Hello Pet forums training gurus.

I have a 5 month old SBT who loves to learn. She can do all the arbitrary stuff but still needs practice obviously.

She can:
Sit
Down
Stand
Stay
Wait
Come
Heel
Leave and then take food/toys/other exciting stuff on command

But she loves to be trained and I love to train her. I was wondering how hard it is to teach her to locate and then bark when she finds my little sister. This would be a fun trick to train and a really useful one if she ever got lost or anything.

How do I start this game? Hide and seek?

Thanks in advance.

you need to teach your dog two new words....FIND....and your sisters name.

Find = sit on the floor with a treat hidden under a towel
pretend to throw a treat towards the towel and say FIND
praise the dog as soon as he starts looking for the treat
move the towel slowly until he gets the treat
when he gets the treat say "good find"

teaching your sisters name is as easy as saying her name every time she comes into view... have her go out of the room and reenter several times....say her name when she comes back in all excited. this will encourage the dog to go to her...when he does she gives him a treat.

then practise the second bit but asking him to FIND >>>>>>> just before she comes into the room.

then...when he has made the connection between FIND and her name......you can gradually ask her to go out but leave the door open and then ask him to FIND>>>>>>> and she will give hiim a treat when he does.


hope that makes sense!

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ZACK (1993-2007)
forever in sunshine

Both my Border collies know the names of every one who lives here and visits, find Jo or any other name we give is a great game and they love playing it. It's a fantastic way to get 2 stroppy teenagers out of bed on a Saturday afternoon, we tell the dogs to 'go find (name)' and watch them tear off upstairs, we then open the bedroom doors and they 'dig' the girls out of their beds!!

We even taught them take the duvet and when we tell them, they pull the duvet off the bed - how cruel am I