We've used "go to your mat" so much that if Ray is really interested in scoring whatever tasty tidbit we may be possessing, he will sometimes run to his mat as an offering in exchage for the coveted treat. Yeah, it's that good.
As good as he is at offering behaviors, I think we become used to stretching his abilities as I recently heard Asia, the new mama, saying to Ray as she was eating a cookie, "Do you want a bite? Where might you go if you want a bite?" I turned to her, astonished, saying that Ray couldn't reason like that...just as Ray rushed past me to hop on his mat.
As much as I would like to believe my boy is a genius who can reason, I know it was just one of those times where he offered up the behavior that he thought we wanted, because the next time she tried that line, he jumped up and nearly took the cookie from her hand. Genius? Maybe. Cookie monster? Absolutely.
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We would like to sincerely thank everyone who graciously joined our Gotcha Day Blog Hop. We loved reading your Gotcha Day story. Thank you for sharing.
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What is your best trick/behavior?
Way to go Ray! Athena practices "bed" for laying on any mat we want her to and she's really good at it. She's also been practicing going to her crate from another room (at first she would only respond to the cue if we were in the same room as the crate...now she will do it from one or two rooms away).
ReplyDeleteAthena also goes to her "bed" when people have food. B actually trained this and it's AMAZING because Athena used to be the worssstttt begger. Now she just runs to her crate or mat when we have food and waits there. We always give her a little something for being so good (usually one of her hip action or skin and coat treats since we have to give them to her sometime during the day anyway!).
Athena's best trip is actually "leave it." We practice it often and Athena will leave a piece of food on the ground for as long as we want until we say "ok." I can drop food from the counter (on purpose) and say "leave it" and she will stare at it until she's free to take it. This command also comes in handy because Athena can sometimes be fussy when it's time to put her coat on (she will squirm around and try to not let us put it on her). So, we've started doing a leave-it command during coat time with a treat on the ground and Athena turns into a princess!!
P.S.- I forgot to say that I LOVE the new blog look!!! I can't wait to go exploring all of those new tabs you have up at the top!
DeleteI love that she runs to her crate for treats! Ray usually stops outside and will go if we say, "all the way."
DeleteThanks for the feedback, I had a background that I loved but I deleted it this morning because I think it was causing the blog to load really slow. I just keep changing things back and forth. :-/
Great command! We use the same with Dottie when she gets a little too excited.
ReplyDeleteThat's so good! We kind of slacked with training Nola to do some of these things because she is just so well behaved and we always have to focus so much on our fosters' behavior issues. My goal for this year is to teach Nola to go to her 'bed' instead of sitting one inch from our faces when we eat. :) Great job with Ray!
ReplyDeleteGo to your matt seems like a very goo thing to learn, next up forkirby!
ReplyDeleteThis is a good game to play! My mom calls it "park it." And I bet Ray knew exactly what Asia was asking ;)
ReplyDeleteGood for Ray! I use "go lie down" which doesn't specify where, but just that it's time to settle down somewhere. Though if I say it with a raised voice, Kaya will go to her dog bed...and Norman just wags his tail:/ It has been a huge help.
ReplyDeleteWe are geniuses, we jsut don't want you to know so keep you on your toes!! BOL
ReplyDeleteYou sure are one clever Pup Ray.. Have a funtaztic Furzday xx00xx
ReplyDeleteMollie and Alfie
So funny! We are completely guilty of reasoning with our pups. "Miss M, you need to put on your coat or you will be cold". "If you go potty now, we can go back home". Our guys...not as clever.
ReplyDeleteSo nice to meet you and thanks for stopping by! I think we might need to get Cocco a mat...
ReplyDeleteOink oink,
Katie and Coccolino the mini pig
We are the king and queen of saying complex statements to our dogs. We also give them pep talks, share stories with them... let's just not even go into too much detail here. :)
ReplyDeleteI like that you called the crate night-night. That's so cute!