Category: EDCI 336 (page 1 of 2)

Daisy is almost back to her normal self! She’s still pretty floppy and sleepy but she has definitely perked back up. This week my plan was to teach Daisy how to spin but due to her floppiness (and laziness) it has not been going as well as expected. I am not following any instructions for the trick ‘spin’ and I am instead attempting to figure it out by myself. I have been using treats and encouraging Daisy to follow it with her nose while I move the treat in a circular motion above her. Once Daisy completes the spin I tell her that she is a good girl and give her the treat as a reward. I believe that this will work when Daisy is more motivated but as of right now Daisy is simply sitting down and following the treat with her head/eyes. If my method does not work I hope to find a helpful video by Zak George, who has published the majority of the dog training videos I have used. To recap Daisy has mastered ‘sit’ and ‘lie down’ but still needs some additional work on ‘up’ and ‘leave it’, while there are still many tricks to work on I believe that Daisy is doing very well for being only four months old!

This week Daisy had the week off because unfortunately a few days after a visit to Doggy Daycare we discovered that Daisy managed to get conjunctivitis, i.e. pinkeye for dogs. Because of this Daisy took the week off and mostly practiced ‘sit’ and ‘lie down’ which both typically ended up in Daisy taking a nap! Daisy has been feeling quite sorry for herself and sleeping anywhere and everywhere. I am currently giving her eye drops every 12 hours for a week, as well as lots of hugs, treats and attention so hopefully by next week Daisy will be back to her usual self and we will be practicing the trick ‘spin’!

As I mentioned in my last free inquiry post, I was teaching Daisy how to lie down and as with the other tricks I have worked on with Daisy it went quite smoothly. However, I am unsure if I am just surprisingly good at dog training or if Daisy is just very smart… I am fairly certain it is the latter. This week I am working on teaching Daisy to ‘leave it’, which is where I place something tempting (usually a treat) in front of her and ask her not to touch it. The first few times attempting this trick were difficult as I was unsure of how to begin but once I watched a Zak George video about teaching your dog to leave it the process became much more clear. Once I knew what I was doing Daisy quickly progressed and now knows to ‘leave it’. Daisy even knows to leave any food that lands on the floor but she does not yet know the command that mean she can go ahead and eat the treat. For the rest of this week I will be working on teaching Daisy the word ‘okay’ which will signal that she can eat the treat.

This week I worked on strengthening Daisys tricks. In the video that I attached below we go over ‘sit’, ‘lie down’, and ‘up’. I have not yet written a blog about ‘up’ as I have just started teaching her it! This video was taken right before dinner time so Daisy is quite distracted and not listening to direction as well as she usually does. What I found very interesting is that in the video you can see that Daisy hears the command and then thinks about it before actually following through the trick. Next we are going to work on ‘leave it’!

Daisy quickly mastered the skill of sitting down, and because of that I moved right into teaching her how to lie down. I began by asking Daisy to sit, then showing her the treat in my hand and moving my hand to the floor where she would have to lie down if she wanted to try and get the treat, once Daisy laid down I then gave her the treat and told her that she was a good girl! Daisy was fast at recognizing that the word lie down, as well as the motion of me placing my hand on the floor, meant that I was asking her to lie down. I was then able to take away the treat and only use the hand motion as well as the the phrase lie down to get her to lie down. I am now working on teaching Daisy to lie down when she hears the phrase lie down without the motion, while it is a little difficult I have no doubt that she will quickly catch on! I am still using the same resource as the last two weeks – Zak George’s 3 Easy Things to Teach Your New Puppy, and I am still finding it extremely useful!