New Trick
I'm trying to teach my terrier, Wimsey, a new trick: playing shy.
Our trainer suggested it--along with the straightforward method to teach the trick: I put a wad of tape on one side of his nose. He uses a paw to push it off--as though he's "shy." After several reps, he'll presumably understand and associate "be shy" with his paw movement.
Easy, right?
Well, after pushing it off a couple times, hearing a click, and getting his treat (cheese), Wimsey decided he could live with a wad of tape on his face. Sitting ramrod straight, he gave me a hard terrier stare, asking himself, no doubt, what had possessed his human. Finally gravity did its thing and the tape fell off.
As I tried to stop laughing, I accidently clicked. (That's his signal that he's done a stellar job on something and he can expect a treat pronto.) His eyes lit up, he got the cheese, and tried again.
Again, when I asked him to "be shy," Wimsey sat at attention with tape hanging off the side of his face again. When it finally hit the ground, he touched it with his paw. Oh, what the heck, I thought. And clicked.
So his mental lightbulb went on and he spent the next several minutes touching the tape, touching the tape dispenser, and touching the wad of tape again. FINE! I GIVE! You beat me again, you Wee One. And he happily touched and nibbled on the tape some more.
Never, ever forget: A terrier does not want to please you. A terrier wants to have fun with you.
Our trainer suggested it--along with the straightforward method to teach the trick: I put a wad of tape on one side of his nose. He uses a paw to push it off--as though he's "shy." After several reps, he'll presumably understand and associate "be shy" with his paw movement.
Easy, right?
Well, after pushing it off a couple times, hearing a click, and getting his treat (cheese), Wimsey decided he could live with a wad of tape on his face. Sitting ramrod straight, he gave me a hard terrier stare, asking himself, no doubt, what had possessed his human. Finally gravity did its thing and the tape fell off.
As I tried to stop laughing, I accidently clicked. (That's his signal that he's done a stellar job on something and he can expect a treat pronto.) His eyes lit up, he got the cheese, and tried again.
Again, when I asked him to "be shy," Wimsey sat at attention with tape hanging off the side of his face again. When it finally hit the ground, he touched it with his paw. Oh, what the heck, I thought. And clicked.
So his mental lightbulb went on and he spent the next several minutes touching the tape, touching the tape dispenser, and touching the wad of tape again. FINE! I GIVE! You beat me again, you Wee One. And he happily touched and nibbled on the tape some more.
Never, ever forget: A terrier does not want to please you. A terrier wants to have fun with you.
posted by hopemcp at 12:54 PM
2 Comments:
LOL!! Wimsey rules.
Wish I could train my cat like that.
I do, however, appreciate that dear Mardukas is so used to our daily cat-feeding routine that he absolutely refuses to eat his meal if we break our pattern and feed him before feeding our other cat, Sophie. If we give Mardukas his food first, he will stand over it, face inches from the food, and cry in agony... unable to give himself permission to eat until Sophie's got her food. We didn't TEACH him that. He just decided that's how things go.
And Sophie probably watches in amusement--knowing that this is how the world should be: Mardukas waiting for her. Always.
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