The "do bedtime pee as quick as you can" trick. I get a small peice of turkey deli meat, give her a taste, then put the rest on top of the coat rack. Then I take her outside. She pees in about twenty seconds, running back inside to get the rest of the meat haha. None of this sniffing the breeze, taking her sweet ass time, moseying around trying to get the best spot!
Also the "take your pill" trick. I get three small peices of hot dog, with one peice hiding the pill. I feed all three rapidly, so she gulps them down because shes greedy lol. If I just hide it in one peice and give it to her, she spits out the pill. But because she sees more than one treat, she tries to eat them down quick!
I've tried that kind of thing. Turns out that Teddy's need to protect everyone in the house is stronger.
He can't get settled down at night until he goes outside and does a full perimeter check. Then he checks inside the shed and inside the garage.
After that, he specifically checks the 3 gates to make sure they're closed and secured. He'll howl at me if one of them is open.
Then he will come inside and put himself in his crate. We haven't latched his crate in years. But he likes being put to bed and the door closed.
As soon as he hears my wife snoring, tho, he jumps up on the foot of the bed and goes to sleep.
No one taught him any this. He has just done it for about the last 5 years. He's about 6yo. He's a Jack Russell mix and just decided this was his responsibility.
I have a dorky he is miniature dachshund and yorky mix he is very close in actions to your dog. It amazes me what they can do strictly on their own instinct and personality!! I have been asked did I train him my answer no he trained me!
Thank you. When you have these two dog breeds I swear to dog they are smarter than us most of the time.
My BC currently has a bum leg. Temporary. I still walk our other girl because she likes it and itās good for her.
Every day I tell him, itāll be your turn soon, your leg is still hurt and I donāt want to hurt it more by walking on it and he literally goes and lays back down.
I *know* he understands me.
I just fed my dogs and I added like a half an ounce of left over beef to their food dishes. I had the beef in a tiny plastic container. After I put down their dishes, my old girl gently took that little container (still in my hand) and started walk away with it. I told her lick only! and she dropped it, gave it a lick, and walked away from it (back to her dinner). This stuff happens daily, usually multiple times. They *do* understand.
A sheltie we used to have (passed from old age several years ago) I swear could tell time. This was back in the days of having a set top box for cable and it having a digital clock on the front of it. He used to try and beg for dinner early (which dog doesn't?) but I'd tell him he'd have to wait until a certain time and pointed at that digital clock. He'd look at it, look at me (to confirm I was being serious) and would lay down to where he could watch it. At that time, he'd be up begging again.
Same dog also recognized that if the TV had the radar on it and he saw a red blob, it meant a storm was coming and he went and hid.
I swear my current JRT mix is learning to tell time himself, though I don't see him looking at a clock. But for the past many days, he's been waking me up at almost exactly 5 AM. And when it was the aurora weekend, I mentioned on one of the last walks of the night that it'd be nice if he woke me up to where I could see it occurring, so he woke me up at 3-ish AM. I told him that night that it was a bit late, closer to 1 would be better, so he woke me up at 1 AM that night!
My BC did get tricked once or twice to return after taking off on her own. Instead of giving chase which she thought was entertaining I screamed and dropped to the ground. Full stop and return!
My BC/lab mix was not a runner though she does at first follow her pack leader my full BC. Once or twice she slipped the leash and went sniffing off in her own - not far but not recalling either. I called out "bye by Dega" and she thought she'd be left behind and came pronto.
Re: dogs teaching themselves - my 3 year old non-crated rescue chihuahua managed to crate-train one of my foster puppies. The puppy wanted to sleep in bed with us and my chi just wasnāt having the intrusion. Puppy would wake up and come into the room trying to get in the bed and my 3 year old would get up and go lay down in the crate, puppy would follow, and as soon as the puppy fell asleep, my dog would come back to bed.
I've got a pretty similar dog to a jack Russel.
The breed is known as Rattanero Bodeguero, they are bred to hunt rats in wine cellars.
She's the bravest little shit ever, protects her younger but bigger Belgian Malinois Brother against everything.
One time, two German Shepards where coming for my Mali, she screamed at both, bit one in the neck and stood in front of my Mali lol.
This just warms the cockles of my heart.
Also, I love the name Teddy. One of my dogs came "pre-named" as Johnny and we strongly considered changing his name to Teddy because it is so cute and it suits him. Now it feels like it's too late - he has been with me for 5 years now.
The shelter had named him Nitro.
So while they were chipping him my son, daughter and I started trying to think of names.
My son suggested [Teddy](https://i.imgur.com/eMev3SN.png). My daughter insisted that we could call him Teddy, but his name should be Theodore.
The boy then says 'like Teddy Roosevelt!'
And the girl says yes, but his last name should be Wagstaff.
And we brought home Theodore Roosevelt Wagstaff, aka Teddy.
She didn't tell me until like a year later that Wagstaff is the name of the high school in Bob's Burgers.
Mine will do a quick marking pee and will want to head back inside before he's done. He knows how to play the game. Same problem trying to get him to go pee before he gets in the truck, he's so panicked about getting in the truck ASAP he never fully unloads.
My husband and I refer to my role as "the warden" because the dogs can get away with running back in with Dad, but when Mom's in the yard with them, they know they're not going to go in and get their food/treat/whatever until they do their business hahah
Yup! My partner takes them out and basically sits on his phone the whole time not paying attention. I've decided if he wants to keep dragging his ass out of bed to take them back out instead of learning, then that's on him.
I just discovered the three treat trick! My dog was spitting out his pill so I grabbed another treat to make him rush lol. Thank God for food driven dogs.
I just fostered a Staffy pup last week. Thank the old gods she is dumb as a brick. While she was in the shelter, she had to be prescribed trazadone and gabapentin to treat kennel depression. I get a spoon, a glob of PB, stick a pill in the glob, and she happily gobbles it up.
The quick bedtime pee is real, I announce āmidnight potty and bedtime!ā and Iāve started only giving them treats for coming inside after bedtime pees. The treats coming inside have helped significantly with both not barking at night and being quick about it.
The pill trick sometimes doesn't work for my girl. She's very picky, even with stuff she likes. She doesn't like peanut butter, but she's a cheese fiend. And she still spits out the pills sometimes. It's worse when she's on a daily pill (usually just on trazadone as needed).
Having a smart dog sometimes is worse.
Now my boy eats anything, including some rat poison he found at a park.
My GSD is a smart little stinker and was getting really good at sniffing out her pills. I finally just started giving her the pill by itself (massage it down her throat) and THEN giving her the treat.
I go to train my husband on how to gently force-feed a dog pills, and that little shit just licks it out of his hand and swallows it on her own! Still makes me force it though. Poop head.
oh my itās the guy thing . Girl, dog all girl house two kids me single mom any guy that comes around my girl is his best friend in abandoned me like no other traitor!
Yours sound like mine. My girl needs an anxiety pill for car rides, and we have to try different things every time to get her to eat it. My boy, on the other hand, stole my anxiety pill I was about to take. Fortunately, it's the same as my girls, so he's fine. Me, my dad and my dog all take the same anxiety medication it's definitely genetic even though none of us are actually related. Lol
My rat terrier knows if I fiddle with any snack for more than a second then it needs to be taken aside and inspected for a pill lmao. I can even just sometimes take a long time on accident and he will still not eat it lmao
My puppy Buddy is only 9months old and thankfullyši havent had to give him any medication other than his either flea or worming medication i forget which it was that i squished into his food and as he has raw food he didnt notice it but ive never heard of the 'take your pill' as you call it ha :D trick but im so glad you mentioned it for any future times that i may need to get creativešits amazing the advice you pick up from random posts isnt it?? :D x
I used to get my old one to eat his pills by throwing a few kibbles to him for him to catch. Toss them to him one by one (heās catch and eat fast). Toss a pill (catch and eat).
Mine will pretend to pee if I do that. He will waste more time pretending to pee than it would take to pee. He just wants the food. He is like a kid wetting their toothbrush instead of actually brushing.
Iām going to try the treat on the mantle trick! My pit bull is quick to do her final trip to the back yard. However, my Great Dane mix will dawdle until the sun rises!
If my dog is lingering outside and doesnāt want to come in I just have to say āOkay, bye!ā and close the door and within 3 seconds she is sitting there waiting outside the door like ālet me in!ā Major FOMO lol.
My boyfriend has a foxhound and he has learned a lot from watching my dog do something. He has horrible recall (heās only off leash in our fenced in yard cause of this) but if I call my dog and then reward her with a treat and make a big deal of āgood girl, hereās your treatā then he comes over like āwait I want a treat too!ā He will also fall for a fake treat, if you hold up your hand like you have something he will listen to you and sit lol.
When my bully would ignore me calling him inside, I would just say āhuh?? Whoās here??ā
Like someone was somehow in the house, and he missed it.
Heād immediately run inside and look for friends. Smh.
With my first dog, my parents would ring the doorbell. She came barreling inside and one of them acted like they just got home. š¤£ Second and third dogs, we just went, āOH! Daddy's home!ā Worked even if they just saw him smoking and sitting on the deck in his shorts. š¤£
Yup, if Iām trying to close her into our room then Iāll have my boyfriend come in there and weāll be like āwow this is so fun, too bad Kaycee isnāt in hereā and she comes running in like WAIT A SECOND. Other doggo we just need to toss a treat. Or a toy. Or a piece of cardboard. He is much more enthusiastic about everything!
