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  1. #1
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    The ultimate party trick...

    While Linus has some handy tricks already, after much thought, I have decided to teach him how to retrieve beverages from the refrigerator.

    Disclaimer: I would not recommend this trick for every dog!

    First step of teaching your dog how to retrieve adult beverages from the refrigerator is to make sure they have a "pull" cue. Linus is a very soft mouthed dog, so I had to teach him him "pull" quite awhile back and he does it on cue now. I am using a specific towel on the handle of the refrigerator. The towel is only on the refrigerator when I want him to perform this exercise. So far, so good. I think this will be the most difficult portion of the exercise for him. For obvious reasons I do not want to teach him to open the refrigerator WITHOUT the towel, so focus is on the towel both off and on the refrigerator.

    -pull1-jpg


    -pull2-jpg


    Second step, is a "paws up" cue. It's super handy for all kinds of tricks. It is also great if you do choice games for animal husbandry, like cleaning ears and teeth. My refrigerator is perfect for this! I taught this long ago and he is already fluent on any type of structure.

    -pawsup1-jpg


    -pawsup2-jpg


    Third step is a retrieve, which we obviously have. I'm certainly not going to have him retrieve glass bottles on tile and hardwood! So, we'll either have to stick with canned or paper. I have some shopping to do and hoping they have good wine and beer that I will actually drink and serve to my guests. I think I am going to get something that cues where to retrieve the item from, like those refrigerator containers for cans. That way, he will target getting something from the container and I can change up the packaging.

    Final step, I suppose, would be shutting the door, which will be easy with a touch cue. I have to see if the refrigerator will close on it's own first.

    Once each part of the exercise is taught, the cue will be, "Linus, get our guest a beer". I'll post a video when we've got it.

    Can anyone think of any other fun tricks I can teach him?

  2. #2
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    Great steps to teach. One warning, one time you will forget that the towel is on the frig and there will be tonight's steaks inside, LOL
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  4. #3
    Senior Dog MightyThor's Avatar
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    Oh that's fun! I've been working on a new round of tricks with thor (his latest is 'crawl') and I'll have to add this to the list!

    Our favorite doggy party trick is his 'speak'. We trained both voice and hand commands, and his hand command for speak is the middle finger. So we tell people to go flip off the dog and they get a good laugh when he barks at them.
    Mighty Thor, "So Much Dog", born 1/6/2014
    And baby Barley, born 3/9/2018

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  6. #4
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    Years and years ago, someone on this board shared the same trick you're working on. His cue was, "Beer me, Tallulah." I still LOL.
    Stormageddon, Princess of Darkness, aka "Stormy"
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  7. #5
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by POPTOP View Post
    Great steps to teach. One warning, one time you will forget that the towel is on the frig and there will be tonight's steaks inside, LOL
    Maybe! But, I don't think so. He's such an honest dog. We all know he can jump on the counter tops, yet he's never touched anything up there. However, I do think I am going to really limit what I keep on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, just in case.

  8. #6
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Update: In today's training session he pulled the refrigerator open three times! When he does that, I ask for paws up and then give him five treats instead of just one for effort.

  9. #7
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Duplicate post.

  10. #8
    Senior Dog Tanya's Avatar
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    That's awesome Can't wait to get back into training! This is definitely the ultimate party trick

    Mind you, Rocky is not a dog i would have tried teaching this too. The dog was crated til he was 4-5 because he kept getting into things :P

  11. #9
    Senior Dog Shelley's Avatar
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    Hilarious! I can't wait until you link all the behaviors and we get a video!

  12. #10
    Senior Dog JackK's Avatar
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    You better not teach him to use the bottle opener or it will be like the old commercial - "Linus! That better be your water that you are drinking!"

 



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