A case for basic trianing
It seems like every time a stranger approaches me while I'm out training my dogs, they make some comment along the lines of "yeah, well my mutt is just a pet, he doesn't need all that fancy stuff." ...
Forum Discussion
BCSnob wrote:
When they are puppies we teach our dogs tricks, not for the sake of the trick but for working on the bond between us and them and to teach them how to take instruction. Once they are old enough for herding instruction we no longer have time for tricks.
Exactly! We teach a couple of silly little things, a paw touch and a nose touch, not for trick's sake, but as a sort of kindergarten way of preparing the brain to learn. Also, years later while under the stress of competition, I can ask the dog for that paw touch, and it becomes a great confidence builder "Hey, I know this, it's easy! Everything is going to be OK"
That said, a couple of our competition exercises can easily be dressed up to look like tricks when we do demos at libraries, senior centers, etc.
One of our exercises is scent discrimination of metal articles. In competition we use a set of metal dumbbells, but every summer when we do a demo for "story hour" at the local library, I substitute soda cans. I will scent a Pepsi can, place it in amongst5 or 6 Coke cans, and tell the kids that Pippin is going to make the right decision ;)