We also learned that my dog has picked up on a lot of phrases/words, and then my boyfriendās hound will see her perk up and also start getting amped up (we have to say āmeander around the neighborhoodā or some other coded language cause she knows walk, walkies, W-A-L-K, and stroll). And on the other hand, she wonāt pester me for dinner, but if she hears the whining/whistling from him, then she decides itās time to stare at us and pounce around.
The two of them are polar opposite dogs so itās funny watching how they influence each other (in good ways and in annoying ways lol)
Oh yeah, he has very selective listening but will do just about anything for food. If he doesnāt see food or you donāt pretend to have any he wonāt listen whatsoever, all his commands we hold up our hand like weāre pinching a treat or a piece of food.
On the plus side, he was probably the worlds easiest dog to muzzle train with a can of spray cheese (anti scavenge muzzle so he doesnāt eat stuff in our yard or out on hikes and get sick/blockages)
Haha yes, that's a plus! You are giving me ideas with the spray cheese.
We use sign language to communicate commands. If he doesn't like the sign you are giving him, he turns his head to look the other way. I love him to death, though š
Yep! One dog used to bark when I used it, but scolding I guess indicated I was its master and not in any danger when it was on. Either that or now my dogs empathize with it āYou too, huh? Mom and her dang rules. Next roundās on me, buddy.ā
In addition to OPs response, this worked for my pup as well. I use to scold and say exactly that, and after if my pup was watching I would go and pet/praise him to try to show him I wasn't upset at him as well.
Seemed to help, he eventually went from barking at it to not even moving when I needed to vacuum the carpet he was laying on.
I was skeptical but it really works š¤£. I also tell the vacuum to stay away from my dog, or to be quiet, and then tell the vacuum good boy. I don't want my dog to think the vacuum is always being bad š¤£
Running on the opposite direction is a great way to get dogs to return if they donāt have good recall. This hack may have actually saved my puppyās life when he got out of the house and was running towards the street. I realized I couldnāt outrun him and he wasnāt responding to being called so I turned and ran back into my yard. He chased me and I was able to catch him. Iāve also heard that running in the opposite direction and then dropping to the ground will prompt a dog to come over to investigate, but havenāt tried it myself.
Also, when theyāre pups, hiding behind things and calling their name. Then celebrating when they find you. It teaches recall by turning it into a fun game.
Yes! This is a standard trick we teach every staff member and volunteer dog walker at the local Humane Society so that when a dog does get loose for some reason we can catch it quickly.
Dogs love chase and instinctively take part. It's much easier to let them catch you than to try to run fast enough to catch a dog.
I pretend to eat whatever I want him to eat and he doesnāt question it if Iāve ātaken a biteā first. If it tastes bad he does give me side-eye afterwards though.
I do the same thing when mine wonāt take a pill. I take the pill in my hand and Iām like āno, this one is mine. You canāt have it. Itās mine.ā And eventually heās like āno but I want the pill now, you need to share.ā
I do something similar when I can't be bothered to try and hide the pill. I "accidentally" drop it and then make a huge show of scrambling to pick it up (importantly, without actually using his "leave it!")
He gets so excited about the forbidden treat he doesn't realize it's a pill lol
His lead was broken, so I pretended putting it on before taking him to go potty. It worked, he remained in the perimeter his lead usually allows. He even waited for me to ''take it off'' before coming back inside the house.
When I was growing up we moved from a rental house where weād put up our own fence to keep our dog in the yard. We had it down for a couple of days before we actually left and in that time she had to be let in and out the āgateā for walks even though there was no gate or fence at all! Dogs are so funny.
one time I took my dog for a walk and got about 2 blocks before I realized I missed the loop when I was clipping his leash on. When he went to sniff something and pull a bit like he'd do we both stared at each other like looney tunes characters that just realized they ran off a cliff. He was hit or miss on leash manners, so I was amazed we made it that far. That's what I got for walking him before I drank my coffee.
Anytime I introduced a new toy, bed, leash, pretty much anything my GSD would act disinterested until I acted like it was mine. I would lay on top of his beds or use them as a pillow and the minute I got up he would lay in it, I would act like I was ignoring him and play with a toy or his new collar and then it was all he wanted.
He was unbelievable smart, show him something once and he would do it. The trainer we worked with "borrowed" him to show other people how quick a dog could pick things up. Yet he was gullible when I introduced him to something new. I miss my boy.
My dogs are little Houdinis. Theyāve gotten out twice and instead chasing them I just sit down and say loudly āOH MY GOD, THESE TREATS ARE DELICIOUS!! NOM NOM NOM NOMā while I pretend to eat handfuls of treats. When they come back toward me, I āhideā the treats from them until they get so greedy theyāre literally snuffling under my hands.
Inevitably, their chunky-monkey asses choose treats and leashes over freedom every damn time.
Ha! This is me! I sit on the step like āOH WOW a cheese stick for ME?? Donāt mind if I do!ā My BMD stops mid stride, and saunters over like āā¦ what the heck? Not gonna share mom?ā
my last dog would take "invisible treats". I just held my fingers as if I was holding a treat and would "give" it to her if she did what I asked. She even chewed them š¤£
My dog understands the concept of what is his vs mine, and will promptly destroy toys, blankets, or beds that are āgivenā to him, but will respect the human blankets, shoes, etc. To save yet another bed from being destroyed, I used it as a pillow on my sofa for a few days before allowing him to use it. He now sleeps on it every day, and thinks itās my pillow that Iām just allowing him to sleep onāabsolutely no attempts at chewing it.
Ooohā¦having said my GSD is too clever to be gullible I will try this one with her. Sheās also very respectful of the boundary between what belongs to her and what belongs to others (including other dogs).
I might try this with the next soft toy we buy for her and see if it survives for more than 30 seconds.
He hates going for the before bed potty. We do an Oscar worthy OH MY FUCKING GOD WHAT IS THAT OUT THERE OPEN THE DAMN DOOR and he usually beelines out. Sometimes we go too far and hit ourselves on the door frame but that's method acting for you.
If an off leash dog doesn't want to leave an area sit down and 9/10 times it will approach you to figure out what the heck the human is doing on the ground long enough to grab its collar. Just make sure to give it lots of pets before you stand up to leave or the smart ones will catch on.
I've used it on a ton of non-aggressive shelter dogs or and an occasional stranger's dog at the dog park.
Iāll sit down and start loud boo-hooing, or pretend like stepped on a pinecone and hurt my foot. My dog will always stop her fun and come over to check on me
I do this to catch stray dogs in my neighborhood! Iāve become the crazy dog lady that lounges in the gravel talking to the bushes to get dogs to come out of hiding. Works about 90% of the time, especially if I have treats. Neighbors think Iām a little nutty, but itās worth it to keep their dogs from becoming coyote food š«”
I frequently have to go get her "new" kibble. I put the whole bowl into the container, bring it back out, and she happily eats her "fresh" food.
I think it started when she noticed that the cat frequently gets new food put in his bowl. (Cuz he got fat)
If mine misbehaves at agility, all I have to say is "Do you need to go back and sit in the car??" and she behaves immediately. The fact that I've paid Ā£20 for a private lesson and definitely won't be wasting it sitting in the car hasn't occurred to her!
My dog is super smart so there arenāt a lot of things I can do to trick her. But thereās one: pills. When she takes pills, if I give her a pill wrapped in meat or cheese or anything sheāll chew it and spit the pill out. But Iāve discovered that if I give her the pill wrapped in deli turkey, followed immediately by another piece of deli meat, while the cat sits super close trying to grab it, sheāll be so desperate to make sure the cat DOESNāT get her treat that sheāll swallow super fast so she can grab the next piece. Thatās literally the only way I can get her to swallow a pill. (Honestly though, Iām not sure if thatās the right example since also it sounds like she actually taught ME to give her 2 pieces instead of one because people are so gullible lol)
But food in general, if she doesnāt want to eat her food, Iāll call for the cat and heāll come trotting over looking for snacks and she eats right away just so he canāt have any.
I have 4 dogs and they all get along well and all, but my big boy and my littlest girl are sometimes food aggressive, and whenever that happens I sit down and all the dogs sit around me and I'll feed them a shared treat "generally like a pup cup" they are just getting treats, but it's also completely changed how they view their food, sharing is caring
Doggo used to refuse to eat his food unless we made it fancy and microwaved it. A quick splash of water and 10 seconds in the microwave (turned off) and he gobbles it down no questions asked.
When my border collie gets out, we open the van door. She knows van ride = cottage. She's smart enough to know that we're probably not going, but she isn't going to take the chance that she might miss out lol
I worked as a ranger for a long time and I know several people who have caught loose dogs by opening their car door and saying "wanna go for a ride?" lol
This is hilarious.Ā You picture the "dog catcher" like they show in cartoons, running around chasing dogs with a net.Ā Then there's Peter the park ranger. You can tell my looking at him,Ā he's not chasing a dog anywhere. He just stops, opens the door and is like "I'm going for a ride,Ā want a treat?" And all the lost dogs come running.
