Hamlet is 5 months old today, and he sure has learned a lot. It is finally time for us to let you in on a few of his (not so secret) tricks! I've tried to organize them in the rough order that he learned them. Here we go...
GET BUSY - The first and most important skill - to pee/poo on command. Daisy started this from the very first day. You observe your dog, and right before they are about to 'get busy' you say it and they will start to associate the command with the action. This is very useful, especially as we come into the winter months and we don't want to be waiting outside in the cold/rain/snow/etc. while Hamlet is deciding whether he actually wants to pee!
HAMLET - He responds wonderfully to his name. When saying 'Hamlet' he is supposed to give the speaker his attention. This didn't take long, especially if you say it in a slightly altered voice (yes, he responds better to a higher pitched or patronizing voice, like many dogs, and much to Jason's agony [although he's getting used to it]). SSD also reccommends using 'puppy, puppy' in a moderate to high pitched voice. Currently if we say this he'll come over to you and sit down -- and be expecting a piece of kibble.
O.K. - I must admit that Hamlet really had some issues with this. For example, O.K. is used during meal times. The dog must sit down and not lunge for the food as you place the bowl on the floor. Then, you give the command 'okay' to signal that they may start eating. Hamlet was so timid/relaxed/lazy that often he didn't respond to the command and would just sit there looking timid/sad/confused. Honestly, he is still a little slow at this. This is so strange, because all of the other dogs will rush to the food and you must work to hold them back!
SIT - This command is very self explanatory, and the first real command that we used the clicker for. When doing a clicker training session, you click right as the dog is doing the behavior that they want, and then the click means they get a treat for a good behavior. In the case of sit, we stood in front of him and waited. (And sometimes waited, and waited at first, but usually not too long because he is kind of lazy and likes to lay down...) As soon as his hips started to rotate as he started to sit down we would click. After he got used to that, slowly lengthen the behavior and would wait to click until he sat and was looking up for a couple seconds. The 'sit' position is great because it is the default good boy wait position in Hamlet's puppy life.
LET'S GO - We use this command to indicate that Hamlet should begin moving and/or catch up to the speaker if he is walking behind them. We use this if he is standing still and we want to move, or if we're on a walk and he is spending too much time sniffing at something. Sometimes he gets a treat for this, and other times just verbal praise. As mentioned, Hamlet is a little lazy, so he has had a tendency to lag behind us on neighborhood walks (dependent on his mood, of course), this command is great because then we don't need to pull the leash to get him moving again.
