- You can teach your dog just about any trick imaginable
using the method of shaping.
Today, I'm gonna teach you about what shaping is
and how you can use it to teach your dog
to do a silly circus trick like this one,
standing on or inside a box.
My name's Kayl McCann
and this is my five month old border collie puppy, Bee-Line.
Welcome to McCannn Dogs.
(barking)
Now, you may be wondering why I'm holding her collar.
Well, just before we turned the camera on,
I could literally not get her out off of the box
because she's had so many rewards.
She thinks this is the most fun thing ever
so hopefully she can be patient enough
that I can explain this trick to you.
Now, the first thing you need to do
is make sure that you do have a box
that's well sized to your dog.
She could easily fit inside this because she's pretty small.
If you have a bigger dog,
I would suggest you get something bigger
that your dog can easily get inside of.
Now, what I'm going to do
is I'm gonna release her in a second to offer a behavior.
Anything that she does in relationship to this box,
I'm gonna yes and reward her for.
Now, I'm gonna use a clicker today
but if you just wanna use the word yes,
that certainly works as well.
So I'm gonna get a couple cookies ready here
and I'm just gonna let go and see what she does.
Okay.
Yes, surprise surprise.
Yes and I'm just gonna wait
until she gets all four feet inside the box.
Good girl and I'm gonna throw a cookie away.
Okay.
Here it is.
Good and then I'm gonna see if she offers again.
Yes.
So two feet in, yes, good girl.
Three feet in, yes, good girl.
Okay, get it
and I'm gonna encourage her to get out of the box
with a treat on the floor there and try it one more time.
Yes, good girl.
Yes.
Yes, good girl.
And you can just repeat this process
as many times as you can
until the dog really starts to get the hang of it.
Yes, good girl, Bee.
Very nice.
The other version of this that you can try
is flipping your box upside down
and teaching your dog to actually get up on top of it
as if it's a pedestal.
Now, I'm just bracing it with my feet here
because what I don't want to happen
is have her have the confidence to get up on the box
and then have it topple over and scare her.
So I just sorta have it braced between my legs
to keep it secure and again, I'm gonna let her go
and anything that she does with the box,
I'm gonna yes and reward her for.
Okay.
Yes.
Yes, good girl.
Yes, good.
Okay, get it.
Try again.
Yes, so I'm not luring her on the box.
She's thinking of the idea of getting on the box herself
and that's the idea of shaping.
So there's no consequence, there's no negative.
I'm just reinforcing her, good girl,
when she does something that I like.
Okay.
Good girl.
Yes and I'm just using my timing
to make sure that I'm clicking at the appropriate moment.
Yes, good girl.
Okay.
Now, once your puppy gets the hang
of getting inside the box that's a bit bigger,
you can start to make this trick more advanced
by using something smaller.
Now, this is something that I did a lot with her as a puppy.
I haven't done as much recently
so I'm actually hopeful
that it's gonna be a good demonstration
because she's not gonna ace it quite so quickly.
I'm gonna actually start with it upside down
so she has to get on top of it.
That's the easier version of the two
so I'm gonna start off by having her
get thinking about getting her four feet in a small space
so when I do go to flip it over,
it's a lot easier for her to be successful.
So again, I'm gonna start with the box upside down
and I'm gonna brace it so that it can't topple over
when she tries to get on top of it.
Okay, Bee.
Good girl.
So she has to balance a lot more to stay on top of this.
Yes.
So if her feet come down, I just ignore that.
Yes.
See what else she'll try on it.
She might even offer a sit or a down.
Yes, good girl.
And for the sit, you'll notice
I'm feeding with my hand high.
Yes, good girl.
Very nice.
Good girl.
Last but not least, I'm gonna see
if she can get all four feet inside this box.
Now, I do this because it's great for her coordination.
It teaches her how to have really great body awareness
especially for some of the agility training that I do
but honestly, it's really great for your dog's mind.
One of the best ways to tire your dog out
is by doing it mentally.
So playing fun little games like this
is a great way to keep your dog tired out
and also obviously a very fun party trick.
So I'm gonna see if she'll, yes, good.
Start by getting a couple paws in here
and I'm gonna reward her a little bit more on this one
because this is a lot more challenging.
Yes, good girl.
Excellent, so I jackpot reward my dogs
when they do a good job.
Yes, good girl, good.
Okay, get it.
Yes, good.
Good girl.
Yes, excellent, good girl.
Okay, one more time.
Get it.
Oh, you're so smart, Bee, good girl.
Yes.
And obviously, the last step would be
starting to put it on a command of your choice.
Good girl.
Now, this trick is relatively new for Bee-Line
so I haven't yet progressed to the point
where I've put this on a command.
Now, if any of you have any ideas for a cute word
that I can use as a command for this trick,
I would love to hear it.
So maybe you could post some suggestions
in the comment section below.
Now, if you liked today's trick,
make sure you give us a thumbs up.
If you wanna see more about trick training
or dog training information in general,
make sure you subscribe to our channel.
For now, my name is Kayl.
This is cutie patootie Bee-Line
and happy training, we'll see you soon.