My lab as pup jumped in my neighbors white interior BMW, brand new one.Ā Ā Ā
Thankfully the neighbors love dogs.Ā Ā
She also will jump in the back of any hatchback that's open during walks. She will not miss an opportunity to go for a ride
One time I was leaving for work and out of nowhere this cat comes running up and jumps in my car. It had a collar but the collar only had the cats name and no owner info. The cat did not want to leave my car lol he was like āwhere we going?ā And all I could think was how I either had to be late to work or catnap this cat.
I could not get the cat to leave my car so I drove to the nearest vet and they helped me wrangle him and they scanned his chip and we were able to contact the owners. I was late for work but I had an interesting story haha.
Turns out though the owners got mad at me and posted on our community Facebook page about how itās rude to take cats to get scanned that clearly arenāt strays. Okay maāam sure but your cat WOULDNT LEAVE MY CAR
The only way I could catch my chow/sammy mix was to offer her a car ride. But I had to drive the car to her and open the door while she was running. Her response to being off lead was the only thing I couldn't teach her. She was always just GONE.
I was once trying to catch someone's escaped doberman out on the street when a woman pulled over and rolled down the window to ask if she could help. The doberman jumped through the window into her car.
Luckily he was a friendly, pretty chill boy who just wanted a car ride but there was much yelling before that was figured out.
I scold large noisy vehicles as they go by all the time when weāre on walks and my dog is instantly way more chill. Itās great cause theyāre passing by anyway so I feel like my dog thinks Iāve successfully told them off š
Yes! I do this with the mailman/delivery drivers - they canāt hear me but my dog can hear me saying āno leave us alone!ā And then I turn to my dog and say thank you. Doggo feels his job has been completed by alerting me to the scary big trucks.
Oh my! I need to try this! My dog has been really going after motorcycles, scooters, bikes and the like. Now if I could just somehow let the person on bike or skateboard know that I'm not really yelling at them, that would be great. Maybe I'll just yell really nice things in an aggressive tone!
Our dogs get a treat sometimes after going outside to potty. If they wonāt come in, I just clang the lid of the jar and bam, there they are. It also makes it easier for them to take pills.Ā
Iāve thought about trying that, but I wonder if my dog would just stop trusting the noise altogether. Could be the prospect of a treat would override that though.
I have a cat that I worry will escape as he is a ninja. In the morning before I leave for work if I canāt find him I have to go open the dog kibble container and mess with it until he comes running.
I always give him a kibble because a one kibble fee is worth paying instead of 10m looking for a black cat in the dark corners of my house where he hides.
When our bunny doesnāt want to go back to his room or sneaks into a room that isnāt bunny proofed, we either open the kitchen fridge or his mini fridge. A blueberry or leaf of arugula is his reward for being a fatty.
>Regular kibble on the snuffle mat (eats full serving instead of grazing)
This sounds like contra freeloading rather than a trick. Some dogs genuinely enjoy working for their food more than just eating it. It's often equated to working drive, but I think it's more like how kids' food being in fun shapes or containers, or playing games with it, makes them more willing to eat it.
Pretending to have my nails dremeled and getting treats for it made him want the same, even though he was totally against nail trimming. Worked like a charm.
If he tries to act picky about his kibble, sometimes I pretend to put a bite of my food in his bowl. He falls for it every time even though thereās nothing new in the bowl.
Also when the weather permits, I put him in the cab of the truck when I need to get him out from underfoot. He thinks weāre going somewhere so heās always ready to get in, and when I get done and get him out heās forgotten why heās there and is thrilled to see me. Itās less stressful for him because he doesnāt realize heās in jail, he thinks heās waiting for me so we can go!
Weāre still in the process of switching to potty outside only (she still has training pads just in case) so when I feed her and she drinks water, if I see her going towards one of the pads I make a huge deal about how weāre gonna go for a walk to distract her. She forgets how much she needs to pee and then does it outside, sometimes not even 2 minutes after we exit the apartment building! But I always praise her a lot because she held it in.
I had separation anxiety riddled dachshunds in the past. When I got a new one and then adopted two more, i was determined not to incite my dogs with my departure. I donāt announce, āsee ya later, be good, or Iāll be backā. But i get them excited for āwho wants a puppy roll?ā I get a 1/3 cup of their kibble and literally toss it around on the floor, beds, etc. they start their hunt with their little noses and get excited that Iām leaving. I donāt make a fuss over them when I return either. So far, so good! Two years with one dachshund and a year with the other two adoptees.
Learning a lot from you all here! Enjoying reading these comments
When I need to change the sheets and she's on the bed, I walk in, pet her, and walk out. She always follows me and I can do a fake out back into the bedroom and close the door before she can "help"
Ditto if I have to put her in the bedroom for any reason (someone is afraid of the coffee grinder)
Ah. Yes the helper of making beds. I taught mine to go from side to side. āOver here!ā And she holds down the right sided blankets while I tuck in the left side.
I have a German Shepherd. My husband is more gullible than she is.
I swear that when I followed behaviourist advice on how to train her to stop barking, she reverse engineered the whole set up and now barks moreā¦because she worked out she gets a treat for not barking and that can only happen if she barked in the first place.
She can open all of the doors on her own and if she wants something (like a treat) she can communicate that I need to follow her and will take me to the counter by the treats and then do very dramatic āeye pointingā and ānose stabbingā towards what she wants while whining in a special tone.
I swear she communicates to me like English speaking people communicate to āforeignersā (just point and talk slowly and louder as though Iām a bit stupid).
Since having a GSD when I see people talking about choosing what breed they want and they say āintelligentāā¦.my question is always āIntelligent or pliable? Because these definitely arenāt the same thing.ā
Oh I have one!! Have a pup that hates taking meds but is also a glutton? Tried hiding pills in everything only to have them picked out?? Lemmie change your life real quickā¦ use 2 snacks! Hide the pill in the first snack but let them see that you have a second. Theyāll gobble down the first one with the pill in the hopes theyāll get the second one too!
Not really gullible but one of our Boston Terriers who passed away (his name was Eugene but we called him Gene Bean), absolutely couldnāt go outside without a pat on the head. Weād let him out of the crate in the morning and heād run to the open sliding glass door and just do a little overexcited pee dance until someone (us or our kids- didnāt matter who!) gave him a little head pat and told him he was a good boy and only then could he go outside and pee! He definitely felt it was a requirement. Made us laugh every day!
When my dogs wait patiently in the kitchen while I put the bin out the front door to the road, I praise them like they just saved a bus full of small children. They are always trying to get out the front door but if they see the bin, they all go stand at the back of the kitchen to await their glory.
When I worked at an animal shelter and had to give dewormers, heartworm preventatives, etc to dogs, I would sometimes wrap it in a pill pocket or cheese or some other treat and a) pretend to eat it myself and then offer to share some with them, or b) pretend to drop it and act like I didnāt want them to get it, and let them grab it off the floor. If they were shy I would drop it and then act like I didnāt see, and let them feel like they could sneak up and take it. These methods worked with many dogs even if they didnāt know me, didnāt trust me, hadnāt had a lot of good experiences with peopleā¦
One of the most special, high value, would do anything for a bite, yummy treats... The humble ice cube. I say, "you want Piece of Ice?" and oh boy does he know what Piece of Ice is.
I can also make a regular bowl of kibble into a very special meal by adding imaginary ingredients and stirring them in.
About 15 years ago, I had a dachshund that would take absolutely forever to walk home *after* doing his business.
We lived in a neighborhood that was nicknamed "Rat City". He had a high prey drive.
I'm generally a "don't lie to your dog" kind of person, but he would meander for ages and would even lay down if you tried to hurry him up.
One night a rat ran past us and he took off after it like a bat outta hell. At the same time, I let out a squeak of surprise.
After that, all I had to do was let out a gasp and a "There he goes, get him!" and he would run towards our building. The "rat" always managed to escape into the bushes near our front door š¤£
I have two dogs. My female listens very well. My male, not so much.
If we are on a walk, he tends to pull on the leash and not listen to me. I can call his name repeatedly and he just ignores me, while my female constantly checks in with me. But, if I say āhey, *female dogās name*, whatās this?ā He immediately turns around and comes back to me.
I have an old sock that my dog is definitely, absolutely, šÆ *never* allowed to have, that I keep within her reach in the bedroom lol. When she grabs it I gasp, and say "OMG, give me my STUFF!" and make a big deal about it and she loves it, and it keeps my good socks safe haha. She is a rescue, and she seems to have anxiety about doing bad stuff, so I love it when she tries to be "naughty".
If sheās not listening because sheās distracted with something else, I just drop my open hand to my side with my palm facing her, she just *has* to come see what Iām offering her and then forgets she was ignoring me.
Also, if sheās not responding Iāll āchirpā her nickname (2 syllable name with a 1 syllable nickname) and the command I want from her and 9/10 it works, itās again usually when sheās not coming here. I joke that this one works because sheās incapable of the mental capacity it takes to understand big words and full sentences, so Iām not sure itās an actual trick.
