School time for our puppies! Here is your first to-do list. The first task might sound a little silly for those with adult dogs, but in fact, it's never silly to make a recall even better!
1. call your dog at least 10 times a day to do something fun together: to play, to go out, to get a treat, something to chew on or a new exciting toy
2. put a plate (or another object, but I like to start with a plate as puppies can't chew on those too easily) on a floor and shape a puppy to touch it with a front paw: you can first click for head movement in the right direction, then one/two/three steps, then stepping over it or close to it and finally for stepping on it
3. sit on a floor and put a fist full of treats or dog's favourite toy right in front of their nose, wait till they stop sniffing and click for anything they try other than getting directly to the food/toy or staring at it. It's very important the dog understands staring at food/toy doesn't get him anywhere as it will later on allow you to work with food/toys in your hand without distracting the dog's focus from the job at hand.
4. find a box or a drawer that is as long as your dog and not too high and shape a dog to put 1-2-3-4 legs into it. Then try with smaller&smaller objects, final goal is the dog can stand in a small bowl.
5. observe your puppy and see if he sometimes stretches his legs out when in down position, puppies often do that when relaxed or playing. Name it (I call it "frog":) and reward. It's a nice stretching exercise and very easy to get it on cue if the dog does it naturally (some dogs do it as adults too, but mine didn't and it was much harder to train it as with puppy Le who was doing that naturally). If not, put a dog in a down position and reward from the floor and so far ahead that the dog needs to stretch out to get it - but not so far that he would crawl ahead. Watch the hind legs and click for moving them back OR out, but NOT for crawling step forward.
Looking forward to see your videos!
How can I keep Tibby interested in working with me?
After one click/treat she will walk away. I took a private lesson this week and our instructor said when that happens I should turn my back and wait for her to find me and make eye contact.
I know Tibby is hungry, because she only eats what I hand feed her (doing tricks, recalls and excersises). It doesn’t seem to matter if she hasn’t eaten all day long and we are working in the boringest place (bathroom) she will look at the wall or sniff the floor and ignore me.
She’s 11 months old, so she should have some attention span.
What am I doing wrong?
Often, the problem is people try too hard to get the dog’s attention. They will bring the best treats, make funny noises, trying really hard to keep the dog’s attention. I think many dogs will understand that as a pressure, as a request to work with you. To this request, they can say yes or no, depending on how good treats one has, how hard one tries and how they feel at that moment. That’s why I prefer to not even ask questions. I will wait for the puppy to come to me herself, asking for attention. If I feel like saying yes, I will do a little something with her. If her focus waders off, that’s perfectly o.k., no hard feelings, no pressure, but the option to interact with me and earn treats is over, sorry, but I have other things to do as wait for the dog to notice I exist. -- About what your instructor said, only that I usually give them even longer break (impossible in normal class situation, but definitely possible in our class!), if just coming to you for eye contact is enough, then she can still choose to first check out something and then come back to work some more. As I always say: don’t ask the dog to work with you. Let the dog ask to work with you. Don’t push for more. Let the dog push for more.
Good advice Thank you. I think I will give her a day off and see how it goes on Monday. We have been working pretty hard for the last week with this class and other training things too.
To feed her dinner I did a few simple recall games that she loves and her attitude was happy, happy. I think she just needs a break from learning new things.
Yes, trying to get too much in too little time often backfires. It’s really important to not push them for more&more and give them time and an opportunity that THEY push you. You taught her A LOT in last week, it could be she felt some pressure… Give her time, teaching that or another trick is never as important as enjoying the process and creating a great relationship, that what it’s all about in the first place.
Well, we went all day without training. Tonight Tibby started jumping in and out of her box, so I guess she was bored!
This is a video of me being calm. 🙂 We had to go back a few steps. Just doing the smaller box and bowl. It’s a pretty boring video. Tibby was happy and she is still trying to get at her training toys, so that’s good. And a little feline competition doesn’t hurt. 🙂
Suggestion: Put the food in your hands, or at least in a container that you don’t have to look away from Tibby. You disconnect to get the cookies. Also, you need to give the reward quicker. There is alot of lag between the offering, click and treat. The cat is awesome!
Laura
Good point! It’s important to be quick, especially if you are trying to get more action from the dog.
