Hi

I like to do lots of brain work with my boy. He isnt food driven at all and just lives for my praise.

He has mastered sit stays, down stays and when I lay toys out on the floor he will retrieve the one I ask him to, his recall is great and hes a very clever boy. Id like to keep his brain active and teach him new things but im not sure what to do next. I was thinking maybe some scent work but as I do all his training im not sure how to do it. Im not even sure if its appropriate or if only certain breeds respond. Hes a Staff. I would love to hear what your dogs have learned and what technique you used.
Thanks
Caroline

have you tried the send away...

we were taught this by getting a piece of mat about 10in square place it down and send away to down on the mat sometimes a treat on the mat for encourgement but if he is not treat orientated try a toy once he is responding remove the mat.... if he knows the down on command you'll crack it easy!

Roni

my dog has 2 toys "moose" and "Panda" i have tried to show him which is which but he doesnt get it, how did you teach yours to differentiate?  game we do are "find it", i hide food in a room and then let him in, "hide and seek" with people in the house and garden,"which hand" (food hidden in one hand and he has to touch the correct hand with his paw to get it) theres probably more but its a bit early and brain hasnt woken up yet!

I agree the sendaway's a good one, and what about tricks like 'bow', 'roll over', 'twists', 'walk backwards' and so on?

Thanks Lucy but can you tell me how I do them? He loves things like this and of course the praise after but im really not sure where to start. I also find with my sensitive little one that If hes not sure what I am asking he thinks I am telling him off! We had a little go at the send away but each time I said away he put his head down as if to say 'oh mum dont tell me off'. Of course he loves the praise after. Maybe I am doing it all wrong. I dont want to confuse my boy!

Have you tried a target trainer for sendaway ? you teach your dog to run to it touch it them run back on the command touch. The target trainer wobbles when the dog touches it

Hi morgan, how did your get your dog to touch the correct hand? think imight try this one tonight!!!

weezie, regarding touching hand, i think i held a piece of very smelly food in a partly opened fist, held both hands close to his nose with one hand one each side of his face and said "which hand," at first he will nuzzle to try to get it  and eventually try to paw it away from you at which point  you let him have it.the nuzzling at pawing settled into just a gentle paw. its not really clever as he can smell it, but it looks good.good luck, i am going to try the door shutting one.!!

thanks, we are on the nuzzling stage at the moment!! she will paw, but only after nuzzling, so will see how we get on!! thanks!!

Morgan, Mine is very toy orientated anyway so I have to say I dont think I really taught him anything he didnt already know. For example, every morning I say to him 'wheres your Kong?' before I go out. I say 'Wheres your lead?' before walks and when on walks I say 'fetch your toy'. Therefore, he knows that they are called Lead, Kong and Toy so all I do is lay them out and say 'Get Kong' and he goes to the one he already knows as kong.

I wish I could tell you something more scientific!

We play ' which hand' but I cant get him to do 'find it'. I start off by showing him where I have hidden something and say find it. So for example, I slightly lift the corner of the rug and say find it but If I dont do that he just doesnt get it.

Do you hide kong and ask him to "find kong"

Dog bursts through living room door leaving it wide open and draughty but taught her to "shut the door" which handy these chilly evenings.

Do you "weave".  I haven't taken my dog training for quite a long time and hope to go back soon and will be showing off with this one.  The trainer thought it would be too hard for some reason, perhaps because she is a bit tall for my short legs :D

I started by having dog on left, my right leg one stride forward and treat in right hand and encourage dog to walk under right leg, step forward and repeat on left leg.  Took ages to get right but now she does it fluently and at the end we show off with a high 5 :D

Hello

I find the clicker very helpful in training.  I like to try the one with the mat, as soon as she steps onto it, I click.  It doesn't take long at all for the puppy to catch on.  I'm sometimes really amazed.  The 'roll over' one is very handy, if you want your dog lying on its side at the vets for example.  I asked my pup into the down and then took a treat round and she had to roll round in order to get it.  Just lure her into it. 

Bagpipe

my Ellie love doing the weave through the legs we also walk backwards using verse as the command.

reverse through the legs and finish

get her to walk backwards

heelwork walking forwards then backwards ...ellie barks all the way through this!

play dead (ellie's eyes follow me around the room  but lays perfectly still...very funny)

If you want any instruction on how to do any of these just PM me anytime!

Teach him to close doors maybe?  (He figured out opening them for himself)

Did this with Max, and people were always astonished by it!

Pin a piece of string on the door frame, dangling over the open door, with a treat or toy on the end so it is out of reach - when the door is closed it's at the right height for him to take.

I found a little marmite on the door got him going a little more easily, and lost the strung up treat quite quickly, as he was starting to take a flying leap rather than a gentle push.  He already knew 'steady' which I found helped.

>play dead (ellie's eyes follow me around the room  but lays perfectly still...very funny)

Mine does this, but not only do her eyes follow me but she just can't stop wagging her tail :D  Cue word for play dead is "Bang" hee hee

Thanks for all the ideas.

I think we will be very busy for some time!

Cheers x