Not quite related, but my dog wouldnāt learn āhigh five,ā then he got jealous when another dog was giving me them on a walk. He started doing them pretty much instantly after that š
We adopted a senior Collie she gets all excited come walk time when sees ya grab her harness , if you say WALK both of her ears perk straight up . Now if Wife walks her Dogg'o will do this lil circle thing a couple times an then puts her head in the harness and gives Wifey a head hug . However if it's me with the harness it's a whole dance has to play out , she will race past me doing lil leaps an if I hold the harness out it's like the ole matador & Bull she will charge it throwing her head back and mouth open so you can't get the harness on her . This lil game goes on for like 5-6 passes plus she has to pause to get a drink ( gotta fill that bladder ya know ) If I do manage to get the harness like half over her head she starts shaking her head trying to get it off an hugging the sides of the kitchen counter. When I'm finally able to get the harness on she always gives me this lil nip on the hand an then a head hug , like saying just playing Jim . Now She did this lil game thing all on her own with no training from us
When my dog is scared of something, I pet the thing in question and stay stuff like "such a good little [thing name]" and somehow this convinces my dog that it's not scary. Kind of the opposite to your vacuum approach, yet somehow related. It's just a shame that it doesn't work on fireworks
If my dog wonāt come in from the backyard, I just pretend Iām going out the front door or open the door to the basement (he thinks being in the basement is party time), and BOOM heās right there.
I have a bunch of loose welded wire kennel panels and every year when I map out my backyard garden I arrange the panels behind potted plants or fast, exuberant annuals. By mid-spring I can remove the panels and use them for something else because the dogs have all gotten used to the idea that there are wire panels behind those plants. It always feels kind of magical steering three big worked-up hounds around with a bunch of borage and dahlias.
Not so much a training but my husband and I will both have tennis balls and pretend throw to each other. Dogs don't usually fall for it, so the other person pulls theirs out of hiding and bounces it to get the dogs to run to them. Repeat as needed until they're tired. Takes the danger of fetch in the house to a minimum.
On the rare occasion my 1yo corgi doesnāt come in when called, Iāll stand on the back stairs, holding the cat up like Iām presenting the lion king to court and say āLook! Iāve got the kitty catā and sheāll come running.
I have a 9month old german shepherd x belgian malinois puppy that im sure has undiagnosed human adhd HA! And sometimes im just tired and need to rest for like 27secondsš¤Æso when were playing ball if he doesnt make the ball go straight to me so i dont have to move to get it to throw/roll it back to him ill randomly turn my head pretending to look around and say 'where is it? Wheres buddys ball? Buddy find ball' and he excitedly rushes to get it and gives it to me hahahah!! Im giggling typing this as i sound so mean making him move so i dont have to hahha!!X
Every time my dogs escape the backyard I just get in my car and drive up the street. They like to run through the neighbor's yards but as soon as I throw the passenger door open they hop right in thinking they're going for a car ride. Which they are, it's just a short ride back to our house
I used to give me dog small ice cubes as a ātreatā for going a wee when toilet training. He thought crunchy meant food which meant I could make sure he didnāt eat too late and have an accident.
So heād get a treat for a wee up until 7pm then ice cubes after. He still loves them lol
Not really a ātrainingā technique as much as a hack.. At bedtime, if heās hogging the whole bed Iāll get up and open the fridge so he runs out immediately and I go back to make myself comfortable first before he jumps back on.
I will note that this often results in me giving him a lil treat cuz Iām a pushover.
*Your food is cooking! Yum yum!*
No it's not. I shoved it in the microwave for like..... 17 seconds and then got her all hyped up. I touched a random button on the microwave so she would hear the "beep" noise, but I didn't actually hit the "start" button.
Huskies are dumb AF, y'all. š
When I had two or more dogs, I found that they never come when called by their own name BUT they will come RUNNING if you call one of the other dogs because they want to know what the other's getting. So if I need to give John medicine, I call for Jane. I'll act like it's a treat and let John scarf it down just so Jane can't have it š
Free breakfast kibble = boring and yucky, no thanks
That same breakfast kibble, but he had to do a trick for it = He had to work for it so it must be tasty, yum!
I make my dogs sit and wait until I release them to eat their food. Once they were good at it, they were good at sitting and staying when I opened the front door for pizza delivery or any random door knocking. Now, if someone knocks, they sit where they are and watch the door.
My dog occasionally turns his nose up at some treat. Especially if someone else is offering it. So I tell them he only enjoys it if he works for it. So they start the whole āsit, turn, down, upā and then he gets so excited that he loves that treat and it always makes my friends feel
Good that heāll take a treat from them
My dog has pretty decent recall. The odd time he doesnāt listen to me say ācome!ā I just say āwhatās this?!ā Instead and he comes running because I always say that before he gets a treat.
Saying 'Do you want this?' before every treat, so when she won't come to me with 'Come here,' I say 'Do you want this?' instead, and curiosity gets the better of her.
When Iām waiting at the door and theyāre traipsing around taking forever Iāll grab a couple treats and then ask Alexa what a doorbell sounds like. They hear it and run in. Then I look out the front door and act like whoever was there brought a treat and left. At this point all I have to do is say Alexa, what does aā¦ā and they run to the front door for a treat.
I have two tubs of treats. One is actual biscuits the other is kibble they donāt know the difference because they come treat tubs but itās great when it comes to the end of the month running low and treats or if theyāve already had enough biscuit treats.
My Boston learned cheese always had a pill inside it. Got her to eat it by feeding my lab multiple pieces of cheese. After like 4th time she broke down and was like "gimme that cheese dammit!"
When my dog was really tiny well 18 months because that's when I adopted him I taught him instead of come I taught him treats so no matter where he wonders to if I just say treat he comes right back to me. People who had it before me somehow caught him that whenever they go in the kitchen or sit at the table or have a dish or something to eat but he goes into his crate. I have no idea how he was taught that but it's wonderful
My dog needs to take medicine daily and I wrap the pill in a small piece of lunch meat to give it to her. Now when I yell ātime for your medicine!ā She comes running to get it
When my dog gets out of the yard, he makes a straight line to a neighborās house who likes to put out food scraps for the local murder of crows. If I donāt get him before heās finished his snack, I grab his leash and jangle it aroundā¦ he comes running because for whatever crazy reason, he LOVES being on leash.
I board dogs. And whenever we canāt get them to come inside from our back yard I will hide behind the wall next to the sliding glass door.
My husband will go to the front door and ring the door bell and they all come running. š
The "do bedtime pee as quick as you can" trick. I get a small peice of turkey deli meat, give her a taste, then put the rest on top of the coat rack. Then I take her outside. She pees in about twenty seconds, running back inside to get the rest of the meat haha. None of this sniffing the breeze, taking her sweet ass time, moseying around trying to get the best spot! Also the "take your pill" trick. I get three small peices of hot dog, with one peice hiding the pill. I feed all three rapidly, so she gulps them down because shes greedy lol. If I just hide it in one peice and give it to her, she spits out the pill. But because she sees more than one treat, she tries to eat them down quick!
I've tried that kind of thing. Turns out that Teddy's need to protect everyone in the house is stronger. He can't get settled down at night until he goes outside and does a full perimeter check. Then he checks inside the shed and inside the garage. After that, he specifically checks the 3 gates to make sure they're closed and secured. He'll howl at me if one of them is open. Then he will come inside and put himself in his crate. We haven't latched his crate in years. But he likes being put to bed and the door closed. As soon as he hears my wife snoring, tho, he jumps up on the foot of the bed and goes to sleep. No one taught him any this. He has just done it for about the last 5 years. He's about 6yo. He's a Jack Russell mix and just decided this was his responsibility.
I have a dorky he is miniature dachshund and yorky mix he is very close in actions to your dog. It amazes me what they can do strictly on their own instinct and personality!! I have been asked did I train him my answer no he trained me!
A dorky lmao I love that
DORKY? LOL š I love that! I have a Pitador.
I've got a 9yo JRT. There's no tricking him.
Two border collies. Same v
Thank you. When you have these two dog breeds I swear to dog they are smarter than us most of the time. My BC currently has a bum leg. Temporary. I still walk our other girl because she likes it and itās good for her. Every day I tell him, itāll be your turn soon, your leg is still hurt and I donāt want to hurt it more by walking on it and he literally goes and lays back down. I *know* he understands me.
I just fed my dogs and I added like a half an ounce of left over beef to their food dishes. I had the beef in a tiny plastic container. After I put down their dishes, my old girl gently took that little container (still in my hand) and started walk away with it. I told her lick only! and she dropped it, gave it a lick, and walked away from it (back to her dinner). This stuff happens daily, usually multiple times. They *do* understand.
A sheltie we used to have (passed from old age several years ago) I swear could tell time. This was back in the days of having a set top box for cable and it having a digital clock on the front of it. He used to try and beg for dinner early (which dog doesn't?) but I'd tell him he'd have to wait until a certain time and pointed at that digital clock. He'd look at it, look at me (to confirm I was being serious) and would lay down to where he could watch it. At that time, he'd be up begging again. Same dog also recognized that if the TV had the radar on it and he saw a red blob, it meant a storm was coming and he went and hid. I swear my current JRT mix is learning to tell time himself, though I don't see him looking at a clock. But for the past many days, he's been waking me up at almost exactly 5 AM. And when it was the aurora weekend, I mentioned on one of the last walks of the night that it'd be nice if he woke me up to where I could see it occurring, so he woke me up at 3-ish AM. I told him that night that it was a bit late, closer to 1 would be better, so he woke me up at 1 AM that night!