Oh, you don’t need to be THAT calm and serious! 🙂 I mean, try to not be pushy in order to get her attention, wait for her to offer the attention herself. Once she does, you can be more fun, especially for big steps forward, like for 4in! Reward that by also marking it with a voice, maybe getting up and do some playing or something. But yes, she is definitely offering things on her own now, very good!
Hi guys, great videos!
Here is the work we have done so far, a few questions
1. Synchro seems to balance on the edge of the dish instead of get all the way into it, any suggestions how I can get all four feet in?
2. For frog position, should I be trying to get more duration? If so, how do I build up duration, he’s so wiggly!
Any other comments are certainly welcome, thanks!
Katie
Ok. I love the cat walking by!
I’m not sure, but it looks like he stands on the edge so he can be closer to you while still meeting criteria. I bet if you just keep shaping, he’ll be all the way in very soon.
Your frog is great!
Yes, as also Lotta noticed, “trying to stay close to that hand” is a very common problem, especially when you are always rewarding from the hand. That’s why I like tossing treats, it’s easier for them to forget that hand and focus on their job instead.
Hi Silvia, sorry, I’m a beginner in those tricks :'( and I don’t understand something about the rewards… Can you please explain. You say that sometimes you reward by hand and sometime you toss the food on the floor.
For example on the exercice of 4 paws in a box, if you throw the food, do you throw it away so the dog sort of “starts” again everytime, or do you throw it IN the box, to continue the progression (just like if you’re feeding from the hand) ?
And what about rewarding with a toy ? Do you do it only at the end of the exercice ? Because if you reward with the toy, would it be for a little while and then take it away ? (that would’nt be a reward then)
Sorry for my ignorance, I don’t want to do anything wrong … and I’m here to learn 🙂
Sure, those are very good questions!
For 4in, I will at the beginning be tossing food away, so that they can start again. Once they offer 4in, I will reward a couple of times from my hand for staying in the box, then say “go” and throw a treat away to try again. The same for a plate trick: at the beginning mostly throwing, then rewarding on for some duration with a throw to end a behaviour.
If the puppy prefers toys over food, I will reward by a toy every two or three clicks at the beginning to make them happier about the food as a consequence. But yes, a toy breaks the flow of thinking a little and can’t be given as fast as a treat, so I then only give toy every 4-5-6 etc. clicks and eventually, only use it for a jackpot when shaping a new behaviour. Once the dog understands the behaviour to some degree and doesn’t need that many informations on in which direction to think (as they know it already), then I switch to toys, it gives you faster, nicer performance. But yes, for new and thinking things, food is easier, but toys are still great for jackpots or a break between one and another trick.
My little Terra also had a little standing on the edge problem. He was definitely doing ito be cloder to my treathand. Solution was very easy, I just drew back the treathand closer to me or behind my back where it was less tempting and he understood that it was actually better to be totally in the box. Also I understood I needed to do some morre of #3 with the treathand REALLY close to him, really tempting…
Oh, your frog is wonderful!
For us, this is the most difficult excercise -- no progress yet. 🙁
Cool what a cute, active puppy! I can see why they breed them for agility! For 4in, go back to the last box he was in with 4 feet and then for your next one, try to find one that doesn’t have such tempting edges as the one in the video 🙂 and then of course, don’t click for feet on the edges if he is still trying it. With frog, you are doing great already, you are actually getting some duration already! Just keep adding it like that, clicking for keeping the legs out and maybe not necessarily for the action as such anymore once it’s very clear to him (meaning that when he is pushing hind feet out nicely every time, don’t click the push anymore, wait a tiny little bit and click for keeping them that way).
I know there are different theories on it, but for ignoring the food on the floor, I actually reward by that same food from the floor. The reasoning is that it’s more similar to eventual start line stay: it’s very easy to have a perfect stay if the dog never gets to do that jump right in front of him, if you always go back and then start somewhere else, somehow differently, as they learn that jump will never be their and just forget about it 🙂 But in real life, the only reward the dog gets for a stay is that jump that is right in front of him the whole stay. So the puppy needs to learn that even if your reward is right there, waiting for you, and you are definitely getting it, you can only take it when told so.
Silvia--I like your theory on rewarding with the same food/toy they have ignored. It is really working for Elsa. I had previously rewarded with food for ignoring a toy (she’s crazy for toys), but once I switched to rewarding her with the same toy I have seen an amazing improvement with her focus on work even with the toy right in front of her. THANK YOU!
