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Post by tycoonrealm on Mar 18, 2005 18:08:20 GMT -5
My mutt is quite the jumper. I was wondering if i could get it to slam dunk some balls for show. First i was going to conquer the stay command, she already know the sit command quite well. She someone know how to play catch, but when my other dogs are involved it's more like 'stay away from my ball', but anyway... How can i teach the dog to put the ball in the hoop? Eventually i plan on raising the hoop, but lets start off with baby steps.
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Post by Aussienot on Mar 19, 2005 1:54:50 GMT -5
This is a trick that you have to break into steps. I don't know if you clicker train, but this would be a great trick to click on. This is not a natural behavior you can capture with clicking, but it is a behavior you can shape using food treats as a lure and using a clicker to mark.
The first step is to teach her to deliver the ball to the hoop that is resting on the floor. I'd use a something like a hula hoop to start. Throw your dog the ball, then lure her into the hoop, and bribe her with food to drop the ball. Use your food treat as a lure to shape the behavior you want. As soon as she does, she gets the treat. Do not use a fetch command, if she has one, as you don't want to mess that up.
After two or three times of shaping the behvavior, put a command on it as you are luring her - Shoot, or Dunk, or whatever word you choose.
At first, reward any drops anywhere near the hoop, and gradually only reward drops in the hoop. Once she is reliably coming to the hoop and dropping, you can move to the next step.
The second step is to gradually lessen the size of the hoop. You might buy some plastic tubing to make up various size training hoops. I'd make the hoop 10% smaller at each training level. Stay on each level until she is 100% reliable about dropping the ball into the hoop.
Once you finally have her dropping it into a basket ball sized hoop on the floor, you can gradually, and I do stress gradually, gradually, gradually, increasing the height.
When you start raising the hoop, use a hoop at least one size bigger every time you raise the level. Only make the hoop smaller (back to regulation size) when the height is mastered. For the first few height increases, she can still stand up and drop it in, but eventually she will have to reach up and later, jump up.
This transition to jumping before dropping will take patience and extra encouragement. Allow her to backslide in her learning and be incredibly patient. Eventually she will figure out to jump. From then on, it will be much easier.
To keep her keen and enthusiastic about this trick, I'd only to three reps per training session. Don't overdo it, and always leave her wanting more. I think once she gets the hang of it, she will like doing it.
Great idea, I might try this with my dog.
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