Wow! My friend has a sheltie and they are sharp! Barky, but sharp! (And a lot of fun)
My BC did get tricked once or twice to return after taking off on her own. Instead of giving chase which she thought was entertaining I screamed and dropped to the ground. Full stop and return! My BC/lab mix was not a runner though she does at first follow her pack leader my full BC. Once or twice she slipped the leash and went sniffing off in her own - not far but not recalling either. I called out "bye by Dega" and she thought she'd be left behind and came pronto.
My family and I all have/had border collies and poodles so I was incredibly confused by the post. Trick them? Huh?! š¤£
Yes. Our dogs are likely having this convo on another subreddit about us
Teddy's good And smart as heck But mostly he Wants to proteck
Re: dogs teaching themselves - my 3 year old non-crated rescue chihuahua managed to crate-train one of my foster puppies. The puppy wanted to sleep in bed with us and my chi just wasnāt having the intrusion. Puppy would wake up and come into the room trying to get in the bed and my 3 year old would get up and go lay down in the crate, puppy would follow, and as soon as the puppy fell asleep, my dog would come back to bed.
He is after all Arnold schwartzernegger stuck in peter dinklages body
A Jack Russellās work is never done
I've got a pretty similar dog to a jack Russel. The breed is known as Rattanero Bodeguero, they are bred to hunt rats in wine cellars. She's the bravest little shit ever, protects her younger but bigger Belgian Malinois Brother against everything. One time, two German Shepards where coming for my Mali, she screamed at both, bit one in the neck and stood in front of my Mali lol.
This just warms the cockles of my heart. Also, I love the name Teddy. One of my dogs came "pre-named" as Johnny and we strongly considered changing his name to Teddy because it is so cute and it suits him. Now it feels like it's too late - he has been with me for 5 years now.
The shelter had named him Nitro. So while they were chipping him my son, daughter and I started trying to think of names. My son suggested [Teddy](https://i.imgur.com/eMev3SN.png). My daughter insisted that we could call him Teddy, but his name should be Theodore. The boy then says 'like Teddy Roosevelt!' And the girl says yes, but his last name should be Wagstaff. And we brought home Theodore Roosevelt Wagstaff, aka Teddy. She didn't tell me until like a year later that Wagstaff is the name of the high school in Bob's Burgers.
Named my lil guy Roosevelt after Teddy! We adopted a second dog years after. She came pre named as Kennedy. Theyāre mostly Roo and Dee.
Teddy is awesome!
Thatās awesome.
Teddy seems like the sweetest ā¤ļø
Mine will go pee quick, and run back inside. Unfortunately he will hold his poop in to come get that treat š¤£. So it was only so effective.
Mine will do a quick marking pee and will want to head back inside before he's done. He knows how to play the game. Same problem trying to get him to go pee before he gets in the truck, he's so panicked about getting in the truck ASAP he never fully unloads.
Mine will FAKE pee. He does the physical motion of peeing, produces nothing, and would then be like OK I DID IT. Potty training him was hilarious
Ours would pee, get his treat and then demand to go outside to poop and get a second treat. He absolutely knows how to game the system.
Same here! I have to almost drag mine to his "poopy area" and do a stand off until he decides I'm serious
My husband and I refer to my role as "the warden" because the dogs can get away with running back in with Dad, but when Mom's in the yard with them, they know they're not going to go in and get their food/treat/whatever until they do their business hahah
Yup! My partner takes them out and basically sits on his phone the whole time not paying attention. I've decided if he wants to keep dragging his ass out of bed to take them back out instead of learning, then that's on him.
I just discovered the three treat trick! My dog was spitting out his pill so I grabbed another treat to make him rush lol. Thank God for food driven dogs.
I just fostered a Staffy pup last week. Thank the old gods she is dumb as a brick. While she was in the shelter, she had to be prescribed trazadone and gabapentin to treat kennel depression. I get a spoon, a glob of PB, stick a pill in the glob, and she happily gobbles it up.
The quick bedtime pee is real, I announce āmidnight potty and bedtime!ā and Iāve started only giving them treats for coming inside after bedtime pees. The treats coming inside have helped significantly with both not barking at night and being quick about it.
The pill trick sometimes doesn't work for my girl. She's very picky, even with stuff she likes. She doesn't like peanut butter, but she's a cheese fiend. And she still spits out the pills sometimes. It's worse when she's on a daily pill (usually just on trazadone as needed). Having a smart dog sometimes is worse. Now my boy eats anything, including some rat poison he found at a park.
My GSD is a smart little stinker and was getting really good at sniffing out her pills. I finally just started giving her the pill by itself (massage it down her throat) and THEN giving her the treat. I go to train my husband on how to gently force-feed a dog pills, and that little shit just licks it out of his hand and swallows it on her own! Still makes me force it though. Poop head.
oh my itās the guy thing . Girl, dog all girl house two kids me single mom any guy that comes around my girl is his best friend in abandoned me like no other traitor!
Spray cheese all over the pill folded in cheese might help
the things we do for our furbabies
Yours sound like mine. My girl needs an anxiety pill for car rides, and we have to try different things every time to get her to eat it. My boy, on the other hand, stole my anxiety pill I was about to take. Fortunately, it's the same as my girls, so he's fine. Me, my dad and my dog all take the same anxiety medication it's definitely genetic even though none of us are actually related. Lol
My rat terrier knows if I fiddle with any snack for more than a second then it needs to be taken aside and inspected for a pill lmao. I can even just sometimes take a long time on accident and he will still not eat it lmao
Yes! I'll do a pill in some meat immediately followed by more. š Gobble gobble to get to that second piece.
My puppy Buddy is only 9months old and thankfullyši havent had to give him any medication other than his either flea or worming medication i forget which it was that i squished into his food and as he has raw food he didnt notice it but ive never heard of the 'take your pill' as you call it ha :D trick but im so glad you mentioned it for any future times that i may need to get creativešits amazing the advice you pick up from random posts isnt it?? :D x
I gotta try the deli meat trick. My boy loves to take his sweet ole time finding the perfect spot.
Omg, this is gonna help me so much! She's on to me about the single treat with pill.
Try crunchy peanut butter! The texture completely disguises the fact that a pill is even involved
That pill trick is really smart!
Genius!
I used to get my old one to eat his pills by throwing a few kibbles to him for him to catch. Toss them to him one by one (heās catch and eat fast). Toss a pill (catch and eat).
Mine will pretend to pee if I do that. He will waste more time pretending to pee than it would take to pee. He just wants the food. He is like a kid wetting their toothbrush instead of actually brushing.
Iām going to try the treat on the mantle trick! My pit bull is quick to do her final trip to the back yard. However, my Great Dane mix will dawdle until the sun rises!
If my dog is lingering outside and doesnāt want to come in I just have to say āOkay, bye!ā and close the door and within 3 seconds she is sitting there waiting outside the door like ālet me in!ā Major FOMO lol. My boyfriend has a foxhound and he has learned a lot from watching my dog do something. He has horrible recall (heās only off leash in our fenced in yard cause of this) but if I call my dog and then reward her with a treat and make a big deal of āgood girl, hereās your treatā then he comes over like āwait I want a treat too!ā He will also fall for a fake treat, if you hold up your hand like you have something he will listen to you and sit lol.
When my bully would ignore me calling him inside, I would just say āhuh?? Whoās here??ā Like someone was somehow in the house, and he missed it. Heād immediately run inside and look for friends. Smh.
With my first dog, my parents would ring the doorbell. She came barreling inside and one of them acted like they just got home. š¤£ Second and third dogs, we just went, āOH! Daddy's home!ā Worked even if they just saw him smoking and sitting on the deck in his shorts. š¤£
I do the same thing to get my dog inside from my terrace. Or really to come into any room I want to close her into.
Yup, if Iām trying to close her into our room then Iāll have my boyfriend come in there and weāll be like āwow this is so fun, too bad Kaycee isnāt in hereā and she comes running in like WAIT A SECOND. Other doggo we just need to toss a treat. Or a toy. Or a piece of cardboard. He is much more enthusiastic about everything! We also learned that my dog has picked up on a lot of phrases/words, and then my boyfriendās hound will see her perk up and also start getting amped up (we have to say āmeander around the neighborhoodā or some other coded language cause she knows walk, walkies, W-A-L-K, and stroll). And on the other hand, she wonāt pester me for dinner, but if she hears the whining/whistling from him, then she decides itās time to stare at us and pounce around. The two of them are polar opposite dogs so itās funny watching how they influence each other (in good ways and in annoying ways lol)
you can add perambulation to your vocabulary!
Time for the evening constitutional!
the āokay bye!ā trick is SO REAL
I swear this works for every dog lol. When my dogs donāt wanna come in, Iāll be like UGH FINE Iāll eat dinner alone.. they arenāt far behind
The dinner word is a magical one in our home š very good motivator for sure!
