Here it is:

The trick is about as easy as it looks….  that is, very easy! I first learned it over ten years ago, when I read someplace how to do it and tried it with the little Basenji we had then. Sunbeam learned it in a few days and never forgot it for the rest of her life.

Our Rottweiler Lola learned it even faster, and so did our LarryDog. He didn’t actually like the honey on his nose much, to my surprise, so once he understood the idea, I used the clicker – which you hear once with Lola on the video – and his favorite treats, little tiny bits of hot dog.

A lot of dog training can be rather serious, at least to us humans. I love to use tricks to lighten things up a bit!

An Easy Dog Trick: Wash Your Face! is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

Well, I know I like to eat in different places, but it hadn’t crossed my mind regarding my dogs. And of course, it isn’t exactly the same as it is for us. I like to look out at the view from our sunroom, and I have yet to see a dog doing that!

My dogs are already trained to sit while I put their food bowls down and to stay until I say “Okay!” I wondered if that would transfer over completely to this approach of spreading their kibble out along the floor.

It worked fine. I do already feed my dogs in separate rooms, so there was no competitive aspect.

When I spread the kibble out on the sunroom floor near her, Lola thought about going for it immediately, but a glance at me showed her that was not okay, so she waited. With some interest, of course, specially while I turned on my camera and took a few shots.

But both our dogs seem to enjoy eating this way. I often feed both a good quality kibble and some homemade food, and I don’t anticipate spreading raw hamburger around!

Nor did the DVD recommend it. The program is really concerned with more essential training elements and does a topnotch job of teaching them — here is my review of the Train Your Dog DVD. The link at the top of the page takes you right to the DVD’s page at Dogwise, where you can watch a selection of the program. It is an upbeat and informative introduction to positive dog training, covering things like come, sit, stay, down, plus a section on such puppy training topics as housetraining, crate training, and so forth.

Dinner at Last

In the second picture, Lola is finally enjoying the fruits of her patience.

One thing that interested me was that the first time I fed her this way, Lola missed a few of the bits of kibble that rolled onto the part of the floor you can see is made of little inset stones rather than of tiles. Since a dog’s nose is said to be a much more important part of their sensory equipment than their eyes, this surprised me.

Dining from the Floor, for Fun is a post from: Training Dogs Blog

The photo was taken a couple of days later, with Larry having mastered the trick easily… you can see the bits of dog biscuit sitting on both his front paws. I didn’t bother with a clicker for this one, since the cookies themselves were immediate rewards.

This was easy partly because he already knew “Down” and also because when we feed him, he has to sit and stay until we say “Okay!” before going to his dish. So he is very used to having to wait for food. But I was a little surprised at how quickly he picked this up.

I have to admit that he doesn’t seem to like this trick much. I got the sense that he felt it was beneath his dignity.

UPDATE: I’m not so sure there’s a dignity issue now that he is doing it with bits of cheese or hot dog! He eats them when I say okay, and then stays in position looking expectantly at me. Sure enough, he’s got me trained to usually do it again!

Training a Trick: Cookie on Paw is a post from: Training Dogs Blog