Hopefully one of these days I can post a video--training Elsa has been going a lot smoother than me learning how to do videos…:)
Cool, sounds great! Looking forward to see the video! And yeah, I know it was very painful for me to learn video editing too…
Oh! Okay, so I should just let him get the cookie on the floor? Obviously only when told to do so. I hadn’t thought about it, since he still gets the cookie, I just was delivering it straight to his mouth…
Thanks I will switch that!
Sure, it was good to start that way. To challenge him some more, teach him that even though he can get it, he can only get it when you say so -- wait until he does something, click and tell him to get it.
Very cute puppy!
ROFL, that back end view of the frog was sure funny. I found myself trying to watch your tv in your video too…lol
For your edge problem, how about using a silcone pan instead of glass. Then the sides will collapse.
Laura
I thought I’d share something about the training. I know recalls are crucial and have slacked off on training them because Da Vinci does a great job with ME. However, he has been choosing not to come to my husband when called…which isn’t acceptable and frustrates my husband. I am the primary trainer and the one who does agility with our dogs, so I try to minimize stress for my husband by working with the dogs a lot. In this case, I think Da Vinci just didn’t seem to find recalls with Josh nearly as exciting (usually having to come inside). So, I tacked the recall portion of this lesson a little differently. I am of course working on recalls with him, but I bought some enticing treats and really fun new toys (rabbit fur, crunch-n-tugs, fun stuff with fringe and squeakers) for the sole purpose of handing one to Josh and asking him to call Da Vinci to play (spring break here so perfect timing as we are both home). I watch and coach him to play with Da Vinci and then tell him when to end the game and put the toy away. If play isn’t an option, he has a new yummy treat to offer the pup. So far so good! I’m open to any suggestions :)! I thought this would be a fun and useful way to introduce new toys I eventually plan to use in training…right now they are new exciting things “Dad” has to offer.
Kristin
I watched a bunch of free Susan Garrett webinars on recall. I’m not sure if they are still free but I have copies! She mentions the use of restrained recalls to build value for yourself.. There is a step-by-step. I’ve done one session with Summer so far and there is a difference! I think u’re doing great by getting your husband to build value for himself in the dogs eyes.. If he is willing you will both do great!
Maybe Silvia has her own tricks to share?
My main trick is to do lots of tricks with the puppy to build great working relationships that will, as a consequence, give you a great recall. As Kristin noticed, she already has that with Da Vinci, so he comes for her, but not so much for her husband who doesn’t normally work with him. The more he will play with the dog and maybe do a trick or two with him when he has time, the more Da Vinci will listen to him too.
Sure, you are on a right way, having your husband do the #1 of the homework! 🙂 It’s true that most herding breeds will recall nicely to their handler, hoping to get something to work 🙂 When somebody who normally doesn’t work with them calls them, it’s harder, so it’s good to give your husband the extra cool toys and treats to reward his effort.
Kristin, My husband does not have much interest in actual training, but he does play with the dogs ALOT! He also gives them “free” food while he eats (his choice and apparently he doesn’t mind being surrounded by dogs during every meal). This seems to be enough to create value for being with him and so they will *usually* run to him when he calls them. It’s good enough for him.
He will have to decide what he wants from the dogs and then respond accordingly. If he wants super recalls, he probably won’t get it by default and will have to invest some time working. If he doesn’t want to work for it, then he may need to adjust his expectations. It’s not clear where he is with this, so I’m referring to both ends of the spectrum. He may be somewhere in between! 🙂
Husbands are extremely hard to train!
LOL! Actually, Josh is quite involved with the dogs. True, I do most of the training, but he does play with them a lot and takes them many places. He handles Callie, our BC, when herding too. Da Vinci’s recall with him has been better this past week with all the super exciting toys/ games and treats we’ve associated with Josh. I think we are on our way…just hand to take time to make “Dad” Mr. Fun 😀
After watching everyone’s awesome videos I finally put together my own. I needed help videoing and also putting it together for youtube so its taken a while..
Paw targets were usual but it took a bit of work to get both single and double paw targets offered on the same object. She would tend to stick to either one or two only. We have a separate book that we use for pivots but I wanted to take up the challenge of getting her to offer different variations 🙂
Box exercise so far so good!
