Jasper's new toy

[JudyN]

I picked up a new ball for Jasper today. It's about 6" in diameter and hard, like a boomer ball. I'm not sure he'll be able to pick it up, so he might find it a bit frustrating as a regular ball. However, I'm sure there's plenty of clicker training opportunities here.

Training to target it and nudge it with his nose should be easy, but what then? I could try to get him to put it in some sort of 'goal', or maybe roll it to me or OH, but can anyone think of some more creative ideas? Or should I just plonk it in front of him and see what develops, clicking anything that looks 'interesting'?

[minkee]

Sounds like the beginning of some Treiball! viewtopic.php?f=11&t=13203&p=89682 There's some links in that t hread with 'how to train' parts in it.

[bendog]

Target it with either paw, balance it on his nose like a seal , score a goal, dribble around a cone, stand on it with one paw and then lift the other paw off the ground to practice balance.

Ben plays a lot of football and whilst I've never taught him to do it, he can dribble a ball back to my feet when I've kicked it away, and steer it around obstacles.

[Ari_RR]

Or maybe attach it to a flirt pole by a string and he will chase it around? There is no intellectual angle in this, but it's fun none the less

[Horace's Mum]

You could do any amount of paw targeting with any paw - a real challenge to get him to use the back feet!! If you can get him happy with each front foot then you might be able to very slowly build up to putting both front feet on it together to balance - very long term aim. Or if he learns to dribble accurately you could teach him directionals and then set up an obstacle course that he goes round following your directions left or right!

[JudyN]

Ah, sorry, I meant to reply ages ago - work keeps getting in the way.

At the moment he thinks the ball is booooooooring He'll nudge it with his nose and come straight back to me for a treat, then after a few nudges he reverts to his 'shy boy' routine. I need to plan exactly what I want to achieve, and try to find something he'll regard as fun rather than just a way of earning food. I like the idea of working on getting him to use his back legs.