{the dog blog of Outside magazine}

Posts Tagged ‘dog get beer from fridge’

You, Too, Can Train Your Dog to Fetch a Beer From the Fridge
by Grayson Schaffer | on October 22nd, 2009 | in Features, Training, Video Clips
Safety Note: If you're going to try this with a bottle, make sure your dog's hold is bulletproof.

Safety Note: If you're going to try this with a bottle, make sure your dog's hold is bulletproof.

Some folks were asking whether Danger can do that beer trick from last week’s short movie, “In the Face of Danger,” in one take. Yes, and chances are your dog can too. Training a dog to connect tricks or behaviors end to end is called chaining. Typically, these types of linked behaviors are taught back to front, or what’s called back-chaining. Basically, you start with the last part of the task, train that to proficiency, and then add the next-to-last part. Withhold your reward until the dog completes both of these well-polished tasks end to end. It won’t take him long to figure out that the criteria have been raised and he now has to do two tasks before the reward. Then add a third link in the chain and so on. When you see dogs performing complex, apparently human-like tasks on TV, this is generally how they’re taught.

OK, here’s the video.

How To Teach Your Dog To Fetch A Beer from Walker Parks on Vimeo.


Danger’s Theatrical Debut!
by Grayson Schaffer | on October 20th, 2009 | in Features, Media

Danger and I spent last week with Allison Otto and the Serac Adventure Film School making a movie about Danger’s attempts to become a tracking dog. Here’s Allison’s excellent movie. Please share it with your friends.

Picture 12