Froggy legs were very hard.. She does not do it naturally even when she was a puppy. Also, because of her hip dysplasia I was worried the position might hurt her.. This is the first time using the cushion and it is going MUCH better!
We had her hip check up and the vet says now her left hip is completely out of the socket, the right one is a little bit in. But she is not in pain, so no surgery yet!
Here goes! Comments please! 🙂
OH, I see now how to use a pillow to help with the frog! I will try that with my pup. Thanks for posting your video! 🙂
GREAT job! Froggy legs look GREAT, no problem with the plate and hey, that’s already a very small box for a Golden! But well, you can always still make it smaller! 🙂
Seems like that wasn’t enough homework for most of you! I guess you’re getting some more next time! 🙂
Excellent! I may have missed something…are we to reward for one paw and two paw touches? Are we supposed to reward whichever they do or start putting each on cue?
I think I asked a question somewhere near the start of this lesson -- the first page maybe? Silvia replied that she likes to click for a variety of responses 🙂
Summer was very insistent on doing just two paws, and then when i got a new object she offered just one. Finally we got a variety! Just click for all and any I think..
Yes, we’ll actually need both, one paw touches and both feet touches. At the beginning, I click everything, then I name it, I have “tap” for one and “both” for both.
Ok. Should we start naming it now?
Sure, go ahead!
Wow! I just tried adding a cue with all three dogs. They did wonderful! They all wanted to put both paws on which worked great for pairing up “both” with the offered behavior and the click&treat. To get one paw, I propped the plate/ pad up on my foot or leg to encourage them to offer a single paw…clicking and pairing “tap” as they did. In one session, I was able to then place it back on the floor and get a couple of each “tap” and ‘both” on cue. Hopefully it really sinks in between now and our next session. Tried to video, but apparently I didn’t push the button hard enough. Sorry.
My Sheltie, Cash, was the most thoughtful during the process which was nice to start with. Callie (BC) and Da Vinci are so active and quickly offer another behavior so it was more challenging…but we got there. 😀
How fun!
Kristin
Well, we have a MINIMAL progress on a frog excercise.
I couldn´t tempt him to crawl, he got up to get the treat. Then we tried it over several pillows, different shapes and sizes -- still no luck, he just stands up.
My last resort was trying to lure him into crawling under something. So I sat on the floor with my legs stretched and slightly bent at the knees and strated luring him under my knees. This finally worked! I got some hind leg stretching.
Should we proceed with this? What would the next steps be to achieve the final frog on cue? It seems as if we are not able to master a frog position in a week´s time… 🙁
Hi Silvia and Classmates,
Here are my first video and questions.
1. I’m pretty pleased with the recall. When Keen was very young it was perfect! Then we had a period that Keen discovered there are other interesting things in the world, like other dogs. I think I pretty much convinced her I’m interesting too by running, moving a lot, being playful when she chooses for me, use some food.
2. Keen already knew some tricks but for one reason or another I left out the paw touch this time. She does know a nose touch. So when I used a plate (frisbee) she tried to step on it with two or even 4 paws since she already knew some ‘box’ tricks. I’m now using a smaller plate, that seems to be better. But I do have some problems with adding duration. If I delay the click she is too fast and gives me other behaviors. So I try clicking a few times, without pausing. That seems to work but I have to take food in my hand for that and then she starts focussing to my hand…
3. I did not do anything special for this because I thought that’s ok already. Can you comment if it is good enough? Like I said, she starts looking at the food when I take it in my hand.
4. She already knew how to stand on the box. Is it important to teach her to stand in the box? Same problem here, adding duration. Maybe standing in the box will make that easier?
5. I managed to click the ‘frog’ position a few times, at the dog club.I could not film it yet. She does it when she is on the lead and she wants to go to something (like a playing dog). I clicked it but most of the time I forgot to name it! At home she does not do it. I’ll spend some time today to check how my classmates are managing this.
Anyway, we are having fun!
Cheers,
Inge and Keen
Very nice! Great balance and focus! To answer your questions:
2. I always work with food/toy in my hand, it’s the only way to deliver rewards in time. If the dog focuses on a hand with treats too much, then you need to work on #3 more (and toss treats more in exercises that allow it)
3. As you noticed already: if she is too focused on treats in your hand, then this part is not good enough yet. She is fine with food in the bowl as she is used to that, now just make her used to food in the hand too, the same way you did with a bowl!
