| Can you teach a dog to skateboard with a clicker? |
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| Written by John Buginas, CPDT, CTC | |
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This was completely free-shaped using clicker and treats.
It's pretty hard to grab the moment, but you get the idea.
Juno does drop the chord after a few seconds. Karly will stay on board forever. They actually did this spontaneously after the first couple of shaping sessions. I had been working on getting the dogs on the board separately while *I* held the chord. Then one day, Juno pulled the board out from beside the couch and Karly walked over and stood on it. That was unprompted. I then began clicking/rewarding the chord pulling and Karly, liking to stand on the board, stands on the board.
I have also been working on pulling Karly a few steps, waiting for that first attempt to move the board herself, so am clicking leg movements. I'm working on carpet for safety so the board won't roll easily. We haven't tried on pavement or wood floor. When I do that, I'll have a second rope to help control the board or put some sort of brakes on the boards. |
