Squats for Dogs

Ioda keeps getting older.  He has hip dysplasia and some arthritis in his lower back.  Luckily, we live in an area with great veterinarians specializing in this sort of thing.  Basically, the vet gave us some exercises that Ioda gets to do daily.  They could be a tedious chore, but we think of them as games or a shaping opportunity.


One such exercise are doggy squats.  The goal is for the dog to duck under an object, causing him to "squat" for a few steps.  With Ioda I've been using lawn chairs and my little Ikea table.  I'd been luring (I know,  not optimal) Ioda under the table and chairs.  However, he tended to either 1. run too fast and knock his back on the undersides or 2. crawl and not duck.  So instead, I've been shaping it.  Here is our third session.

Here's an outline for how I taught this:

• Click for looking at table, etc. until interacting with table.  Each time, I was careful to throw the treat either under, or on the other side of the table.
• Click for head under, throwing the treat under the table to slightly on the other side.
• Click for head under + ducking a bit, again throw treat as in past steps.
• Once the dog has head under + ducking + a step or two under the table, click and start throwing the treat further away on the opposite side of the table.  Repeat 2-3 times.
• Now hold out until the dog is committed (nose is sticking out the other end of the table), click and throw the treat on the dogs line a body length or two from the table.  

It might take a session or two to get going completely under the table, but this is a pretty fast one to teach.  Some other nice things about this trick:

• Doggy conditioning, great for older dogs and agility dogs - Helper will be doing this one when she's off crate rest.
• You can sit on the couch and and give your dog a workout.  :)
• It's another trick your dog does away from you.  I'm always looking for tricks which help with distance.
• It will become an obstacle in my old-dog-living-room-agility course. 

Towel nose game

How to keep a not yet 3-year old border collie sheltie mix from going crazy while on crate rest?  We are doing many things, like shaping picking up spoons, crossing front paws, and walking slowly around the couch.  But sometimes she needs a bit of mental activity and I need to work.  Here's a game that she can play by her self for a few minutes in her kennel.

The towel game, i.e., hide treats in a crumpled up towel and place it in her kennel.  Start off easy, but you can build to rolling the towel up and tying it in knots.  Super easy, and she loves it.

It's been a while.

Hi all,

It's been a while, but I'd like to get back in it.  Since I've last posted:

• Helper's gotten much better around other dogs.  It's been a lot of hard work, but it's paid off.  As my agility instructor said last May, "You have a real dog now!"  As in, I don't have a little monster-dog on a leash.  I'll always have to be proactive on her part and keep her out of situations she can't handle, but I can walk her in public, take her to trials, and play fetch at the dog park.
• Helper's been doing so well that she ran in her first flyball tournament this October.  She did great!  She's bit nervous of all the other dogs and noise and she doesn't like the judges' whistles, but with each run she showed a bit more confidence.  If she has a job to do, she's going to do it!
• Ioda's been great.  He's not allowed to jump anymore, so we've been taking nose-work classes, which he loves.  We've been practicing rally and rally-free at home too.  Additionally, he's been seeing a great PT vet, and we've been training his exercises as tricks.  
• And finally, Helper tweaked her back Friday evening.  After a trip to the vet's and some good meds, she's on crate rest for the next three long weeks . . .  Ioda thinks this is awesome and has been tearing around the house and yard, which is much easier without Helper trying to herd him.

And some upcoming posts:

• What to do with a wiggly little dog on crate rest.
• The importance of teaching self-control to reactive dogs.
• Tricks for old dogs, tricks old dogs can do, and tricks that are good for conditioning.