The average living room.
In North America is approximately 330 square feet.
Add in a couch and a coffee table and other pieces of furniture.
And the space that's left is fairly limited. Over the last few months,
the world's become a very different place and a lot of people have adapted their
own workout routines to doing them in their home.
So I wondered for the average dog owner,
how would they take advantage of the space that's left and do something with
their dog that burned off some energy,
gave their dog some exercise because for a lot of dogs,
a walk just isn't enough. This is where 21 time world champion of dog agility.
Kayl McCann comes in.
She's going to show you five tricks that she works on with her dogs.
When she can't get outside to exercise them for you.
These are the kinds of tricks that are going to exercise your dog's body and
their brain. I'm Ken Steepe and welcome back to McCann dogs.
This episode is brought to you by Eukanuba.
This exercise is called weaving through the legs.
I chose to use Cheerio on purpose for this one,
because I know he is really motivated by treats.
As you can see how intensely he's staring at me right now.
So if you have a dog that likes treats,
you might find this one goes really quick for you as well. Now,
I like to teach this particular trick to my dogs because I find it really helps
with flexibility with coordination.
It's also a really good problem solving skill for some dogs going between your
legs can be a little bit scary.
So it also can work to build their confidence as well.
So we're going to start off with, hey you.
We're going to start off with the first few steps to teach this exercise.
So we're going to start off right at the beginning with mr. Cheerio here.
And in order to do this,
you're going to need to make sure that you have pieces of food in both hands.
And I'm just going to start off by opening my legs so he can get through.
And I'm just going to start off by putting my hand in the middle where I can
reward him a few times. Once I have him focused on the food,
I'm going to pull him through my legs. Yes. Good boy.
And then I'm going to reward and of course, I'm going to try the other side.
So I'm going to put the food here just to get them stationed. Yay.
And I'm going to pull them around. Now,
remember when you're teaching a new trick,
try not to worry about giving any commands at first,
make sure the dog's comfortable with the movement first.
And then we can go ahead and add a verbal behavior afterwards.
I'm going to try it again. Yes. Good boy.
Yeah. You're a quick study. Young man. Good boy.
Tried it a little faster. Yes. Yay. Good boy.
Now this dog loves food. So this is going to go really quickly.
I'm going to see if I can progress to going a little bit faster and because he's
doing it pretty easily, I'm also going to make this a bit of a command ready?
Set. Go through. Yes. Go through. Yeah. That's a good point. Go through.
Yes. Through. Yeah. Wow.
I have a sneaking suspicion.
I'm going to be able to make a bit more progression here, here. Ready? Set.
Go through. Go through. Yes. Go through. Yay.
That was so good. Wow.
Cheerio is a really quick study on this,
but let's talk about a couple of things that often can go wrong when you're
practicing this now, number one,
you need to make sure that your dog stays really focused on the food.
So make sure that as you're luring your dog through your legs,
that you move your hands nice and slows your dog. Doesn't get distracted.
Also don't get caught up in how much fun it is and make them do a million figure
eights in a row. Try to make sure when you start off that you're going to do.
Oops. Freebie. Here it is. Here we go.
You're going to do just one or two little loops at a time before rewarding.
Thank you, buddy. Excellent. Why don't I try again? Ready?
Yay. Good. Oh my goodness. Yes. Good boy.
Well done now for the next trick that you can practice indoors in order to
exercise your dog. I've recruited a really big dog. Her name's Skye.
She's an Irish Wolfhound.
And I want to make sure that everybody knows that regardless of the size of dog
that you have, we can make sure that we find a trick that works for everybody.
So in this particular one, we're going to work on some puppy pushups.
Now what are puppy pushups? Well,
they're basically the same thing as we would do for pushups. It's really,
really good for working on building strength and muscle tone.
You're going to end up working on muscles that they don't normally use when
you're out for a walk. And it's just great general fitness.
As we're fitness dog inside this living room.
Now keep in mind, you can do this exercise with any size dog,
but this is a particularly great one to do. If you have a dog that's pretty big.
I don't need a lot of space as you can see, she's taking up most of it.
So we're going to start off with a really easy version of simply luring her dogs
from a down position to a sit position.
And you're going to go up and down and up and down a few times rewarding each
time. Now, if your dog doesn't have a lot of experience with these exercises,
go ahead and use a bit of food and reward each time.
So I'm going to tell her sit. Yeah. And reward her for pushing herself up.
See if she has to use all of her chest muscles down. Good girl.
Good girl. Yes. Good girl. One more time. Sit.
Yes.
Moving up from the down is much more difficult on the body than it is to go down
into position. Now, if that goes well,
we can make it a little bit more challenging by going from stand to two down
now, and I'm going to do this.
I'm going to get her standing first and I'm going to lure her nose into her
chest so that she sort of folds back into that down,
butt hits. Yes. Boom. Yes. Good girl. And then I'm going to have her up.
Okay. Yeah. So you can see,
she has to use these muscles in order to stand back up again.
I'm going to push her back down,
put the food into her chest down,
wait for the bum to hit. Yeah. As good.
And I'm going to try and bring her up. Okay. Yay. Beautiful.
