Shake/Wave/High 5- THREE tricks in ONE

[@myblue7up]

Hi Laura, I recently came across your videos and really appreciate your approach to working with dogs! Question related to this video: I'm working with my Aussie puppy on back-chaining retrieve ("force fetch" in the hunting world). She's almost got it down, except when I extend my hand and give her the "out" command - she'll paw at my hand, thinking I'm asking for a handshake or high five, while simultaneously releasing the dumbbell. I know this "pawing" issue is the reason a lot of trainers don't teach the "shake" command. How can I get her to stop pawing??

[@attapuptraining]

Hello, and thanks! Are you doing this for competition? Obedience? Hunting? The parameters might be different if you have a very specific finished behavior in mind. If it doesn't make a difference, you could try asking them to drop it into your lap or on the ground instead of your hand. A single finger pointing would work for that. For Nina, I offer my hand with my fingers spread out very wide to receive the object. This might be sufficiently different, or she might just be making a good guess based on the context of the situation. You can also just put it on verbal cue so they aren't relying on any hand signal at all. If they get back to you with the object and don't know what to do until you do something with your hands (and they make the wrong guess), then you've missed a link in the chain somewhere. I'd go back and work on the "object in hand=click" link for a while to make sure they've got it. Here's an excellent video about retrieving from Donna Hill- kzbin.info/www/bejne/a6HLfWlmacaNeqM She's not quite doing backchaining, but she does a good job breaking it down into clear incremental steps. If it helps, you can think of it as a targeting behavior: dog picks up object, dog targets object to hand, then lets go. Hope that helps!

[@myblue7up]

Thanks for the really informative response! It's not for anything in particular, I just think that training is an important part of dog ownership. Plus, it's fun for both of us! I'm working with my Aussie puppy on releasing the object into my hand because just dropping it on the ground is kinda sloppy in my opinion - it's a lot more refined, for example, when a dog retrieves into front position, flips into heel, and holds the object until given the release cue to drop it into an outstretched hand. I decided to take a creative approach to solving the "pawing" problem - we're practicing hold and release using the box technique that some trainers use to teach dog position changes in place without stepping forward/backward/sideways. I'm having my puppy sit and stand in a cardboard box, right up against one of the sides which stops her from raising her paw. She's only allowed to use her mouth - haha, so far it's working out pretty well!