I give you an oldie but a goodie: http://silvia.trkman.net/tricks.htm
I love this women. It's amazing how much this article when I read it awhile back spoke to me.
Everything is a trick. Why is heeling any different than sit pretty? And once you get in that mindframe everything becomes so much more fun.
I remember training Kaylee to heel and then training Kaylee to close doors. I viewed them as such different entities and it showed, she loved to close doors and would tolerate heeling. And when asked to do one or the other after lengths of time have gone by, one guess which one was preformed flawlessly and the other not so much.
I trained Traveler to heel like it was a fun trick and he shows the same enthusiasm for it as he does jumping into my arms....well, close to it anyways.
Just that little shift in mind frame put so much into perspective for me. I used to scoff at tricks and think "Well that's nice, but can you do REAL training?" Why wasn't that real training? Because it wasn't SERIOUS TRAINING? Because it didn't have real world applications that I could see? Or was it because deep down I couldn't figure out how I could get a dog to do a handstand?
Whatever it was, I know that embracing trick training has changed me for the better and opened such a world for my dogs. They've become such thinkers and more and more we work together on tricks more I see the speed at which they learn improve, their work ethic and drive sky rocket, their endurance both mentally and physically increase, their focus during distractions sharpen and their bond to me (and I to them) become deeper and deeper.
I adore 'Stupid Dog Tricks'
I love this women. It's amazing how much this article when I read it awhile back spoke to me.
Everything is a trick. Why is heeling any different than sit pretty? And once you get in that mindframe everything becomes so much more fun.
I remember training Kaylee to heel and then training Kaylee to close doors. I viewed them as such different entities and it showed, she loved to close doors and would tolerate heeling. And when asked to do one or the other after lengths of time have gone by, one guess which one was preformed flawlessly and the other not so much.
I trained Traveler to heel like it was a fun trick and he shows the same enthusiasm for it as he does jumping into my arms....well, close to it anyways.
Just that little shift in mind frame put so much into perspective for me. I used to scoff at tricks and think "Well that's nice, but can you do REAL training?" Why wasn't that real training? Because it wasn't SERIOUS TRAINING? Because it didn't have real world applications that I could see? Or was it because deep down I couldn't figure out how I could get a dog to do a handstand?
Whatever it was, I know that embracing trick training has changed me for the better and opened such a world for my dogs. They've become such thinkers and more and more we work together on tricks more I see the speed at which they learn improve, their work ethic and drive sky rocket, their endurance both mentally and physically increase, their focus during distractions sharpen and their bond to me (and I to them) become deeper and deeper.
I adore 'Stupid Dog Tricks'