Now you'll have a dog that is a little bit older or maybe it can be a bit sore.
Sometimes I definitely would not recommend that you do this very much.
One or two reps is all you need to do. Obviously if you have a young fit dog,
you can do a little bit more, but you need to make sure that whatever you do,
it's the right thing for your particular dog.
Now I've recruited little Hippy Shake to help us with our next trick.
And that's to teach our dogs how to do an army crawl.
Now this one looks really cool and obviously it's going to work all kinds of
muscles and it's going to require a little bit of problem solving as well.
Now you may find it easiest to teach this with a little bit of a prop.
You could use a broomstick or a hockey stick.
It's going to help teach your dog to crouch underneath something.
So Hippy's actually not done this trick before,
which is why I thought she would be a good example.
And she could actually be a little bit unsure about some new things.
I'm actually going to start off, here babe, just teaching her to, you know,
be comfortable around the broom. Good girl. All right.
So now I'm going to lure her into a down.
I'm just going to place the broom overtop. Good Girl.
That's my girl. Yay. Good girl. Okay.
So you can see she's a little apprehensive.
So I'm actually just going to start off by putting it pretty high here. Okay,
good. Yay. Good girl. Oops wrong pocket,
wrong pocket. Ready? Get it.
Yes. Yes. It's okay. Yes.
Good girl you're doing so good. Yeah.
See her start to get more comfortable as I get the treats
underneath and I'm just rolling. Rolling them here.
Just to kind of take the pressure off her, let her so Oh, good girl.
That she offered to go under her own. And so,
and I think we're ready to start to add a little,
it's more of a trick into place. Yeah.
Good. Yes.
Good girl is just take a couple little shuffles forward.
And I'm specifically looking at her elbows and her belly because it's pretty
common when you're training this exercise that we move our hand up.
Our dogs just go right back into walking.
And this is particularly difficult with a small dog like Hippy who was already
so close to the ground. Now when you're teaching something new,
if you ever find that your dog is struggling with it,
or maybe they need a little bit more practice.
One of the tricks that a lot of dog trainers will do is they'll actually take a
break from the trick and then revisit it, you know,
after a few moments have passed. Now, as you probably noticed,
Hippy was a little bit nervous about what to do with the broomstick here.
So I've given her a little bit of time off.
We're going to go ahead and practice another time and see if there's been any
improvements. It's a cute little sneeze.
So I'm going to go ahead and try it again.
Yes. Good girl.
You're going to find that sometimes when you go back at something. Yes.
Good girl.
Your dog can actually be a lot more confident because they've already seen this
scenario before, it's not brand new. Yes. Good girl.
You're getting more comfy now. Wait. Okay. Yes.
Wow. Good girl. Wait, wait. Okay.
I made that one pretty low. That was good.
So it teaches you practice makes perfect. If you find you're struggling,
take a little bit of a break, go back and revisit it.
Short little spurts of training is definitely the best way to go and learning
something to take care of. Now, this trick is called perch work.
Now I do a lot of this and agility training to teach rear-end awareness,
to teach balance and coordination.
You're going to find this helpful to be able to get your dog to get up and off
of things. When you ask them as well.
Now I'm going to start off with a bit of food in my hand,
and I'm just going to start by luring Cheerio's front feet right up onto this
box. Now you can use anything in your house. You could use a box,
you could use a pillow cushion. Um,
I suggest starting with a little wider surface to begin with.
It's a little bit easier. So this is no problem for him.
I'm going to start to incorporate getting off of the box. Yes.
It's simply just moving my hand. Okay. Yes. Good boy.
Good for you. Good man. Oh my goodness.
Now you may find that when you're practicing,
your dog might get a little overzealous and they might start to offer something
different.
The great thing about these types of tricks is we're supposed to be exercising
their minds. So if you get a little bit of creativity from your dog,
don't ignore that. Yes. Remember? Oh yes. Good boy. Yes. And reward that.
So your dog starts to learn to offer different behaviors to you. Okay, buddy,
let's try a different version though.
So we can get up on the box with front feet.
We can get up on the box with all four feet,
but if we really want to work on some conditioning and some exercises,
what we can also start to do is work on getting him to move around the box.
Okay? Hold on. You're so excited. So I'm gonna lure his front feet up.
And what I'm actually going to do is I'm going to move into him a little bit and
I'm going to watch his back feet. I'm going to keep his nose in place and as it,
yes. Good boy. As I step into him, if his back feet started to move away.
Yes. I'm going to reward him. Good boy.
So I'm going to keep his head in position, move in towards him. Yes.
Good boy. Okay. And then I'm going to break it off. That was a good one.
Do we want to try again, yes. Good. I'm going to feed him for being in position.
And again, I'm going to simply apply a little bit of pressure into his body.
Yes. Good boy.
Yes. Good boy. Excellent.
And as he starts to get better at this,
I can actually start to teach him to go all the way around the outside of the
perch.
And that's going to really work on strengthening his backend and teach a lot of
great coordination. Now, if things are going well with your dog,
you can start to increase the difficulty by going to a smaller size box.
It really could be anything books.
