Trick of the Month Challenge

I joined a trick of the month challenge on a pet forum I visit, but I’ve been absolutely horrible at setting aside time to train. So I’m taking the challenge public in hopes that I can shame myself into training my dog.

The goal of the challenge is to train one new trick each month, collecting information on the training session, photos, and possibly videos. At the start of each month a rule is given that dictates that type of trick you can do, adding an extra challenge to it because some months the list of tricks will be things you dog finds difficult to learn. For example, this month’s challenge is to teach a trick that involves his or her mouth in some way. It could be to retrieve, balance a treat on his nose, cover his nose with his paw, lick his nose on cue, etc. Originally I had planned to teach Suki to clean up her toys, but before I do that I should probably work on a better retrieve. So my goal for this month is to teach her to bring me things that I point at.

This should also give me a bit more inspiration for writing. Once a week I’ll post a write-up about how the training has been going, what went well, what I’d like to work on over the next week, and any other relevent information.

My objective for this week is to work on shaping picking up items, starting out with the item sitting right beside us and gradually building distance. I’m going to start with one of her toys, but with a bit of luck perhaps we’ll be able to progress to fetching random household items.