Teaching "Bow" and other misc tricks

[GoldenRetrLuver]

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.

[IRescue452]

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.

[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.
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.

[Jessika]

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.

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

[k9krazee]

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!

[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

[k9krazee]

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

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.