Tuesday Training Tip Number 10. Teaching dogs to pick objects up.

    "I have a rescue dog and we have to teach her to pick up things for me. I have a disability bending to pick things up. I try treats some she will like others no. But I can’t get her to pick up. Can you help me?" - Sue

    Teaching a dog to pick objects up can be very challenging.   It really depends on your dogs personality and your patience level.  The best advice I can give is to take it slow.  Moving too fast and stressing out your dog can lead to a permanent aversion to picking objects up.  Making sure your dog is happy during training sessions is very important.

Supplies

Clicker.  This is INCREDIBLY HELPFUL for this exercise and I would not recommend attempting the exercise without it.

Treats.  Make SURE these treats are something your dog LOVES!  They should be small and soft.  They need to be small because your dog will be eating a lot of them and you don't want her to get full.  They should be soft so she eats them right away and isn't wasting time chewing on them.  You should put time and effort into choosing the right treats.  The outcome of your training depends on this, especially if your dog is picky.  I recommend Zuke's Mini Naturals or Bil-Jac Training Treats.

Objects for your dog to pick up.  When you begin teaching your dog to pick things up, the object should be very easy and comfortable for them.  If you train your dog right, you will teach them to LOVE picking up objects at your command.  Then they will be happy to pick up more difficult objects.  This object depends on the size of your dog.  Generally something lightweight and round works best.  For smaller dogs, you can use a chopstick.  For larger dogs you can use an empty toilet paper roll or sock stuffed with fabric.  You can also use a dog toy if your dog is very reluctant to pick things up.  If your dog is very playful I would not recommend it.  Your dog needs to learn the difference between work and play.  If your dog is non-mouthy you may need to use a food-like item at first.  Rawhide bones are great for this and come in lots of designs and sizes for every dog.

Notes

    Using your "pick up" command.  Regardless of what command you use, you should NOT begin using the command in training until your dog is reliably picking up the object.  Using your command before the dog is trained can cause stress.  It can make your dog associate the command with stress and shut down mentally when commanded to pick something up.

    Clicker Training.  In all the following steps you will use clicker training to reward your dog.  The moment your dog does something right you will click the clicker and follow up with a treat for her.  Your dog will soon learn that the click means food.  After that, she will learn that the click means she has done something right.  It is VERY IMPORTANT that the click happens exactly when your dog performs the desired behavior.  Many people wait a few seconds to grab a treat and click right before the treat comes.  This does not help teach your dog anything.  The dog does not need a click to know she is going to get food.  The dog needs to know WHAT it was that was good so she will want to do it again.

    Starting training.  If your dog has a tendency to walk away from you, you can sit with her and put a leash on her at first.  After you have trained her to pick up objects while you are sitting, it may take some time for her to get used to picking up objects while you are standing.  When you first start standing while training you may want a helper to encourage her until she gets the hang of handing things to you.

    

How To Train Your Dog Using Shaping

    Shaping is a training method that rewards your dogs natural curiosity.  This is how you will use shaping to train your dog to pick objects up.  It is very important that your clicks with the clicker come exactly at the moment she is performing the desired behavior.  That is the ONLY way she will know what she is being shaped into.

This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVYcGocAHRQ demonstrates the following method. Few dogs will learn this skill within 10 minutes.  Just be patient and work at your dogs speed.  Perfect Partnerships Dog Training is not affiliated with All Positive Dog Training or The Crossover Trainer in any way.

1. Look at the object.  Introduce the object to her and reward her every time she looks at it.  Make sure your click comes WHILE she is looking at the object and not after she has looked away.
2. Touching the object.  After a while, she will be looking at the object a lot because she has learned that it will get her treats.  Stop offering treats for just looking at the object and wait for her to do something else.  She will probably sniff or paw it.  When she touches the object in any way, reward her for it.
3. Touching the object with muzzle.   Some dogs may have already been touching the object with their muzzle.  Other dogs will have just been pawing it.  If your dog hasn't been touching the object with her muzzle, now is the time to transition to that.
4. Nudging object.  After she is reliably touching the object, wait for her to nudge the object harder and reward for that.
5. Opening mouth.  Once she is very interested in the object and nudging it hard, wait for her to open her mouth a little bit before rewarding her.   The mouth doesn't need to be open very wide at all.
6. Opening mouth wider.  After some time, wait for her to open her mouth a little more on the object.
7. Grabbing object.  If you have made it this far, good job!   She should easily transition to grabbing the object.  Once she is picking up the object you can start using your command every time she picks it up and start introducing new objects.
8. Holding object.  Start waiting to reward her until she has held an object for a little while.  You can gradually increase this time and teach her to hand the object to you.

A Second Shaping Method

    The following video demonstrates this method https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg1yDpM_vbc.

Perfect Partnerships Dog Training is not affiliated with zsainz1 in any way.

 This uses the same principles but takes a slightly different approach that may appeal to dogs that are less mouthy, food motivated, or easily exited.

Helpful video especially for service dogs adding in the "give" command.

    This video shows some more steps that will come later in training.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5phL604aZDA  Perfect Partnerships Dog Training is not affiliated with Donna Hill in any way.