Monday's Trick Challenge: Retrieve Your Dish

This is a fun trick I am going to teach Unit to do! She eats her food in the kitchen while Coal eats his behind the kitchen in the hall, by the back door. This means I have to bring Unit's dish with me to feed them both, which isn't a big deal in the least, but sometimes I forget and have to go get it, leaving two very confused dogs! If I can just tell Unit "go get your dish" and have her bring it to me, it would save a lot on weaving through the chaos of dogs that occurs during feeding time!

I found some great instructions on a WONDERFUL website that has a lot of really cool tricks! So make sure to check out the link below and see what other great tricks they have to teach your dog.

http://www.doggiebuddy.com/topics/tricks/dish.html

TEACH
Teaching "Dish" wasn't too hard once I taught Caspian to learn its name. I first had him touch the dish, eventually teaching him that its name was "Dish." The next step was getting him to pick it up. This was more difficult because his dish is heavier than other objects we have trained with before. I clicked and treated for small advances towards the behavior I wanted. Eventually, he was able to carry it completely in his mouth. I then told him to "Bring it" to me. Since he knew these commands already, it wasn't very hard to string them together into this nice trick -- "Get your dish."

"After several training sessions, your dog may eventually bring his dish to you to tell you he's hungry!" 

 

 

STEPS

Step 1: Use "Learn the Names of Everything" trick 13 to teach him to touch his dish on command.

Step 2: Teach him to hold the dish in his mouth using the "take it" command (trick 25).

Your dog may not like holding a metal dish in his mouth, but this trick is worth the extra effort. Take extra time with this step.

Step 3: With the dish on the floor say the name "dish", when he starts to touch the dish say "take it" (see trick 24). If he takes the dish in his mouth at all click and treat.

Step 4: Repeat steps 2 and 3 several times in multiple training sessions.

Step 5: With your dog holding the dish in his mouth say "bring it" (trick 26). Click and treat when he takes a few steps toward you with the dish.

Step 6: as you repeat step 3 introduce the command "get your dish". When he takes it. Click and treat

Step 7: Repeat step 6 in several sessions.

Step 8: Give the command "get your dish." Click and treat when he brings it to you. Gradually extend the distance from the bowl as you perfect this trick.

TEACHING TROUBLE
What if my dog's dish is to heavy for him?

Your dog will most likely be able to carry it. It could be that he's just not used to carrying something that bulky and heavy before. It's a good idea to start out small and click and treat for small advances toward the dish. You could even build up to this trick by having him learn to take lighter things in his mouth, then gradually teaching heavier things until he is able to hold the dish. Another idea is to teach "Bring me a Drink" first to get him gradually used to carrying heavier things in his mouth by filling up the drink bottle a little at a time.