to work on this for days now. I know she isn't dumb, I was able to teach her all her other tricks in significantly less amount of time (I think 'paw' took like... three tries haha) and this is so not like her. Dammit :(

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When I taught my dogs how to bow I did it the way I wanted LOL. That's actually the way I teach my dogs all their silly tricks and they do fine. Basically, I do whatever I can to get them in the position I want and hold them there while I go nuts saying "GOOD *Insert trick here*!!! YAY!!"

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thats how i tought my dog to do it too!!

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Originally Posted by Jessika

Urgh I'm so ready to give up. She just isn't GETTING it. I'm just working on "bow". She has such a one-track mind that if I even bring out food thats ALL she thinks about and she'll cycle through all her other tricks with no regard to what I'm trying to get her to do at the moment.

I've even tried playing with her with her toy rope and rewarding and praising her when she does the position but she just isn't GETTING it. I've been trying to work on this for days now. I know she isn't dumb, I was able to teach her all her other tricks in significantly less amount of time (I think 'paw' took like... three tries haha) and this is so not like her. Dammit :(

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I'm sorry she isn't getting it...

Micki is the only one in the house that refused to learn to Hide his eyes...I tried FOREVER to try to get him to do it...he just won't. Oh I forgot, Kyra knows how to Bow too but it took her much much longer...I was getting really frustrated that she wasn't getting the idea and a couple of months later I tried to teach her again and she caught on really fast! Don't give up...just keep working on it, you aren't going to get results immediately.

The way I taught mine to bow was by putting my arm under their belly while standing..then telling them down...Mine caught on quick and I change the word to "bow"

I taught Zeke "bang bang" in this way:
First of all, he knows the hand sign for lay down. (I put my hand the air) so I said "bang bang" and put my hand in the air at the same time..he would lay down then I would gently push him to the side...for the first while I had to say "Zeke..you're dead" after bang bang to get him on his side...cause he would just lay down.

Speak is really easy to teach too..so is sit pretty.

What do your dogs love? Josie will do anything for food. All I need is treats and she'll do anything. Zeke loves praise and attention. He'll do anything for "Good boy!!" and loves of hugs and love. Whatever your dogs like most, use it and they'll work really hard to learn whatever:D

SHE DID IT!!!

I'd almost given up but go figure, her dad comes home from work and makes pizza, and she's all about doing it. :rolleyes: Sometimes she lays down all the way though, so I still have to hold my arm under her butt but the point being is that she does it now without me having to pull her front legs forward yay!!!

My dog bows on his own quite a bit,, so never had the need to teach him it.
but im trying to teach him how to SMILE yet.. so far.. now luck. LOL

but he knows how to speak,, sit,, come, achoo(has trouble with that one sometimes though) and twirl. :D

but i guess those are mostly basic commands though. :o

he will do all the tricks his knows(or trys to. LOL) mainily he'll just speak without me giving him any commands when i look at him for anymore then more then a second or two.

i danno how he picked that up. i guess he got impaitent waiting for me to give him a cammand or something. LOL

but he'll do the the stuff he knows for either treats or cuddle or two. doesnt matter to him either way. i think he just loves to make me laugh.

He probably has learned your body language and knows what to look for when you want him to do a trick! ;)

As promised, a picture!!

http://dontstay.zoto.com/img/24/2a47...b6ed-3b01f.jpg

I'm gonna work on 'bow' for maybe another week or so then start on something else :D

Awww!! Great job Jamie!!!!!