I just have a little Tupperware container that I got here and I'm going to place
it down and do exactly the same thing. Now again, if you're changing something,
make sure that you go back to the original sort of step.
So rather than asking for him to spin around,
who's going to offer it for me already.
I'm just going to start off by getting his feet up. Now,
a common mistake that people make on this exercise and they sometimes will over
face the dog too quickly. So make sure you take your progression slowly.
Another common thing is people forget to go both ways about if you're working
out, you don't just want everything to strengthen one side of your body.
You want to strengthen both sides. So, you know,
if he's comfortable spinning around this direction,
I need to also make sure I practice going the other way. And I would simply yes.
Good boy. Simply repeat the process.
I would just pressure this side of his body instead,
making sure that both sides were equal. Boy buddy was up on her. What now,
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Now the first couple of tricks I showed you were really physical for the dogs
and this particular one that I'm going to show you next also requires a lot of
coordination on the dog's part,
but it's really going to work some mental stimulation.
This is going to require a training technique called shaping.
So if you've ever played that hot and cold game, when you were younger, um,
this type of training is very similar. So I have a box here and my goal is,
and I can train Lucy to get inside the box. Now in the last couple of exercises,
I used some food to show the dog how to do the behavior on this one.
I'm going to require Lucy to use a little bit more problem solving skills.
And she's going to have to think of it herself. Get in the box.
What I'm going to do is reward her good choices along the way.
So I'm going to start off by just having a little couple of pieces of food
right. A year when she can see she's super excited about,
and I have my box nearby. Yes. Good girl.
And then anything that Lucy has to do with the box? Yes. Good girl.
I'm going to yes. Reward her for sniffing. Yes.
Putting her head close to the box. Putting a pot in. Yes. Oh yes.
Good girl. Now, every time she gets closer to my final goal,
I'm going to increase the risk. A great reward. Yes. Good girls.
And we got two little paws there. Yes. Good girl.
Now it's super important for this, but okay. She's never reset for a second.
Come here. It says was really important for this one is when you say the word.
Yes. You need to make sure that when you, yes. When you say yes,
it's exactly the point that you're trying to reinforce. Good girl. Yes.
Now she is starting to offer to pause pretty easily.
So I'm going to go for the Gusto here and I'm going to wait for her to do a
little bit more before she gets any more rewards.
Try again. So isn't this interesting.
I'm getting a few different behaviors. She's actually offering to bow now.
So I'm going to reward her for that because I don't want her to get frustrated.
And what I'm going to do now is help her a little bit to feet. Good.
I'm just going to lure her. Yes. Yes. We got that feed.
The front became out. Yay. Good girl.
But this is sort of the fun thing about shaping.
You don't have to get the dog to climb the mountain in order to get this award.
I'm just going to reward all the little increments along the yes. Good girl.
Yes. Yes. There we go. Good.
And now I'm going to use the food to try and get these back feet in. Yes. Good.
Yes. Good girl. Yes. Three for four. And about a couple of minutes.
That's pretty good for the loo. Okay. Let's try one more. Yes.
Good girl.
You see how she's offering to go in the box without me even asking dogs learn
through positive reinforcement.
So if they get reinforced for something they're much more likely to offer it
again. Yes. Good girl. Try and get that third foot again. Yes.
Oh my goodness. Jackpot. And once you get that final goal,
what a good girl you want to really reward generously. Wow. Luc,
that was so good.
Now let's talk about a few challenges that you might have while you're training
this exercise. Now, number one,
sometimes if you just put a box down and just stand there, good girl Lucy
a lot of dogs.
And initially what she would have done is just stood there and stared at the
box.
And you don't just want to be having a staring contest for too long with your
dog. Shaping is about creativity and offering behavior.
So make sure that you help your dog to do a little bit more guessing. You know,
when I first brought the box into the room,
Lucy was a little bit unsure about it.
So I actually started off by just throwing a couple of treats into the box,
just to get her, to investigate, to sniff it a little bit. Um,
just to build her confidence about it,
but don't let your dog stall out for too long without offering something step in
and make it a little bit easier.
So you can keep the pace moving along with your dog. You can just so funny.
The other thing that's important to note too,
is what you use for your shaping exercise. I picked a box that is Lucy size.
Hey Missy. Um, it's big enough that she can easily get inside.
It's not too high. It's not too intimidating. Yes. Good girl.
You're so funny when she knows it's good. She just wants to keep doing it. Um,
so you want to use a box that's properly sized for your dog to make sure it's
really easy to get into,
make sure it's stable and it's not going to tip around or slide on practicing on
a carpet to give it a little bit more friction. Um,
and those are things that are just going to help your training session go a
little bit more smoothly.
So you're spending more time rewarding your dog and building their confidence.
Now we've just talked about five trick training exercises you can do anywhere
with your dog. Click that link right there.
If you want to find out some more living room lessons where you can work on some
obedience exercises with your puppy anywhere,
if this is your first time on the channel,
make sure you hit that subscribe button.
We publish new videos here on YouTube to help you to have a well behaved four
legged family member on that note. I'm Ken. I'm Kayl,
this is Cheerio Happy Training.