AKC Trick Dog title -- looks like fun!

[connie]

Having just dismissed the notion of titles, in another post, I'm doing a 180 here and saying this Trick Dog title looks like a lot of fun, and I'm going to see if I can put one on Alex (who is already AKC registered) and use the guidelines for Dee in her AAT sessions (since I will not bother to AKC register her).

I like the tricks program because it's fun for the dog and the trainer; it doesn't have to be terribly complicated, but it challenges the dog to learn behaviors and produce them on cue. In my Tuesday night Manners class, we've decided to to the Novice Tricks program with our dogs. (There are only 3 dogs in that class besides my Alex and Dee: they are the instructor's Lapphund, a retired show boy from Alex's breeder; and two rescue spaniel sisters who have serious reactivity issues and have bitten people including their owner, who works tirelessly with them ... They will not be AKC registered, and a dog that has bitten cannot earn the AKC CGC, but this program will help them learn things, too.)

Your dog can do this!

These are the trick choices in Novice, see link below for more info and other levels.
Balance beam (walk on low board a few inches off floor)
Bark on cue (“Speak”)
Crawl (dog on belly, crawls at least 5 feet)
Fetch it and give (ball, toy, etc- bring to handler, release)
Find it (find treat hidden under cup)
Get your ___________. (Leash, brush, name of toy)
Get in (gets in box)
Get on (gets on low platform or step - 4 paws)
Hand signals (down, sit, or come)_______________
High five
Hold (3 seconds)
Jump (thru a low hoop or over a low bar)
Kennel up (go in crate, stay in until released)
Kiss (point to cheek)
Paws up (2 front paws on low stool or step)
Push-ups (sit, down, sit, down, sit, down)
Shake hands
Spin in circle
Touch it (hand or target stick)
Tunnel (agility tunnel or child’s tunnel)
Other: Handler’s choice:_______________________

Note that if your dog has the CGC, that's half of the Novice Trick Dog title.

http://www.akc.org/trick-dog/

[Amanda]

I’m an evaluator for this title. If we were all closer we could schedule a trick dog test together. Have fun with this! I will definitely be getting all the trick titles on Jovie.

[connie]

We can send you our videos, Amanda! I know quite a few people who don't have an evaluator nearby so they mail videos. We could make this an ODO Challenge.

[Amanda]

That would be awesome!

[SherriA]

Any idea how this is different from the Do More With Your Dog trick titles? I'm loathe to give the AKC any of my money, but Henry is having a ton of fun at tricks class.

[Amanda]

The AKC will honor DMWYD titles. They will happily take your money and add their letters to the dogs name. They are essentially the same thing.

[Sabine]

Any idea how this is different from the Do More With Your Dog trick titles? I'm loathe to give the AKC any of my money, but Henry is having a ton of fun at tricks class.

There are some slight differences. DMWYD also has two different streams, one where you send in a check list and get a "certificate", and one where you either demonstrate live or via video with an accredited trainer - for a "title".

[emmas_mom]

This sounds like so much fun, and while there's no class like it near me, I'd love to work Mags through some of the tricks. She's food motivated but really does not get the concept of learning a new command. I've been trying to teach her 'down' for months now, and shake paw and high five, with no luck at all. Yet she obviously had some stellar training somewhere in her past, because without hesitation she immediately responded to 'on your mat' the first time I said it and every time since, and she walks nicely on leash, she sits perfectly, she knows wait, and - amazingly, has a rock solid 'drop it'. I learned the latter when I was walking her just a couple of weeks after I got her, and she suddenly dove into the weeds and came up with a BBQ chicken wing someone had tossed - I hollered 'drop it' and she did, immediately, and then sat up straight with it on the ground in front of her. And she stayed perfectly still while I picked it up. I thought perhaps it was a fluke - that she was startled because I raised my voice to her - but last week she found a milkbone at the side of the path and picked it up, but when I said drop it (in a normal voice) she did the exact same thing. Now if only I could talk to whoever taught her those few commands so well!

[connie]

Isn't it funny, what they will and won't do! In between runs at agility class, I taught Rowley a 'high five' -- use your paw to smack my palm that I hold up like a stop sign -- in about five minutes. Dee will not. She WILL NOT. She seems to think I am saying 'put your paw out here so I can lop it off with hedge trimmers' and she's surprised that I am dumb enough to keep asking. She does many things well, but not in this lifetime will she be able to 'leave it' as Maggie does so beautifully.
At a guess, I bet Maggie was taught 'down' with some physical coercion and now she, like Dee, is wise to THAT crap. My first Sheltie, Briar Rose, did that when my instructor forced her to down and it took me more than a year to get a willing down from her, What does Maggie do if you put a treat between her paws when she's on a sit, and move it in toward her? That causes most dogs to throw their weight over their back legs and crouch lower to get the food, and oops, look, they're on a down. LOL!
Dee has a little yoga mat and I am teaching her to unroll it, by the simple expedient of putting treat crumbs on the mat and rolling it up. Once she gets the concept I will put that on a cue word.
Last week at Manners class we started 'get in the box' -- it would be cute with a laundry basket for Maggie. Will she do that? A tisket a tasket, a Sheltie in a basket.

[Trademarkbark]

The DMWYD titles have more options listed. I did those and we were grandfathered in before the title ca certificate part was implemented.

[connie]

In next week's class, Alex is going to do the routine for his Novice Tricks title. My instructor is an evaluator. I'll have her video it on her phone, so I can post it here.

I made a routine that starts with Alex shaking hands ('how do you do!' is he verbal cue) and then he does three pushups; walks next to me and spins left on command; comes to a halt and sits on hand signals; goes over to a low balance beam and puts front paws on it, then walks the balance beam from end to end; after that, he finds a nosework hide among three identical boxes. The he goes over to a cardboard carton, gets into it, and sits; released from that, he does a 'touch' with the verbal cue 'hit it!' -- he goes over to a red Staples Easy Button on the floor and paw-smacks it so the button's recording says "that was easy!' and with that, he 'says goodnight' and puts himself into his travel crate.

Assuming that goes well, we'll then move on to the Advanced list of tricks.

[SherriA]

I can't wait to see the video! Good luck!

[Amanda]

Did you get video?? So fun!

[connie]

We did perform the routine -- twice -- and Alex earned his Novice Tricks title. I will get the video from Jane.

Now we are going to start training Advanced tricks!