4. Depends on how you define important 🙂 The trick is by it’s definition not very important 🙂 But yet, I definitely believe teaching tricks is important, otherwise I wouldn’t be having this class. And I guess you agree with me on that, otherwise you wouldn’t be taking this class 🙂 So yes, I think you want to teach 4in too, not because it has any extra importance, but because teaching tricks is fun 🙂 Very good that you also trained 4on, great idea for everybody finished with first assignment already!!!
Silvia, I totally agree, yes. 😉 Maybe the word “important” was wrongly chosen. I just thought that this trick was a variant of what she already knows. But even than, it stays another trick. We are working on the 4 in the box trick now.;-)
Sure, it is just another variation. But then, the more variations of the same trick you do, the more the dog learns and the better he gets in generalization 🙂
Hmm, the link disappeared. Here it is (again)
Your pup has some nice balance work for Keen to get all her paw on a small surface area. I noticed with my pup he tires quickly when trying extreme balance work. For example, 2 paw or all paws on balance disc.
Thanks Juli. She really tries very hard. I do some other, less extreme, balance and rear leg awareness exercises with her. This one I try not to do too often. She is a very fast growing puppy, so I’m a bit careful with her.
Super cute puppy! She looks great! I have duration challenges with my 3 year old BC…she quickly offers another behavior. But I also realized that they dances around a lot while trying to maintain position (ie: in the box). With other tricks I taught her, like standing on the BOSU, she eventually figured out that rewards happen for staying in position until released. Often times I HAVE to toss a treat to get her off of it now. Same with Da Vinci and Cash. Releasing/ rewarding with a tossed treat like Silvia said really helps us…they can’t wait to get back on the object.
Thanks Kristin! Keen is a really cute puppy. She does not have the looks I had in mind when we got her but she is such a great character so who cares about looks! She is the best looking puppy since she entered our house. 😉 It’s a shame I do not have time to comment on other people. I hardly have the time to read the comments and watch the video’s! This is more intensive than a real life class! 😉
I know! I have hard time keeping up with all of you too! 🙂 You’re FAST.
This is our 2nd session on 4 paws in a box and 1st session with paw touch on bowl. Nova doesn’t really offer behaviours on her own so I do prompt her sometimes so that she doesn’t sit there looking at me blankly.
Do comment. Thanks.
Oh yes…I also can’t get Nova to have both her paws on the bowl. She just touches it and wait for my click. Any suggestions?
Thanks.
Summer did not start out as a clicker trained dog.. In fact we went to a competition obedience class that used a choke chain for almost 2 months!! =(
When I first started clicker with her (at almost a year old), we did lots of simple boring behaviours. Sessions of shaping just a paw touch, just a nose touch, etc with different objects. It feels like it takes forever but we were good to go in less than a week. I wanted to teach the pivot box and could not get 2 paws on the book, so what a training friend advised me was to click and reward for 2 paws on other objects first -- a stair, pavement, her bed etc. It was easy to get the behaviour offered after that!
The shaping got a LOT easier as she built up a bigger repertoire. Now when presented an object she will try those that she knows first -- a paw, a nose, stepping up, even retrieving it. Then click for approximations and go from there..
I was told the easiest way to get good is to pick a behaviour and just shape it step-by-step. We don’t use any cues until the behaviour is perfect because we want the cue to be associated only with the right behaviour.. Its more handler skill than dog skill! Our first behaviour was a retrieve (she would NOT retrieve before) and then packing up her toys in a basket..
As many people have said, if you don’t want her to give up, you need to keep the rate of reinforcement high.. So break up the criteria into little bits and click for any progress.. She won’t get the end behaviour immediately and if she doesn’t get clicked much, it won’t be any fun for her! Some people are blessed with dogs who work for a LONG time, but if I don’t get clicking enough Summer gets bored and we have to end the session.. Make Nova feel smart!
This class is perfect for working on shaping.. Good luck!!! 🙂
Very well said, thank you!
Oh yea, for starters a flat dish would be MUCH easier to get the behaviour because she is more likely to “accidentally” step on it..