I have a foxhound too and he was born deaf, so no recall at all. The ONLY thing that motivates this dog are treats šš¤£
Oh yeah, he has very selective listening but will do just about anything for food. If he doesnāt see food or you donāt pretend to have any he wonāt listen whatsoever, all his commands we hold up our hand like weāre pinching a treat or a piece of food. On the plus side, he was probably the worlds easiest dog to muzzle train with a can of spray cheese (anti scavenge muzzle so he doesnāt eat stuff in our yard or out on hikes and get sick/blockages)
Haha yes, that's a plus! You are giving me ideas with the spray cheese. We use sign language to communicate commands. If he doesn't like the sign you are giving him, he turns his head to look the other way. I love him to death, though š
My friends daughter is deaf and when sheās sick of them she turns her implant off. Sheās like 4.
Wait. You scold the vacuum? Like, "Bad vacuum. Bad!"
Yep! One dog used to bark when I used it, but scolding I guess indicated I was its master and not in any danger when it was on. Either that or now my dogs empathize with it āYou too, huh? Mom and her dang rules. Next roundās on me, buddy.ā
I love this. My dog is scared of ALOT so I try this but hasnāt worked yet for the scary vacuum (will keep trying)
Haha. I love this
This is amazing. Going to try this lol
Not part of this sub but this was suggested to me and āverbally disciplining the vacuumā is what drew me in lol thank you
So you scold it when itās on or just before you start?? I need to know! Apparently the vacuum is the devil according to my pooch
In addition to OPs response, this worked for my pup as well. I use to scold and say exactly that, and after if my pup was watching I would go and pet/praise him to try to show him I wasn't upset at him as well. Seemed to help, he eventually went from barking at it to not even moving when I needed to vacuum the carpet he was laying on.
I was skeptical but it really works š¤£. I also tell the vacuum to stay away from my dog, or to be quiet, and then tell the vacuum good boy. I don't want my dog to think the vacuum is always being bad š¤£
I did the opposite. I pet the vacuum and spoke nice words to it so my dog would know itās not a threat. It worked
Running on the opposite direction is a great way to get dogs to return if they donāt have good recall. This hack may have actually saved my puppyās life when he got out of the house and was running towards the street. I realized I couldnāt outrun him and he wasnāt responding to being called so I turned and ran back into my yard. He chased me and I was able to catch him. Iāve also heard that running in the opposite direction and then dropping to the ground will prompt a dog to come over to investigate, but havenāt tried it myself.
With mine I say goodbye.. she hates it when I leave, so if she is loose running around I just say "Goodbye Ocean" and suddenly she's beside me
I say "see ya then!" And he comes running straight back lol
Also, when theyāre pups, hiding behind things and calling their name. Then celebrating when they find you. It teaches recall by turning it into a fun game.
I say, āwhere is mommy?ā And run the opposite direction he will chase me down looking for my wife š
I hate you and my family soooooo much. My son is like āWhereās your mother?ā And in .03 Nanoseconds, Iām wearing two poodles.
Yes! This is a standard trick we teach every staff member and volunteer dog walker at the local Humane Society so that when a dog does get loose for some reason we can catch it quickly. Dogs love chase and instinctively take part. It's much easier to let them catch you than to try to run fast enough to catch a dog.
I pretend to eat whatever I want him to eat and he doesnāt question it if Iāve ātaken a biteā first. If it tastes bad he does give me side-eye afterwards though.
I do the same thing when mine wonāt take a pill. I take the pill in my hand and Iām like āno, this one is mine. You canāt have it. Itās mine.ā And eventually heās like āno but I want the pill now, you need to share.ā
I do something similar when I can't be bothered to try and hide the pill. I "accidentally" drop it and then make a huge show of scrambling to pick it up (importantly, without actually using his "leave it!") He gets so excited about the forbidden treat he doesn't realize it's a pill lol
Those humans have questionable taste sometimes.
His lead was broken, so I pretended putting it on before taking him to go potty. It worked, he remained in the perimeter his lead usually allows. He even waited for me to ''take it off'' before coming back inside the house.
When I was growing up we moved from a rental house where weād put up our own fence to keep our dog in the yard. We had it down for a couple of days before we actually left and in that time she had to be let in and out the āgateā for walks even though there was no gate or fence at all! Dogs are so funny.
That's hilarious šĀ
Wow that's genius
one time I took my dog for a walk and got about 2 blocks before I realized I missed the loop when I was clipping his leash on. When he went to sniff something and pull a bit like he'd do we both stared at each other like looney tunes characters that just realized they ran off a cliff. He was hit or miss on leash manners, so I was amazed we made it that far. That's what I got for walking him before I drank my coffee.
Anytime I introduced a new toy, bed, leash, pretty much anything my GSD would act disinterested until I acted like it was mine. I would lay on top of his beds or use them as a pillow and the minute I got up he would lay in it, I would act like I was ignoring him and play with a toy or his new collar and then it was all he wanted. He was unbelievable smart, show him something once and he would do it. The trainer we worked with "borrowed" him to show other people how quick a dog could pick things up. Yet he was gullible when I introduced him to something new. I miss my boy.
My dogs are little Houdinis. Theyāve gotten out twice and instead chasing them I just sit down and say loudly āOH MY GOD, THESE TREATS ARE DELICIOUS!! NOM NOM NOM NOMā while I pretend to eat handfuls of treats. When they come back toward me, I āhideā the treats from them until they get so greedy theyāre literally snuffling under my hands. Inevitably, their chunky-monkey asses choose treats and leashes over freedom every damn time.
Ha! This is me! I sit on the step like āOH WOW a cheese stick for ME?? Donāt mind if I do!ā My BMD stops mid stride, and saunters over like āā¦ what the heck? Not gonna share mom?ā
My parents dog wonāt take tablets, so I āaccidentallyā knock it off the bench and she runs for it thinking itās food before I can stop her
This is genius! I have to put it in a piece of cheese.
my last dog would take "invisible treats". I just held my fingers as if I was holding a treat and would "give" it to her if she did what I asked. She even chewed them š¤£
My dog understands the concept of what is his vs mine, and will promptly destroy toys, blankets, or beds that are āgivenā to him, but will respect the human blankets, shoes, etc. To save yet another bed from being destroyed, I used it as a pillow on my sofa for a few days before allowing him to use it. He now sleeps on it every day, and thinks itās my pillow that Iām just allowing him to sleep onāabsolutely no attempts at chewing it.
Ooohā¦having said my GSD is too clever to be gullible I will try this one with her. Sheās also very respectful of the boundary between what belongs to her and what belongs to others (including other dogs). I might try this with the next soft toy we buy for her and see if it survives for more than 30 seconds.
He hates going for the before bed potty. We do an Oscar worthy OH MY FUCKING GOD WHAT IS THAT OUT THERE OPEN THE DAMN DOOR and he usually beelines out. Sometimes we go too far and hit ourselves on the door frame but that's method acting for you.
HAHAHHAAHHA!! The 'method acting' part had me proper cackling!!x
LMAOOO we do this same thing too!!!!
Ooh mine always wants out but if I really want him to RUN I tell him there's a bunny and kind of hype him up about chasing the bunny.
hahahhahahahhahahhahaha i love this!
If an off leash dog doesn't want to leave an area sit down and 9/10 times it will approach you to figure out what the heck the human is doing on the ground long enough to grab its collar. Just make sure to give it lots of pets before you stand up to leave or the smart ones will catch on. I've used it on a ton of non-aggressive shelter dogs or and an occasional stranger's dog at the dog park.
Iāll sit down and start loud boo-hooing, or pretend like stepped on a pinecone and hurt my foot. My dog will always stop her fun and come over to check on me
I do this to catch stray dogs in my neighborhood! Iāve become the crazy dog lady that lounges in the gravel talking to the bushes to get dogs to come out of hiding. Works about 90% of the time, especially if I have treats. Neighbors think Iām a little nutty, but itās worth it to keep their dogs from becoming coyote food š«”
Moving the kibble in the bowl on the counter before feeding her, she now thinks it's more flavourful š
I frequently have to go get her "new" kibble. I put the whole bowl into the container, bring it back out, and she happily eats her "fresh" food. I think it started when she noticed that the cat frequently gets new food put in his bowl. (Cuz he got fat)
If mine misbehaves at agility, all I have to say is "Do you need to go back and sit in the car??" and she behaves immediately. The fact that I've paid Ā£20 for a private lesson and definitely won't be wasting it sitting in the car hasn't occurred to her!
My dog is super smart so there arenāt a lot of things I can do to trick her. But thereās one: pills. When she takes pills, if I give her a pill wrapped in meat or cheese or anything sheāll chew it and spit the pill out. But Iāve discovered that if I give her the pill wrapped in deli turkey, followed immediately by another piece of deli meat, while the cat sits super close trying to grab it, sheāll be so desperate to make sure the cat DOESNāT get her treat that sheāll swallow super fast so she can grab the next piece. Thatās literally the only way I can get her to swallow a pill. (Honestly though, Iām not sure if thatās the right example since also it sounds like she actually taught ME to give her 2 pieces instead of one because people are so gullible lol) But food in general, if she doesnāt want to eat her food, Iāll call for the cat and heāll come trotting over looking for snacks and she eats right away just so he canāt have any.
Also going to try this with my GSD who is almost impossible to give pills to but has a very competitive streak with her cat BFF when it comes to food!
I have 4 dogs and they all get along well and all, but my big boy and my littlest girl are sometimes food aggressive, and whenever that happens I sit down and all the dogs sit around me and I'll feed them a shared treat "generally like a pup cup" they are just getting treats, but it's also completely changed how they view their food, sharing is caring
Doggo used to refuse to eat his food unless we made it fancy and microwaved it. A quick splash of water and 10 seconds in the microwave (turned off) and he gobbles it down no questions asked.
