Learning some new tricks!

Today I started a new trick with Vito. I wanted to work on the R legs up trick, where the dog lifts and holds both his front and hind right leg in the air at the same time. I've never taught this before, so I had no clue where to start. Originally I had Vito targeting his front paw to my knee and then trying to reach to cue him to lift his back leg. But this just resulted in a lot of whacking my body everywhere and no back leg lift. Perhaps this would have worked if I had re brought out another target for his back leg, but I didn't think of it at the time. Instead, I grabbed the nearest long object, which happened to be a ferret climbing post, and taught Vito to put his right legs on it within 2 clicks. Within another 2 clicks he was keeping is front paw on the post and his back leg high in the air! He is creepy smart.

So we still can't really sit and hold a dumbbell for more than half a second without levitating off the ground, but we have the start of R legs up!

I was going to start this with Lance, but for some odd reason Lance is wincing whenever we pick him up. Of course it's the weekend and the vets are closed, but I think it's his rib. I'm not really good at watching dogs gait but he seems to be walking just fine, possibly a little stiff. However, Lance shrieks when I pick him up. Now I know Lance really isn't a fan of being held, but this is just a little too dramatic!

So instead of teaching this trick which might hurt his rib, I decided that Lance should start learning "are you sad?" (rest head on the ground) which Vito is already a master at. Lance was definitely more irritated than sad as he grumbled a lot. He is so cute when frustrated!