Ha, ha, I thought you will try shaping this time! 🙂 That lure thrown in a box and that bowl in your hand, telling her to first nose and then paw touch, giving her directions all the time… Doesn’t look much like shaping to me 🙂 Of course, if she is used to your directions, then shaping is pretty hard at the beginning as she is used to just follow directions instead of offering something by her own initiative. I would go back to what was your very first homework, before the class even started: clicking for ANY action you see. Don’t tell me she doesn’t offer anything. She sometimes turns her head. Click that and reward by tossing a treat. Click for coming back after getting the treat, click for ANY action. For a paw touch, forget about that small bowl, only use a little towel I see underneath and click for looking at it, nearing it, passing it, stepping over it… Don’t give directions, don’t even look at her, look at the towel and reward by tossing treats every time to get more action. Don’t go into the trap of helping again, she already knows she just needs to wait a little and you will help. Be more patient with her as she is with you. Forget about the tricks, those are easy, the important part is to get her offer things, act, give initiative, think, push, try, have fun. So in your next video, I want to see you not helping at all and spending her whole meal in a couple of minutes, clicking ANY action. Just try, you can always go back to luring if you don’t like it. But I bet you’ll like it if you have enough patience to get first results 🙂
Back when I first started clicker training I had a dog conditioned to wait to be told what to do. Those are harder to get new behavior from because they wait for direction. In the beginning I had to spend a lot of time just clicking random things before she learned she could actually do things herself to earn a reward. But since then I have clicker trained my dogs as puppies and they are eager to offer as many random behaviors as possible. If you want to go more towards shaping. I love to use the box as the first object to interact with. Click for anything and everything. Walking to it. Looking at it. Sniffing it. Anything. Eventually you can start to hold out for new behaviors if you get repetitions. And that is how I eventually got my puppy going into the box. But like I said, with a dog conditioned to wait for direction it was harder.
And I had difficulty on the bowl thing too. I ended up luring my puppy into position for a while and slowly cut out the cues I was giving. He eventually got it on his own but it took a while because I was helping him instead of him learning on his own. Silvia even noted on my post that having had a shorter object like the dish would have been better than the bowl I used (which is like yours). So maybe a short dish?
Exactly, it is much harder with dogs that are already trained, but by a different system. An object like a box usually gives them more ideas what they could do, that’s also why we’re starting this class with tricks that include objects. Some dogs find it weird to step on something like a dish or a plate -- something like a towel or even their blanket might make it easier to start and then it’s pretty easy to transfer it to different objects. Transferring that paw touch to different objects is actually something I would recommend to everybody, it teaches the dog to generalize. If you need some ideas what to use, see Carla’s Brittany.
I am doing all these tricks with my other dogs too. Astro is 8.5 yo and Joule is 5.5 yo. Astro is a maniac with offering. Almost too much for me to click properly. He is loving it. Joule just stared at me the first few times and I clicked for every slight movement. Yesterday, she was so excited for her turn she was steping on the clicker. Old dogs can learn new tricks 🙂
Laura
Here’s an idea for getting Nova to have both her paws instead of just one on the bowl. If you used a taller object like something about one foot high, and you where standing up instead of sitting. Then Nova would put both paws on the object to get closer to you. Then work back to a small object.
I tried to get Dragon to put 4 feet in a bowl rather than in the box we’ve been working with. I warmed him up with the box, then put the bowl into the box, and he put 2 in very quickly but didn’t think to put his hind feet in. Maybe after a break and some latent learning he’ll get it.
How much smaller is the bowl than the box? 🙂
With Summer before going on to the smaller box from the big box, what I did was put some other objects in to make the “standing space” smaller, so its sort of like weaning slowly rather than a sudden change in size. Also you could re-shape from the 2 paws in, it should go much faster.. But i think if the size change is gradual and he understands the criteria, you shouldn’t have a problem!
Good luck! 🙂
There was no size difference — the edges of the bowl were immediately inside the edges of the box. He didn’t think to offer putting his back feet in at all… I think I need to shape him to get into other non-box but still large objects, where his back feet will go inside almost incidentally. Right now he probably only associates pulling his back feet inside with boxes.
Thanks for talking it out with me. 🙂
No problem, I hope it goes well!
We haven’t gotten to bowl-stage yet… hehe
Yeah, a very big bowl would be great to make him see it’s just another shape of a box 🙂 In general, try to use as many different objects for the same trick as possible -- you can do the same with paw touches, 4 feet in etc. That will help him learn to generalize from one object to another more easily.
I saw that you did that in your video, Cheryl. Good idea!
Kristin