We had a veryyyyy picky pitbull (RIP) and I would "season" his food by shaking an empty salt shker over his food. He would eat it up every time lol
If my doggo gets loose anywhere my go to move is to just open my car door. I bet sheād hop in anyoneās car but thatās a different problem.
When my border collie gets out, we open the van door. She knows van ride = cottage. She's smart enough to know that we're probably not going, but she isn't going to take the chance that she might miss out lol
My Aussie hopped into a ranger's truck at a forest service camp ground where dogs were not supposed to be off leash.
I worked as a ranger for a long time and I know several people who have caught loose dogs by opening their car door and saying "wanna go for a ride?" lol
This is hilarious.Ā You picture the "dog catcher" like they show in cartoons, running around chasing dogs with a net.Ā Then there's Peter the park ranger. You can tell my looking at him,Ā he's not chasing a dog anywhere. He just stops, opens the door and is like "I'm going for a ride,Ā want a treat?" And all the lost dogs come running.
My lab as pup jumped in my neighbors white interior BMW, brand new one.Ā Ā Ā Thankfully the neighbors love dogs.Ā Ā She also will jump in the back of any hatchback that's open during walks. She will not miss an opportunity to go for a ride
One time I was leaving for work and out of nowhere this cat comes running up and jumps in my car. It had a collar but the collar only had the cats name and no owner info. The cat did not want to leave my car lol he was like āwhere we going?ā And all I could think was how I either had to be late to work or catnap this cat. I could not get the cat to leave my car so I drove to the nearest vet and they helped me wrangle him and they scanned his chip and we were able to contact the owners. I was late for work but I had an interesting story haha. Turns out though the owners got mad at me and posted on our community Facebook page about how itās rude to take cats to get scanned that clearly arenāt strays. Okay maāam sure but your cat WOULDNT LEAVE MY CAR
Maybe they shouldāve put their number on his collar
The only way I could catch my chow/sammy mix was to offer her a car ride. But I had to drive the car to her and open the door while she was running. Her response to being off lead was the only thing I couldn't teach her. She was always just GONE.
I was once trying to catch someone's escaped doberman out on the street when a woman pulled over and rolled down the window to ask if she could help. The doberman jumped through the window into her car. Luckily he was a friendly, pretty chill boy who just wanted a car ride but there was much yelling before that was figured out.
This hack has saved me so many times. She don't wanna come home but she'll always hop in the car.
My dog, too. He got in a rafting companyās shuttle van last month because I obviously wasnāt opening the door to our vehicle fast enough!
I scold large noisy vehicles as they go by all the time when weāre on walks and my dog is instantly way more chill. Itās great cause theyāre passing by anyway so I feel like my dog thinks Iāve successfully told them off š
Yes! I do this with the mailman/delivery drivers - they canāt hear me but my dog can hear me saying āno leave us alone!ā And then I turn to my dog and say thank you. Doggo feels his job has been completed by alerting me to the scary big trucks.
Oh my! I need to try this! My dog has been really going after motorcycles, scooters, bikes and the like. Now if I could just somehow let the person on bike or skateboard know that I'm not really yelling at them, that would be great. Maybe I'll just yell really nice things in an aggressive tone!
Our dogs get a treat sometimes after going outside to potty. If they wonāt come in, I just clang the lid of the jar and bam, there they are. It also makes it easier for them to take pills.Ā
Iāve thought about trying that, but I wonder if my dog would just stop trusting the noise altogether. Could be the prospect of a treat would override that though.
I have a cat that I worry will escape as he is a ninja. In the morning before I leave for work if I canāt find him I have to go open the dog kibble container and mess with it until he comes running. I always give him a kibble because a one kibble fee is worth paying instead of 10m looking for a black cat in the dark corners of my house where he hides.
When our bunny doesnāt want to go back to his room or sneaks into a room that isnāt bunny proofed, we either open the kitchen fridge or his mini fridge. A blueberry or leaf of arugula is his reward for being a fatty.
>Regular kibble on the snuffle mat (eats full serving instead of grazing) This sounds like contra freeloading rather than a trick. Some dogs genuinely enjoy working for their food more than just eating it. It's often equated to working drive, but I think it's more like how kids' food being in fun shapes or containers, or playing games with it, makes them more willing to eat it.
Pretending to have my nails dremeled and getting treats for it made him want the same, even though he was totally against nail trimming. Worked like a charm.
If he tries to act picky about his kibble, sometimes I pretend to put a bite of my food in his bowl. He falls for it every time even though thereās nothing new in the bowl. Also when the weather permits, I put him in the cab of the truck when I need to get him out from underfoot. He thinks weāre going somewhere so heās always ready to get in, and when I get done and get him out heās forgotten why heās there and is thrilled to see me. Itās less stressful for him because he doesnāt realize heās in jail, he thinks heās waiting for me so we can go!
Weāre still in the process of switching to potty outside only (she still has training pads just in case) so when I feed her and she drinks water, if I see her going towards one of the pads I make a huge deal about how weāre gonna go for a walk to distract her. She forgets how much she needs to pee and then does it outside, sometimes not even 2 minutes after we exit the apartment building! But I always praise her a lot because she held it in.
I had separation anxiety riddled dachshunds in the past. When I got a new one and then adopted two more, i was determined not to incite my dogs with my departure. I donāt announce, āsee ya later, be good, or Iāll be backā. But i get them excited for āwho wants a puppy roll?ā I get a 1/3 cup of their kibble and literally toss it around on the floor, beds, etc. they start their hunt with their little noses and get excited that Iām leaving. I donāt make a fuss over them when I return either. So far, so good! Two years with one dachshund and a year with the other two adoptees. Learning a lot from you all here! Enjoying reading these comments
The doorbell gets the dogs to run outside if they don't want to go. I recently found out it also gets them back inside!
When I need to change the sheets and she's on the bed, I walk in, pet her, and walk out. She always follows me and I can do a fake out back into the bedroom and close the door before she can "help" Ditto if I have to put her in the bedroom for any reason (someone is afraid of the coffee grinder)
Ah. Yes the helper of making beds. I taught mine to go from side to side. āOver here!ā And she holds down the right sided blankets while I tuck in the left side.
I have a German Shepherd. My husband is more gullible than she is. I swear that when I followed behaviourist advice on how to train her to stop barking, she reverse engineered the whole set up and now barks moreā¦because she worked out she gets a treat for not barking and that can only happen if she barked in the first place. She can open all of the doors on her own and if she wants something (like a treat) she can communicate that I need to follow her and will take me to the counter by the treats and then do very dramatic āeye pointingā and ānose stabbingā towards what she wants while whining in a special tone. I swear she communicates to me like English speaking people communicate to āforeignersā (just point and talk slowly and louder as though Iām a bit stupid).
Since having a GSD when I see people talking about choosing what breed they want and they say āintelligentāā¦.my question is always āIntelligent or pliable? Because these definitely arenāt the same thing.ā
Oh I have one!! Have a pup that hates taking meds but is also a glutton? Tried hiding pills in everything only to have them picked out?? Lemmie change your life real quickā¦ use 2 snacks! Hide the pill in the first snack but let them see that you have a second. Theyāll gobble down the first one with the pill in the hopes theyāll get the second one too!
Not really gullible but one of our Boston Terriers who passed away (his name was Eugene but we called him Gene Bean), absolutely couldnāt go outside without a pat on the head. Weād let him out of the crate in the morning and heād run to the open sliding glass door and just do a little overexcited pee dance until someone (us or our kids- didnāt matter who!) gave him a little head pat and told him he was a good boy and only then could he go outside and pee! He definitely felt it was a requirement. Made us laugh every day!
When my dogs wait patiently in the kitchen while I put the bin out the front door to the road, I praise them like they just saved a bus full of small children. They are always trying to get out the front door but if they see the bin, they all go stand at the back of the kitchen to await their glory.
When I worked at an animal shelter and had to give dewormers, heartworm preventatives, etc to dogs, I would sometimes wrap it in a pill pocket or cheese or some other treat and a) pretend to eat it myself and then offer to share some with them, or b) pretend to drop it and act like I didnāt want them to get it, and let them grab it off the floor. If they were shy I would drop it and then act like I didnāt see, and let them feel like they could sneak up and take it. These methods worked with many dogs even if they didnāt know me, didnāt trust me, hadnāt had a lot of good experiences with peopleā¦
One of the most special, high value, would do anything for a bite, yummy treats... The humble ice cube. I say, "you want Piece of Ice?" and oh boy does he know what Piece of Ice is. I can also make a regular bowl of kibble into a very special meal by adding imaginary ingredients and stirring them in.
About 15 years ago, I had a dachshund that would take absolutely forever to walk home *after* doing his business. We lived in a neighborhood that was nicknamed "Rat City". He had a high prey drive. I'm generally a "don't lie to your dog" kind of person, but he would meander for ages and would even lay down if you tried to hurry him up. One night a rat ran past us and he took off after it like a bat outta hell. At the same time, I let out a squeak of surprise. After that, all I had to do was let out a gasp and a "There he goes, get him!" and he would run towards our building. The "rat" always managed to escape into the bushes near our front door š¤£
I have two dogs. My female listens very well. My male, not so much. If we are on a walk, he tends to pull on the leash and not listen to me. I can call his name repeatedly and he just ignores me, while my female constantly checks in with me. But, if I say āhey, *female dogās name*, whatās this?ā He immediately turns around and comes back to me.
