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Trick - Take a Bow
1) With your dog standing in front of you, hold a treat to his nose with your knuckles facing downwards. – PLEASE NOTE: THAT YOU ‘DO NOT’ NEED TO ASK YOUR DOG TO SIT AND THEN STAND, JUST ASK FOR A STAND FROM THE START.
2) Move the food steadily towards your dog and downwards at a 45-degree angle, as if pushing it between his front legs. Aim to tip his nose downwards and backwards, encouraging him to dip his forequarters. As soon as he does hinge backwards and drop, even slightly, praise and treat before he drops into a down.
3) Build up the move by withholding the praise a little more each time so that your dog keeps dropping a little lower. In time he will drop down onto his elbows while keeping his hind legs raised. Once your dog can do this, add in the command such as ‘bow’, ‘bend’ or ‘stretch’ before you praise and treat. Practise so that the command id linked to the move.
4) Now try the trick with you kneeling and then standing. If you dog can produce the move from jus the verbal command, you can then try turning face-to-face and bowing to each other or even bowing side by side to your audience!!
*Timing is critical – you must praise for the drop of the forequarters before your dog is fully committed to going into a down. If you praise once he is past the point of return, he will mistakenly think you are rewarding the down!
*This move needs your dog to be supple through his back, so work up gradually to ensure that he is physically capable.
* Although ‘bow’ may seem the obvious command to use for this move, consider whether your dog may become confused, as the word ‘bow’ sounds very similar to the ‘down’ command.
*If your dog insists on going all the way into a down, break the trick into small steps. Work on just tiny moves of the head and neck first, praising for a dop of the nose, then lowering the head and so on.
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24-04-09, 12:21 PM
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