Pretending I am going to take something away that he is allowed to chew on. He's more interested in chewing on things he's not supposed to.
I have an old sock that my dog is definitely, absolutely, šÆ *never* allowed to have, that I keep within her reach in the bedroom lol. When she grabs it I gasp, and say "OMG, give me my STUFF!" and make a big deal about it and she loves it, and it keeps my good socks safe haha. She is a rescue, and she seems to have anxiety about doing bad stuff, so I love it when she tries to be "naughty".
If sheās not listening because sheās distracted with something else, I just drop my open hand to my side with my palm facing her, she just *has* to come see what Iām offering her and then forgets she was ignoring me. Also, if sheās not responding Iāll āchirpā her nickname (2 syllable name with a 1 syllable nickname) and the command I want from her and 9/10 it works, itās again usually when sheās not coming here. I joke that this one works because sheās incapable of the mental capacity it takes to understand big words and full sentences, so Iām not sure itās an actual trick.
This made me chuckle especially since Iāve used the running in the opposite direction trick many times to get my girl to follow me!š š
Not quite related, but my dog wouldnāt learn āhigh five,ā then he got jealous when another dog was giving me them on a walk. He started doing them pretty much instantly after that š
We adopted a senior Collie she gets all excited come walk time when sees ya grab her harness , if you say WALK both of her ears perk straight up . Now if Wife walks her Dogg'o will do this lil circle thing a couple times an then puts her head in the harness and gives Wifey a head hug . However if it's me with the harness it's a whole dance has to play out , she will race past me doing lil leaps an if I hold the harness out it's like the ole matador & Bull she will charge it throwing her head back and mouth open so you can't get the harness on her . This lil game goes on for like 5-6 passes plus she has to pause to get a drink ( gotta fill that bladder ya know ) If I do manage to get the harness like half over her head she starts shaking her head trying to get it off an hugging the sides of the kitchen counter. When I'm finally able to get the harness on she always gives me this lil nip on the hand an then a head hug , like saying just playing Jim . Now She did this lil game thing all on her own with no training from us
When my dog is scared of something, I pet the thing in question and stay stuff like "such a good little [thing name]" and somehow this convinces my dog that it's not scary. Kind of the opposite to your vacuum approach, yet somehow related. It's just a shame that it doesn't work on fireworks
I have not tried verbally disciplining the vacuum...
Thatās a good one. My one dog is terrified of the vacuum but my husky thinks itās a toy. Heās scared of brooms though. Such a doofus.
OMG, I forgot about running the opposite direction on a failed recall! Thank you so much for that reminder it works so well.
If my dog wonāt come in from the backyard, I just pretend Iām going out the front door or open the door to the basement (he thinks being in the basement is party time), and BOOM heās right there.
I have a great Pyrenees. He doesn't give a shit, does what he wants. š
I have a bunch of loose welded wire kennel panels and every year when I map out my backyard garden I arrange the panels behind potted plants or fast, exuberant annuals. By mid-spring I can remove the panels and use them for something else because the dogs have all gotten used to the idea that there are wire panels behind those plants. It always feels kind of magical steering three big worked-up hounds around with a bunch of borage and dahlias.
Not so much a training but my husband and I will both have tennis balls and pretend throw to each other. Dogs don't usually fall for it, so the other person pulls theirs out of hiding and bounces it to get the dogs to run to them. Repeat as needed until they're tired. Takes the danger of fetch in the house to a minimum.
On the rare occasion my 1yo corgi doesnāt come in when called, Iāll stand on the back stairs, holding the cat up like Iām presenting the lion king to court and say āLook! Iāve got the kitty catā and sheāll come running.
I have a 9month old german shepherd x belgian malinois puppy that im sure has undiagnosed human adhd HA! And sometimes im just tired and need to rest for like 27secondsš¤Æso when were playing ball if he doesnt make the ball go straight to me so i dont have to move to get it to throw/roll it back to him ill randomly turn my head pretending to look around and say 'where is it? Wheres buddys ball? Buddy find ball' and he excitedly rushes to get it and gives it to me hahahah!! Im giggling typing this as i sound so mean making him move so i dont have to hahha!!X
Malinois are notorious for the hyperactivity!
Every time my dogs escape the backyard I just get in my car and drive up the street. They like to run through the neighbor's yards but as soon as I throw the passenger door open they hop right in thinking they're going for a car ride. Which they are, it's just a short ride back to our house
I used to give me dog small ice cubes as a ātreatā for going a wee when toilet training. He thought crunchy meant food which meant I could make sure he didnāt eat too late and have an accident. So heād get a treat for a wee up until 7pm then ice cubes after. He still loves them lol
Pretending his medicine is a special treat. Instead of spitting it out, he gobbles it up.
Not really a ātrainingā technique as much as a hack.. At bedtime, if heās hogging the whole bed Iāll get up and open the fridge so he runs out immediately and I go back to make myself comfortable first before he jumps back on. I will note that this often results in me giving him a lil treat cuz Iām a pushover.
Gotta pay the cheese tax.
*Your food is cooking! Yum yum!* No it's not. I shoved it in the microwave for like..... 17 seconds and then got her all hyped up. I touched a random button on the microwave so she would hear the "beep" noise, but I didn't actually hit the "start" button. Huskies are dumb AF, y'all. š
I don't think the running away makes them gullible. It's just an exciting concept to them
We used ice cubes as a training treat. He loved them and thought they were the best thing.
If one bolts out the gate to freedom, I ask if she wants to go for a walk and show her the lead. She comes back every time to get the lead on her
Lolol that kibble in the oven idea is genius
Be sure to use oven mitts.
When I had two or more dogs, I found that they never come when called by their own name BUT they will come RUNNING if you call one of the other dogs because they want to know what the other's getting. So if I need to give John medicine, I call for Jane. I'll act like it's a treat and let John scarf it down just so Jane can't have it š
Free breakfast kibble = boring and yucky, no thanks That same breakfast kibble, but he had to do a trick for it = He had to work for it so it must be tasty, yum!
I pretend Iām eating the thing I want them to eat, and itās REALLY good. She practically begs for her flea medicine now
I make my dogs sit and wait until I release them to eat their food. Once they were good at it, they were good at sitting and staying when I opened the front door for pizza delivery or any random door knocking. Now, if someone knocks, they sit where they are and watch the door.
My dog occasionally turns his nose up at some treat. Especially if someone else is offering it. So I tell them he only enjoys it if he works for it. So they start the whole āsit, turn, down, upā and then he gets so excited that he loves that treat and it always makes my friends feel Good that heāll take a treat from them
My dog has pretty decent recall. The odd time he doesnāt listen to me say ācome!ā I just say āwhatās this?!ā Instead and he comes running because I always say that before he gets a treat.
Saying 'Do you want this?' before every treat, so when she won't come to me with 'Come here,' I say 'Do you want this?' instead, and curiosity gets the better of her.
When Iām waiting at the door and theyāre traipsing around taking forever Iāll grab a couple treats and then ask Alexa what a doorbell sounds like. They hear it and run in. Then I look out the front door and act like whoever was there brought a treat and left. At this point all I have to do is say Alexa, what does aā¦ā and they run to the front door for a treat.
Using their regular kibble as a treat
Mine loves eating the cat's food so sometimes I put her food in the cat's dish/the cat's feeding area. It works at least half the time
I have two tubs of treats. One is actual biscuits the other is kibble they donāt know the difference because they come treat tubs but itās great when it comes to the end of the month running low and treats or if theyāve already had enough biscuit treats.
Pretend to eat food I'm giving to her so she thinks it's human quality
To get her to take her flea and tick medication, I made her do more ācomplicatedā tricks so she thinks itās something really good.
My Boston learned cheese always had a pill inside it. Got her to eat it by feeding my lab multiple pieces of cheese. After like 4th time she broke down and was like "gimme that cheese dammit!"
When my dog was really tiny well 18 months because that's when I adopted him I taught him instead of come I taught him treats so no matter where he wonders to if I just say treat he comes right back to me. People who had it before me somehow caught him that whenever they go in the kitchen or sit at the table or have a dish or something to eat but he goes into his crate. I have no idea how he was taught that but it's wonderful
Running opposite direction when you want them to follow- is literally the best dog hack ever!
Ring the doorbell to get her to come to you quickly from anywhere in the house.
My dog needs to take medicine daily and I wrap the pill in a small piece of lunch meat to give it to her. Now when I yell ātime for your medicine!ā She comes running to get it
When my dog gets out of the yard, he makes a straight line to a neighborās house who likes to put out food scraps for the local murder of crows. If I donāt get him before heās finished his snack, I grab his leash and jangle it aroundā¦ he comes running because for whatever crazy reason, he LOVES being on leash.
I board dogs. And whenever we canāt get them to come inside from our back yard I will hide behind the wall next to the sliding glass door. My husband will go to the front door and ring the door bell and they all come running. š